ABSTRACT
In several primate species, adult males have been observed to inflict fatal wounds upon unweaned or otherwise maternally dependent in fants, a behavior commonly referred to as infanticide (Hrdy, 1979). The infanticidal male in most of these instances had only recently joined the group or had recently become the dominant male after previ ously occupying a more subordinate position (Leland et al., Chapter 8 , this volume). In other cases, infanticide has been inferred when a healthy infant disappeared from the group following a series of attacks on the infant and its mother by a recent adult-male migrant to the group (Crockett and Sekulic, Chapter 9, this volume). Whether inferred or directly observed, infanticide in primate groups has been most fre quently and, in my opinion, most convincingly explained as a reproduc tive strategy whereby the migrant or newly dominant male increases his own reproductive success at the expense of adult females, their infants, and the former dominant male of the group.
