A 15-year study of the association between dominance rank and reproductive success of male rhesus macaques

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The reproductive success (RS) of 32 males in a captive group of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) between 1978 and 1992 was determined using paternity exclusion analysis. Dominance rank of each male over age 4 was assessed at the end of each breeding season based on agonistic dyadic interactions. The dominance rank and RS of these males were strongly correlated whether or not subadult males were included. The high reproductive success of males that eventually reached alpha rank is primarily responsible for this outcome. These results support the theory that social dominance has evolved in genus Macaca by sexual selection but some changes in male dominance rank and RS during the 15-year period suggest that priority of access is not the sole focus for such selection.

Multivariate Cranial Ontogenetic Allometries in Crab-eating, Rhesus and Japanese Macaques.

“…In Gould (1975), ontogenetic scaring is exemplified by the large human brain achieved by a prolonged fetal curve with a high slope, and does not require entire sharing of common growth trajectory. Ontogenetic scaling in the recent usage of cranial sexual dimorphism is widely observed among various primate species (e.g., Corner and Richtsmeier, 1991, 1993Leigh and Cheverud, 1991;Leutenegger and Masterson, 1989;Masterson andLeutenegger, 1990, 1992;Ravosa, 1991aRavosa, , 1992Ravosa and Ross, 1994;Shea, 1985cShea, , 1986Shea, , 1988Swindler et al, 1973) including M. fascicularis (Ravosa, 1991a;Richtsmeier and Cheverud, Fig. 2.…”

“…Recent advances of paternity determination in non-human primates by DNA fingerprinting or other methods make it possible to directly measure the variance of male reproductive success in macaques (e.g., Inoue et al, 1990Inoue et al, , 1991De Ruiter and Van Hooff, 1993;Smith, 1993;Berard et al,1993). Though the various factors affecting the results such as living condition (wild or captive), group size, length of period covered by a study and success rate of paternity identification are not or cannot be controlled among the studies, the variance of male reproductive success seems to be larger in M.…”

“…fascicularis (De Ruiter and Van Hooff, 1993) than in M. mulatta (Smith, 1993;Berard et al, 1993) or M. fuscata (Inoue et al, 1990(Inoue et al, , 1991.…”

Establishment of a microsatellite set for noninvasive paternity testing in free-ranging Macaca mulatta tcheliensis in Mount Taihangshan area, Jiyuan, China

“…Multiple-mating by promiscuous females, however, masks paternity certainty (Soulsbury 2010), which consequently could obscure the true paternal care (Buchan et al 2003, Widdig 2007. Paternal care is expected to result in fitness benefits for sires (Buchan et al 2003), and known paternity is thus critical for evaluating male reproduction success in primates with a promiscuous mating system (Smith 1993, Berard et al 1994, Bercovitch 1997. Therefore, paternity identification serves as the cornerstone of understanding male reproductive ecology.…”

Male tenure and reproductive success in single-male vs. multi-male groups of free-ranging howling monkeys in Costa Rica

“…The discrepancy between dominance rank and mating success involves more than female availability, however. In single-male patas monkey groups, the resident male did not sire all offspring (Ohsawa et al, 1993), and alternate male strategies in multi-male groups are known from rhesus monkeys (Berard et al, 1993(Berard et al, , 1994(Berard et al, , 1999Smith, 1993Smith, , 1994 and savannah baboons (Alberts et al, 2003) which allow for reproductive success in lower-ranking males.…”