Costs and Benefits of Alternative Mating Strategies in Samango Monkey Males

Macleod, Mairi; Ross, Caroline; Lawes, Michael J.

doi:10.1007/0-306-48417-x_15

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…In this regard, coalitions resemble most closely the coordinated action seen in the temporary male cohorts that can form during the mating season in otherwise uni‐male guenon groups, such as blue monkeys, C. mitis (Macleod et al. ). Given that vervets are, at the least, a sister taxon to the guenons, and to the extent to which further analyses corroborate our findings, their coalitions may therefore serve as a pointer to the initial evolutionary starting point of coalitionary aggression associated with the emergence of multimale groups.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Coalition Formation by Male Vervet Monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) in South Africa

et al. 2015

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Unrelated male primates frequently cohabit in bisexual groups and, despite being reproductive competitors, have been shown to cooperate in ways that are associated with reproductive success. Such coalitions between males are common in some taxa, where they can serve two primary functionsstatus management and improved mating opportunitiesthat subserve long-and short-term objectives. Here, we use observational data to provide information on male coalitions in vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus), a guenon with a multimale group structure. We recorded a total of 62 coalitions from two troops across a 10-mo period at Samara Game Reserve, South Africa. We found that males who were more frequently associated spatially and who had groomed one another were more likely to form coalitions and did so against higher-ranking opponents. This was not linked to any evidence that coalitionary aggression provided either short-or long-term reproductive benefits for the aggressors and coalitions were not restricted to the mating season. There was little evidence that particular individuals were targeted, reciprocation between partners was not observed, and recent immigrant males were not targeted disproportionately. Our data suggest that within-group coalition formation between vervet males may represent something close to an ancestral state whereby males form ad hoc coalitions opportunistically, joining an ongoing dyadic contest to target an opponent without facing the possible risks of dyadic contest, such as a greater chance of injury.Ethology 122 (2016) 45-52

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Coalition Formation by Male Vervet Monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) in South Africa

et al. 2015

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“…Our calculations were based on MacLeod, Ross & Lawes (2002) who aimed to discover if, over an entire reproductive lifetime, a bachelor samango monkey could steal enough matings to be as successful as a resident male siring at the average rate for one average period of tenure. These authors concluded that a bachelor would have to pursue the steal strategy for 15.1 years to obtain the same number of matings as a resident in one average period of tenure.…”

Section: Part Ii: Comparing Resident and Bachelor Successmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While an alternative reproductive tactic may exist in these species, the success of individual bachelors and the factors affecting whether they sire offspring are not well understood. Furthermore, few studies have directly compared the success of bachelor and resident tactics in long-lived mammals (but see: Sommer & Rajpurohit, 1989 ; MacLeod, Ross & Lawes, 2002 ) because it is difficult to follow males over their entire reproductive lives. Quantifying the success of alternative tactics and identifying the conditions under which each does best allows us to better understand the role of male–male competition in determining the evolution of social organization.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, little is known about how resident or bachelor tactics translate into lifetime reproductive success. Comparing resident and bachelor reproductive success would help determine if the high costs associated with residency allow bachelors to make up some of the difference in reproduction by pursuing the lower-cost, lower-gain tactic for an extended period ( Widemo, 1998 ; MacLeod, Ross & Lawes, 2002 ). In this study, we used molecular, demographic, and behavioral data collected from 8 social groups of wild blue monkeys over 10 years to assess the absolute and relative success of the bachelor tactic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Life as a bachelor: quantifying the success of an alternative reproductive tactic in male blue monkeys

Roberts

Cords

2015

PeerJ

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In species that live in one-male groups, resident males monopolize access to a group of females and are assumed to have higher reproductive success than bachelors. We tested this assumption using genetic, demographic, and behavioral data from 8 groups of wild blue monkeys observed over 10 years to quantify reproduction by residents and bachelors and compare the success of the two tactics. We used maximum-likelihood methods to assign sires to 104 offspring born in the study groups, 36 of which were sired by extra-group males, i.e., residents of neighboring groups and bachelors. Among these extra-group males, high-ranking males (many of whom were neighboring residents) were more likely to sire offspring than low-ranking males, but the time these visiting males spent in the mother’s group when she conceived (male presence) did not predict their relative success. When bachelors competed for reproduction with other bachelors, neither rank nor male presence during the mother’s conceptive period affected the probability of siring an offspring, suggesting that highly opportunistic mating with conceptive females is important in bachelor reproduction. In a second analysis, we used long-term data to estimate resident and bachelor reproductive success over the long term, and particularly to determine if there are any circumstances in which a typical bachelor may sire as many offspring as a typical resident during one or two periods of residency. Our findings generally support the assumption of a resident reproductive advantage because in most circumstances, a lifelong bachelor would be unable to sire as many offspring as a resident. However, a bachelor who performs at the average rate in the average number of groups for several years may have similar lifetime reproductive success as a male whose reproduction is limited to one short period of residency, especially in a small group. Our findings suggest that one should not assume a resident reproductive advantage for males in one-male groups in all circumstances.

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“…Male reproductive success is limited mainly by access to receptive females, and males will attempt to exclude each other from sexual interactions or, more strongly, from membership in heterosexual groups (van Hooff and van Schaik 1994). When intragroup competition is high, males may form 1-male groups by ousting all young natal males and preventing other males from joining them, e.g., geladas (Dunbar 1984), snub-nosed monkeys (Zhang et al 2006), and some guenon species without male influxes (Cords 2000(Cords , 2002MacLeod et al 2002). When males cannot exclude other males, dominance relationships based on outcomes of agonistic and submissive interactions develop among resident males, with reproductive success usually skewed toward the dominant males (Hager 2003;van Hooff 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Relationships Among Male Alouatta pigra

2008

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We investigated male social relationships in 2 groups of black howlers (Alouatta pigra) in Palenque National Park, Mexico, over a 14-mo study characterized by frequent changes in male group membership. Both single males and pairs of males entered our focal groups. Single males tended to join groups, whereas pairs of males entering groups together successfully evicted resident males. The 19 male dyads across the 11 periods defined by changes in group membership were rarely in close proximity or interacting with one another. Nevertheless, 1 male formed significantly closer associations with resident females in 6 periods and achieved higher mating success during 4 of the periods when ≥1 female was sexually active. In the other 5 periods, no particular male maintained significantly closer associations with resident females, which may be a result of the rapid sequence of changes in male membership and corresponding social instability. Resident males participated frequently and consistently in mutual howling, but the resident male with the strongest female associations and highest mating success initiated howling bouts more frequently in all but 1 of the 6 socially stable periods. Though still preliminary, our findings suggest that variation in social relationships among male black howlers may be more related to their ability to establish strong relationships with females than to their relationships with one another.

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Costs and Benefits of Alternative Mating Strategies in Samango Monkey Males

Cited by 4 publications

References 24 publications

Coalition Formation by Male Vervet Monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) in South Africa

Coalition Formation by Male Vervet Monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) in South Africa

Life as a bachelor: quantifying the success of an alternative reproductive tactic in male blue monkeys

Social Relationships Among Male Alouatta pigra

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