Leaving behind cultural relativism to endorse historical pluralism Feitosa et al. discuss one of the most difficult themes in the fields of both ethics and rights, since the practice of so-called " indigenous infan-ticide " constitutes an issue at the limits of legal reasoning. The article is not only a theoretical reflection, but also takes place in a national scenario in Brazil where the issu...

Two cases of non-psychotic denied pregnancy are presented and discussed. Following obstetric expertise, the forensic-criminal evaluation should investigate the reported crimes of denied pregnancy associated infanticide or criminal abortion as well as the potential involvement of other persons in these crimes. All this would require close collaboration between obstetricians, psychiatrists and cr...

We thank Alan Dixson (1) for his interest in our paper (2). Unfortunately, he seems to have misread it. First, contrary to Dixson’s claim, we did not conflate callitrichid “monogamy” with obligate monogamy in other primates, like gibbons and the small cebids. We note that these were conflated in Lukas and Clutton-Brock’s (3) recent report on the evolution of monogamy but not in our paper. Dixso...

The aggression animals receive from conspecifics varies between individuals across their lifetime. As poignantly evidenced by infanticide, for example, aggression can have dramatic fitness consequences. Nevertheless, we understand little about the sources of variation in received aggression, particularly in females. Using a female-dominant species renowned for aggressivity in both sexes, we tes...

In many primate species, conspicuous behavioral and/or morphological changes are indicators of the fertile phase of the female cycle. However, several primate species, such as the white-faced capuchin, lack these cues. This is referred to as "concealed ovulation," and is argued to be a reproductive strategy that confuses paternity and lowers the risk of infanticide. We studied 10 adult female w...