aunting

The aunting behavior in a captive group of 22 squirrel monkeys containing three infants was done in terms of the age/sex classification of those animals involved. The time course of the aunting phenomena and the type and intensity of the interactions between the mothers and the aunts were recorded.

I found that aunting, or the care and nurture of children by aunts and great-aunts, is gendered and invisible work that, at the most basic level, salvages children’s lives.