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Female mating strategy in an enclosed group of Japanese macaques
Author(s) -
Soltis Joseph,
Mitsunaga Fusako,
Shimizu Keiko,
Yanagihara Yoshimi,
Nozaki Masumi
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
american journal of primatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.988
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1098-2345
pISSN - 0275-2565
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1098-2345(1999)47:4<263::aid-ajp1>3.0.co;2-f
Subject(s) - biology , mating , mate choice , seasonal breeder , zoology , dominance hierarchy , demography , inbreeding , dominance (genetics) , inbreeding avoidance , primate , ecology , aggression , developmental psychology , psychology , population , genetics , gene , sociology
Female Japanese macaques ( Macaca fuscata ) are noted for mating with multiple males and for their ability to exert mate choice. In a captive group of Japanese macaques housed at the Primate Research Institute of Kyoto University, Japan, behavioral and endocrine data were combined to examine female mating strategies. During one breeding season, daily behavioral observations were conducted on females who exhibited copulatory behavior. Blood was collected from females twice weekly and their ovulatory periods estimated by analyzing hormone profiles. Females began mating shortly before ovulation, peaked at ovulation, and continued receiving ejaculations for up to ten weeks after conception. Females were more responsible than males for inbreeding avoidance with matrilineal kin. Males sometimes approached females from their own matriline, but females avoided such males and expressed mate choice behavior preferentially toward non‐matrilineal males. Over the entire mating season, females did not choose non‐matrilineal males on the basis of displays, dominance rank, age, weight, or weight change during the mating season. When females were likely to conceive, however, they expressed mate choice behavior toward males who displayed most frequently. Female mating strategy may include both mate choice at ovulation and other, non‐procreative functions. Am. J. Primatol. 47:263–278, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.