Dominance rank and mating success in male primates

doi:10.1016/S0003-3472(05)80642-6

Animal Behaviour

Volume 41, Issue 6, June 1991, Pages 1045-1056

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-3472(05)80642-6 Get rights and content

Abstract

The claim that dominance rank determines male mating success in polygamous primate groups is controversial. One argument against the claim is that spurious correlations are often obtained between dominance rank and mating success as a result of the confounding effects of age. Mating data from 32 studies of primate behaviour, totalling 75 study groups, were collated to test this criticism and investigate the determinants of observed variation in the correlation coefficient values. Despite conflicting reports, a reliable positive relationship between male dominance rank and mating success amongst animals of the same age class is seen. Furthermore, the variation in correlation coefficient values is significantly negatively related to the number of males in the group (the single exception being highly dimorphic primate species, where instead the correlation coefficient is positively related to the number of females). The intensity of the effect of the number of males is most severe in seasonal breeders. These results indicate that the relationship between dominance rank and mating success appears to be a function of the level of competition that males face in the group for access to cycling females. Data on genetic paternity indicate that these results hold even for absolute measures of reproductive success.

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Dominance rank and mating success in male primates

Abstract

J. theor. Biol.

Anim. Behav.

J. Human Evol.

Anim. Behav.

Anim. Behav.

Anim. Behav.

Anim. Behav.

Anim. Behav.

Anim. Behav.

Anim. Behav.

A field study of the sociobiology of the rhesus monkey, Macaca mulatta

Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci.

Female age: male preference and reproductive success in primates

Int. J. Primatol.

Male rank and reproductive activity in savanna baboons

Int. J. Primatol.

Dominance: the baby and the bath water

Behav. Brain. Sci.

Sexual behaviour of free-ranging monkeys (Macaca mulatta)

J. comp. Psychol.

Reproductive activity in relation to dominance and the likelihood of ovulation in rhesus monkeys

Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol.

Factors affecting reproductive success in vervet monkeys

Dominance assertion in male chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Aggress. Behav.

Social behaviour and patterns of mating among adult yellow baboons (Papio cynocephalus)

Estrous cycles and mating behaviour in a free-ranging band of rhesus monkeys

Folia primatol.

Promiscuous mating amongst blue monkeys in the Kakamega forest, Kenya

Ethology

The effects of dominance on mating behaviour and paternity in a captive troop of rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta)

Am. J. Primatol.

Social rank, observability and sexual behaviour of rhesus monkeys Macaca mulatta

J. Reprod. Fert.

Intraspecific variation in mating strategy

Paternity and status in a rhesus monkey group

J. Reprod. Fert.

Male dominace and aggression in Japanese macaque reproduction

Ecology, sexual selection and the evolution of mating systems

Science

Dominance and reproductive success

Yrbk phys. Anthropol.

Baboon behaviour

Dominace and fertility among female primates

J. Zool. Lond.

Agonism, ranking and the social behaviour of adult male baboons

Am. J. phys. Anthropol.

Life histories in comparative perspective