Female choice in nonhuman primates

Abstract

As outlined by Darwin, sexual selection is composed of two parts, within-sex competition for mates, and mate choice. The fact that males compete for fertile females has been well established. More equivocal is the notion that females have preferences for certain males, and that those preferences have a n evolutionary effect (''female choice"). We now have a n evolutionary framework and sophisticated mathematical models to evaluate female choice. A review of the literature on primate species reveals that 20 species have exhibited some sort of preference. Females most often choose males based on familiarity, novelty, or status. But there is no evidence that selection for particular males affects conception or fitness, or male characteristics. Female sexual assertiveness is not necessarily female choice.. . . it is improbable that the unions of quadrupeds in a state of nature should be left to mere chance. It is much more probable that the females are allured or excited by particular males, who possess certain characters in a higher degree than other males: but what these characters are, we can seldom or never discover with certainty.--(=. Darwin, 1871Estrous females cannot be considered as passive resources like water and peanuts.-L. Fedigan, 1983 If it's not forced copulation, is it female choice?-D. Winkler, 1988 Nonhuman primates are studied by anthropologists to gain some understanding of the evolution of human behavior. This approach is employed because 1) humans are members of the order Primates, and thus we share a close genetic relationship with extant nonhuman primates in comparison to other mammals; 2) broad behavioral patterns have a genetic basis and they are assumed to be under similar evolutionary pressures for nonhuman and human primates; and 3) the living primates presumably reflect stages of our own primate ancestry. It follows that nonhuman primates, and their patterns of behavior, may be windows to the evolution of hominid behavior. In other words, the reproductive, ecological and social pressures that molded extant nonhuman primate behavior are probably similar, in a broad sense, to those that constrained our hominid forbears.Since W.D. Hamilton's description of kin selection in 1964, and Wilson's (1975) presentation of a sociobiological framework, anthropologists who study primates have readily applied evolutionary theory to patterns of primate behavior. Mating strategies have received a good deal of attention because they directly affect re-0 1989 Alan R. Liss. Inc.

Do Female Mandrills Prefer Brightly Colored Males?

“…Females thus did not have the opportunity to express a preference for unfamiliar or novel males, as observed in other primate species (e.g. Bercovitch, 1997;Perei ra and Weiss, 1991;Small, 1989). However, in a detailed study of mate preference in rhesus macaques, Manson (1995) concluded that his data provided "at most, weak support for the hypothesis that female primates in multi-male groups exercise mate choice for novel males" (p. 285).…”

The High Price of Success: Costs of Mating Effort in Male Primates

“…Thus, just as the costs of producing infants drive mate selectivity by females (Small 1992), the costs of competition and mate guarding should drive a certain degree of selectivity by males. Males may be expected to invest more intensively in mates that have the highest probability of conceiving and raising offspring successfully.…”

Sexual dimorphism in primate evolution

“…The role of mate choice in the evolution of sexual dimorphism in primates has received less attention than mate competition. Recent years have seen an increase in the literature discussing female mating strategies (e.g., Small, 1989;Smuts and Smuts, 1993;Nunn, 1999;van Schaik et al, 1999;Stallmann and Froehlich, 2000). These involve explicit female choice, as well as various female strategies to counter male mating coercion and domination (Smuts and Smuts, 1993).…”

“…It is widely hypothesized that females in multimale groups mate polyandrously in order to confuse paternity (e.g., Small, 1989;Smuts and Smuts, 1993;Pagel, 1994;Nunn, 1999;van Schaik et al, 1999;Stallmann and Froehlich, 2000). Females in single-male groups are known to seek out "sneak" matings with extragroup males.…”