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Inbreeding avoidance in rhesus macaques: Whose choice?
Author(s) -
Manson Joseph H.,
Perry Susan E.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330900307
Subject(s) - offspring , inbreeding , inbreeding avoidance , demography , context (archaeology) , biology , macaque , rhesus macaque , mate choice , mating , zoology , population , ecology , pregnancy , genetics , sociology , paleontology
Abstract Whether nonhuman primates avoid copulating with close kin living in their social group is controversial. If sexual aversion to relatives occurs, it should be stronger in females than in males because of females' greater investment in each offspring and hence greater costs resulting from less viable offspring. Data presented here show that adult male rhesus macaques breeding in their natal groups at Cayo Santiago experienced high copulatory success, but copulated less with females of their own matrilineages than with females of other matrilineages. Adult females were never observed to copulate with males of their own matrilineage during their fertile periods. Although natal males sometimes courted their relatives, examination of two measures of female mate choice showed that females chose unrelated natal males over male kin. Female aversion to male kin was specific to the sexual context; during the birth season, females did not discriminate against their male relatives in distributing grooming. Evolved inbreeding avoidance mechanisms probably produce different outcomes at Cayo Santiago than in wild rhesus macaque populations. Gender differences in sexual aversion to relatives may be partly responsible for differences between studies in reported frequency of copulations by related pairs. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.