Sexual coercion by male chimpanzees shows that female choice may be more apparent than real |
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Authors: | Martin N Muller Melissa Emery Thompson Sonya M Kahlenberg Richard W Wrangham |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, MSC 1040-01, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA;(2) Department of Biology, Bates College, Lewiston, ME 04240, USA;(3) Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA |
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Abstract: | The extent to which active female mating preferences influence male reproductive success in mammals is unclear, particularly
for promiscuously breeding species like chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Previous studies from multiple long-term study sites have shown that female chimpanzees mate more restrictively around
ovulation, and this has been taken as evidence for female choice. However, none of these studies rigorously evaluated the
alternative hypothesis that restrictive mating results not from unconstrained choice, but in response to coercive mate guarding,
in which males use punishment and intimidation to reduce female promiscuity and promote their own mating interests. Nor did
they consider evidence for the potential genetic or phenotypic benefits that females might be choosing. Using 11 years of
data from the Kanyawara community in Kibale National Park, Uganda, we previously demonstrated that males achieve elevated
mating success with those females toward whom they direct high levels of aggression. Here we extend those findings to show
that even female copulatory approaches, which have previously been attributed to female choice, are correlated with male aggression.
Specifically, individual females at our site initiated periovulatory copulations most frequently with the males who were most
aggressive toward them throughout their cycles. Those males showed high rates of aggression toward females throughout estrus,
despite achieving high copulation rates, demonstrating a continuing conflict of interest over the exclusivity of mating access.
Because sexual coercion is potentially widespread in primates and other mammals, our results stress the importance of considering
the influence of male aggression in studies of female choice. |
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