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Zhang Q, Sun L, Xia D, Li J. Female behavioral strategies during consortship in Tibetan macaques ( Macaca thibetana). Ecol Evol 2021; 11:9665-9675. [PMID: 34306652 PMCID: PMC8293731 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7790] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2020] [Revised: 05/10/2021] [Accepted: 05/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Consortship has been defined as a temporary association between an adult male and an estrous/receptive female. It has been considered as male mating strategies to improve male mating success and potential reproductive success. However, the female roles have been more or less neglected, and thus, less is known about female behavioral strategies during the consortship periods. In this study, during the two consecutive mating seasons, we collected behavioral data of free-ranging Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) habituated in Mt. Huangshan, China, to investigate female behaviors when she was consorted by an adult male. The results showed that (a) females were more likely to approach and exhibit sexual solicitation to their consorting males during the consorted period, and females also exhibited less approach to their nonconsorting males; (b) females exhibited strong responses (either departed distantly or formed affiliative relationships with their consorting male partner) when their consorting males mated with rival females or showed sexual motivation toward rival females; (c) female preferences were positively correlated to the duration of consortships and the frequencies of ejaculation copulations, independent of the social ranks of their consorting male partners. Our results suggested that female strategies played much more important roles in forming and maintaining consortship than previously assumed. It provides new insight into understanding female adaptive strategies to male strategies by forming consortships in multimale-multifemale primate species when males could not identify female's fertile phase accurately.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qi‐Xin Zhang
- School of Resources and Environmental EngineeringAnhui UniversityHefeiChina
- International Collaborative Research Center for Huangshan Biodiversity and Tibetan Macaque Behavioral EcologyHefeiChina
| | - Lixing Sun
- Department of Biological SciencesCentral Washington UniversityEllensburgWAUSA
| | - Dong‐Po Xia
- International Collaborative Research Center for Huangshan Biodiversity and Tibetan Macaque Behavioral EcologyHefeiChina
- School of Life SciencesAnhui UniversityHefeiChina
| | - Jin‐Hua Li
- School of Resources and Environmental EngineeringAnhui UniversityHefeiChina
- International Collaborative Research Center for Huangshan Biodiversity and Tibetan Macaque Behavioral EcologyHefeiChina
- Schools of Life SciencesHefei Normal UniversityHefeiChina
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2
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Städele V, Vigilant L, Strum SC, Silk JB. Extended male–female bonds and potential for prolonged paternal investment in a polygynandrous primate (Papio anubis). Anim Behav 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.01.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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3
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Rebout N, Thierry B, Sanna A, Cozzolino R, Aujard F, De Marco A. Female mate choice and male-male competition in Tonkean macaques: Who decides? Ethology 2017. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.12605] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Nancy Rebout
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien; Université de Strasbourg; Strasbourg France
| | - Bernard Thierry
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien; Université de Strasbourg; Strasbourg France
| | | | | | - Fabienne Aujard
- Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Mécanismes Adaptatifs et Evolution; Brunoy France
| | - Arianna De Marco
- Fondazione Ethoikos; Radicondoli Italy
- Parco Faunistico di Piano dell'Abatino; Poggio San Lorenzo Italy
- Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione; Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche; Rome Italy
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4
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Individual, social, and sexual niche traits affect copulation success in a polygynandrous mating system. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-016-2112-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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5
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Havliček J, Cobey KD, Barrett L, Klapilová K, Roberts SC. Greater precision, not parsimony, is the key to testing the peri-ovulation spandrel hypothesis: a response to comments on Havliček et al. 2015. Behav Ecol 2015. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arv137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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6
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Pollet TV, Stulp G, Henzi SP, Barrett L. Taking the aggravation out of data aggregation: A conceptual guide to dealing with statistical issues related to the pooling of individual-level observational data. Am J Primatol 2015; 77:727-40. [PMID: 25810242 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.22405] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2014] [Revised: 02/18/2015] [Accepted: 03/01/2015] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Field data often include multiple observations taken from the same individual. In order to avoid pseudoreplication, it is commonplace to aggregate data, generating a mean score per individual, and then using these aggregated data in subsequent analyses. Aggregation, however, can generate problems of its own. Not only does it lead to a loss of information, it can also leave analyses vulnerable to the "ecological fallacy": the drawing of false inferences about individual behavior on the basis of population level ("ecological") data. It can also result in Simpson's paradox, where relationships seen at the individual level can be completely reversed when analyzed at the aggregate level. These phenomena have been documented widely in the medical and social sciences but tend to go unremarked in primatological studies that rely on observational data from the field. Here, we provide a conceptual guide that explains how and why aggregate data are vulnerable to the ecological fallacy and Simpson's paradox, illustrating these points using data on baboons. We then discuss one particular analytical approach, namely multi-level modeling, that can potentially eliminate these problems. By highlighting the issue of the ecological fallacy, and increasing awareness of how datasets are often organized into a number of different levels, we also highlight the manner in which researchers can more positively exploit the structure of their datasets, without any information loss. These analytical approaches may thus provide greater insight into behavior by permitting more thorough investigation of interactions and cross-level effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas V Pollet
- Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Gert Stulp
- Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom
