Concealed fertility and extended female sexuality in a non-human primate (Macaca assamensis).

In numerous primates living in mixed-sex groups, females display probabilistic cues of fertility to simultaneously concentrate paternity to dominant males while diluting it amongst others as a means to reduce the risk of infanticide and to increase male care for offspring. A few species, however, la...

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Autores principales:	Ines Fürtbauer, Michael Heistermann, Oliver Schülke, Julia Ostner
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2011
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/f5033008561d44ee8edfbd8509d79c38
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:f5033008561d44ee8edfbd8509d79c382021-11-18T06:48:20ZConcealed fertility and extended female sexuality in a non-human primate (Macaca assamensis).1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0023105https://doaj.org/article/f5033008561d44ee8edfbd8509d79c382011-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/21853074/pdf/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203In numerous primates living in mixed-sex groups, females display probabilistic cues of fertility to simultaneously concentrate paternity to dominant males while diluting it amongst others as a means to reduce the risk of infanticide and to increase male care for offspring. A few species, however, lack these cues and potentially conceal fertility from males; yet, to date, little is known about mating patterns and their underlying proximate mechanisms in such species. Here, we investigated mating activity and sexual consortships relative to female reproductive state in wild Assamese macaques (Macaca assamensis), a species where females lack prominent anogenital swellings and copulation calls. During two mating seasons (2837 contact hours) we recorded sexual and social behaviors, sexual consortships, and collected 1178 fecal samples (n = 15 females) which were analyzed for progestogen concentrations to assess female reproductive state and to determine the timing of ovulation and conception. Although mostly conceiving in their first ovarian cycle, females were sexually receptive throughout the entire 4-month mating season, and within-cycle mating frequencies were not increased during fertile phases. Dominant males did not monopolize fertile matings, and consortships by high-ranking males lasted for long periods, which were not exclusively linked to female fertile phases. Furthermore, females copulated promiscuously but not randomly, i.e. for almost every female, matings were concentrated to a certain male, irrespective of male rank. Collectively, we demonstrate that fertility is undisclosed to males. The extreme extended female sexuality facilitated by concealed fertility may allow females to create differentiated mating relationships within a promiscuous mating system. Our study provides important new insight into the plasticity of female sexuality in non-human primates.Ines FürtbauerMichael HeistermannOliver SchülkeJulia OstnerPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 6, Iss 8, p e23105 (2011)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Ines Fürtbauer Michael Heistermann Oliver Schülke Julia Ostner Concealed fertility and extended female sexuality in a non-human primate (Macaca assamensis).
description	In numerous primates living in mixed-sex groups, females display probabilistic cues of fertility to simultaneously concentrate paternity to dominant males while diluting it amongst others as a means to reduce the risk of infanticide and to increase male care for offspring. A few species, however, lack these cues and potentially conceal fertility from males; yet, to date, little is known about mating patterns and their underlying proximate mechanisms in such species. Here, we investigated mating activity and sexual consortships relative to female reproductive state in wild Assamese macaques (Macaca assamensis), a species where females lack prominent anogenital swellings and copulation calls. During two mating seasons (2837 contact hours) we recorded sexual and social behaviors, sexual consortships, and collected 1178 fecal samples (n = 15 females) which were analyzed for progestogen concentrations to assess female reproductive state and to determine the timing of ovulation and conception. Although mostly conceiving in their first ovarian cycle, females were sexually receptive throughout the entire 4-month mating season, and within-cycle mating frequencies were not increased during fertile phases. Dominant males did not monopolize fertile matings, and consortships by high-ranking males lasted for long periods, which were not exclusively linked to female fertile phases. Furthermore, females copulated promiscuously but not randomly, i.e. for almost every female, matings were concentrated to a certain male, irrespective of male rank. Collectively, we demonstrate that fertility is undisclosed to males. The extreme extended female sexuality facilitated by concealed fertility may allow females to create differentiated mating relationships within a promiscuous mating system. Our study provides important new insight into the plasticity of female sexuality in non-human primates.
format	article
author	Ines Fürtbauer Michael Heistermann Oliver Schülke Julia Ostner
author_facet	Ines Fürtbauer Michael Heistermann Oliver Schülke Julia Ostner
author_sort	Ines Fürtbauer
title	Concealed fertility and extended female sexuality in a non-human primate (Macaca assamensis).
title_short	Concealed fertility and extended female sexuality in a non-human primate (Macaca assamensis).
title_full	Concealed fertility and extended female sexuality in a non-human primate (Macaca assamensis).
title_fullStr	Concealed fertility and extended female sexuality in a non-human primate (Macaca assamensis).
title_full_unstemmed	Concealed fertility and extended female sexuality in a non-human primate (Macaca assamensis).
title_sort	concealed fertility and extended female sexuality in a non-human primate (macaca assamensis).
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2011
url	https://doaj.org/article/f5033008561d44ee8edfbd8509d79c38
work_keys_str_mv	AT inesfurtbauer concealedfertilityandextendedfemalesexualityinanonhumanprimatemacacaassamensis AT michaelheistermann concealedfertilityandextendedfemalesexualityinanonhumanprimatemacacaassamensis AT oliverschulke concealedfertilityandextendedfemalesexualityinanonhumanprimatemacacaassamensis AT juliaostner concealedfertilityandextendedfemalesexualityinanonhumanprimatemacacaassamensis
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Concealed fertility and extended female sexuality in a non-human primate (Macaca assamensis).

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