Female Tibetan macaques reach sexual maturity and start mating after about five years. As with the males, the females in a group are hierarchical, and higher ranked individuals mate with the most frequency. After a gestation period of 165 days, females give birth to one offspring at a time, most often in January or February. The offspring spend four years entirely reliant on their mothers.

Male Tibetan macaques engage in an act called “bridging,” in which they handle and groom infants in a parental ritual. Two males lift an infant, then each male touches or sucks the infant’s genitalia. The two male monkeys then groom each other—sometimes embracing, mounting each other, and touching or sucking each other’s genitals. In bridging, the infant serves as a means for the male monkeys to engage with each other in a non-confrontational way, and to develop strong relationships. A male carrying an infant is less likely to be harmed by another male. A 2014 study found that male infants are more likely to be bridged than females. The study found that whichever infant was selected most frequently for bridging by the alpha male was then preferred by lower-ranking males as well. One hypothesis is that bridging is a form of “agonistic buffering,” or using the baby as a form of protection. Low ranking males engage in bridging with the alpha’s preferred offspring, so the alpha will not harm them.