| | - S Peter Henzi
- Department of Psychology, University of Lethbridge, Canada.,Applied Behavioural Ecology and Ecosystems Research Unit, University of South Africa, South Africa
| | - Louise Barrett
- Applied Behavioural Ecology and Ecosystems Research Unit, University of South Africa, South Africa
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7
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Cheney DL, Crockford C, Engh AL, Wittig RM, Seyfarth RM. The costs of parental and mating effort for male baboons. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2015; 69:303-312. [PMID: 25620835 PMCID: PMC4300984 DOI: 10.1007/s00265-014-1843-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
Sexual selection theory predicts that males in polygynous species of mammals will invest more reproductive effort in mate competition than parental investment. A corollary to this prediction is that males will mount a stress response when their access to mates is threatened. Indeed, numerous studies have shown that males exhibit elevated stress hormones, or glucocorticoids (GCs), when their access to females, or a proxy to this access like dominance rank, is challenged. In contrast, the relationship between stress hormones and paternal effort is less obvious. We report results from a study of wild male chacma baboons indicating that males experienced elevated GC levels during periods of social instability following the immigration of a dominant male. These effects were strongest in males whose mating opportunities were at greatest risk: high-ranking males and males engaged in sexual consortships. Males involved in friendships with lactating females, a form of paternal investment, also experienced high GC levels during these periods of instability. There was a tendency for males with lactating female friends to reduce their time spent in consortships during unstable periods, when the risk of infanticide was high. Thus, even in a highly polygynous mammal, males may have to balance paternal effort with mating effort. Males who invest entirely in mating effort risk losing the infants they have sired to infanticide. Males who invest in paternal care may enhance their offspring's survival, but at the cost of elevated GC levels, the risk of injury, and the loss of mating opportunities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dorothy L. Cheney
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6018, USA
| | - Catherine Crockford
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig D-04103, Germany
| | - Anne L. Engh
- Department of Biology, Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, MI 49006-32954, USA
| | - Roman M. Wittig
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig D-04103, Germany
| | - Robert M. Seyfarth
- Deparment of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6241, USA
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8
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Non-invasive collection and analysis of semen in wild macaques. Primates 2013; 55:231-7. [DOI: 10.1007/s10329-013-0393-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2013] [Accepted: 10/16/2013] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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9
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Ostner J, Vigilant L, Bhagavatula J, Franz M, Schülke O. Stable heterosexual associations in a promiscuous primate. Anim Behav 2013. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.07.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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10
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Young C, Hähndel S, Majolo B, Schülke O, Ostner J. Male coalitions and female behaviour affect male mating success independent of dominance rank and female receptive synchrony in wild Barbary macaques. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2013. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-013-1577-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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11
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Alberts SC, Fitzpatrick CL. Paternal care and the evolution of exaggerated sexual swellings in primates. Behav Ecol 2012; 23:699-706. [PMID: 24771988 PMCID: PMC3999376 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ars052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2010] [Revised: 03/06/2012] [Accepted: 08/03/2012] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The exaggerated sexual swellings exhibited by females of some primate species have been of interest to evolutionary biologists since the time of Darwin. We summarize existing hypotheses for their function and evolution and categorize these hypotheses within the context of 3 types of variation in sexual swelling size: 1) variation within a single sexual cycle, 2) variation between the sexual cycles of a single female, and 3) differences between females. We then propose the Paternal Care Hypothesis for the function of sexual swellings, which posits that exaggerated sexual swellings function to elicit the right quantity and quality of male care for a female's infant. As others have noted, swellings may allow females to engender paternity confusion, or they may allow females to confer relative paternal certainty on one male. Key to our hypothesis is that both of these scenarios create an incentive for one or more males to provide care. This hypothesis builds on previous hypotheses but differs from them by highlighting the elicitation of paternal care as a key function of swellings. Our hypothesis predicts that true paternal care (in which males accurately differentiate and provide assistance to their own offspring) will be most common in species in which exaggerated swellings accurately signal the probability of conception, and males can monopolize females during the window of highest conception probability. Our hypothesis also predicts that females will experience selection to behave in ways that either augment paternity confusion or enhance paternal certainty depending on their social and demographic contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susan C Alberts
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Box 90338, Durham, NC 27705, USA ; Institute of Primate Research, National Museums of Kenya, P.O. Box 24481-00502, Karen, Nairobi, Kenya
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12
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Abstract
Because female reproductive success in social mammals is determined largely by parental rather than mating effort, intra-sexual competition among females has typically been assumed to occur primarily over food. Recently, however, renewed attention has been paid to the importance of other sources of variation in female fitness, with a concomitant focus on a broader definition of intra-sexual selection that encompasses both competition for resources and competition for mates and social partners. We present behavioural and demographic data gathered over 15 years on a group of wild chacma baboons (Papio hamadryas ursinus) which show that females incur several costs when living in groups with many females and comparatively few males: increased intra-sexual aggression, less stable bonds with female partners, and increased mortality. Female-female aggression was higher in years when the adult sex ratio was more highly skewed toward females, with low-ranking female exhibiting particularly high rates of aggression toward other females. Females' social bonds with other females also became less stable in years when the group contained many females. Finally, female mortality rates were highest in years when the group contained comparatively more females and fewer males. The negative correlation between the number of males and female mortality suggests that the increase in mortality was due to increased predation rather than food competition. Results indicate that intra-sexual competition for social partners, mates, paternal investment, and perhaps also male protection occurs even in species where females exhibit low reproductive skew.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dorothy L. Cheney
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104
| | - Joan B. Silk
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095
| | - Robert M. Seyfarth
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104
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13
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Clarke PMR, Henzi SP, Barrett L. Estrous synchrony in a nonseasonal breeder: adaptive strategy or population process? Behav Ecol 2012. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arr230] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
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14
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Huchard E, Cowlishaw G. Female–female aggression around mating: an extra cost of sociality in a multimale primate society. Behav Ecol 2011. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arr083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
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15
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Mating promiscuity and reproductive tactics in female black and gold howler monkeys (Alouatta caraya) inhabiting an island on the Parana river, Argentina. Am J Primatol 2010; 72:734-48. [PMID: 20568080 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.20838] [Citation(s) in RCA: 80] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
In several primate species, females mate promiscuously and several adult males peacefully co-reside in the same social group. We investigated female mating behavior in two neighboring multimale-multifemale groups of Alouatta caraya in northern Argentina (27 degrees 20'S-58 degrees 40'W). All adult individuals in each group were marked with identification anklets and ear tags, and followed for five consecutive full days per month during 20 consecutive months. We recorded 219 copulations for eight resident females in these two groups. Thirty-two percent of matings involved extra-group copulations and 68% were with resident males. During periods when females were likely to conceive and during periods when females were nonfertile (pregnancy and lactation), there were no significant differences in the average number of resident and nonresident males with which they copulated (G-test: G(adj)=0.1, df=3, P>0.05). In both of our study groups, adult males were tolerant of the mating activities between resident males and resident females, but acted aggressively and collectively (howling, border vigilance, and fighting) when extragroup males attempted to enter the group and mate with resident females. Given the frequency of extragroup matings, we examined the distance females traveled to engage in these copulations, time engaged in pre- and postcopulatory behavior, and the risk of injury during extragroup copulations. These costs were found to be relatively small. We suggest that female promiscuity is the prime driver or constraint on male reproductive opportunities in this species. Female promiscuity in A. caraya appears to represent a mixed mating strategy that may serve to increase opportunities for genetic diversity between a female's successive offspring as well as minimize the risk of infanticide by spreading paternity estimates across a larger number of adult males.
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Clarke P, Halliday J, Barrett L, Henzi S. Chacma baboon mating markets: competitor suppression mediates the potential for intersexual exchange. Behav Ecol 2010. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arq125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
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Moscovice LR, Di Fiore A, Crockford C, Kitchen DM, Wittig R, Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL. Hedging their bets? Male and female chacma baboons form friendships based on likelihood of paternity. Anim Behav 2010. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2010.01.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 71] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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18
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Infanticide and reproductive restraint in a polygynous social mammal. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2010; 107:2130-5. [PMID: 20080652 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0913294107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Alpha male chacma baboons experience uncontested access to individual estrus females. Consequently, alpha male paternity certainty is high and underpins significant levels of infanticide by immigrant males that, in turn, has selected for male defense of infants. There is also, however, a high probability that alpha males will be absent during the period when their own offspring are vulnerable, suggesting selection for additional countermeasures. We use data from a long-term study to test the prediction that alpha male chacma baboons cede reproductive opportunities to subordinate males and that this leads to the presence of other fathers that can serve as a buffer against infanticidal attack. We found that subordinate males obtained significantly more conceptive opportunities than predicted by priority of access alone, and that this occurred because alpha males did not consort all receptive periods. There was no evidence that this was due to energetic constraint, large male cohorts, alpha male inexperience, or the competitive strength of queuing subordinates. The number of males who benefited from concession and the length of time that they were resident relative to those who did not benefit in this way greatly reduced the probability that infants of alpha males would face immigrant males without a surrogate father whose own offspring were vulnerable. The absence of such males was associated with observed infanticide as well as, unexpectedly, an increased likelihood of takeover when alpha males with vulnerable infants were present.
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Huchard E, Alvergne A, Féjan D, Knapp LA, Cowlishaw G, Raymond M. More than friends? Behavioural and genetic aspects of heterosexual associations in wild chacma baboons. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2009. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-009-0894-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 71] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Clarke PMR, Barrett L, Henzi SP. What role do olfactory cues play in chacma baboon mating? Am J Primatol 2009; 71:493-502. [DOI: 10.1002/ajp.20678] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
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