Male competition and paternity in wild chimpanzees of the Taï forest
| Autor: | Grégoire Nohon Kohou, Linda Vigilant, Christophe Boesch, Honora Néné |
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| Rok vydání: | 2006 |
| Předmět: |
Male
Competitive Behavior Pan troglodytes Offspring media_common.quotation_subject Paternity Hierarchy Social Competition (biology) Sexual Behavior Animal Pregnancy biology.animal Animals Primate media_common Reproductive success biology National park Age Factors Models Theoretical DNA Fingerprinting Cote d'Ivoire Dominance (ethology) Anthropology Pregnancy Animal Social animal Female Anatomy Reproduction Demography |
| Zdroj: | American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 130:103-115 |
| ISSN: | 1096-8644 0002-9483 |
| Popis: | In social animals, competition among males for mates affects individual reproductive success. The priority-of-access model attempts to account for the influence of demographic conditions within groups upon male reproductive success, but empirical data for testing this model are scarce. Our long-term study of chimpanzees in the Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire, encompasses a period of steady decrease in community size and fluctuating numbers of competing males and sexually receptive females. These demographic changes, in combination with genetic assessment of paternity for 48 offspring from three communities, allowed us to quantify the effects of varying levels of competition upon male reproductive success. On average, the highest-ranking male sired 50% of all analyzed offspring during a 14-year period from 1987-2000. Competition among males strongly decreased the relative reproductive success of the alpha male, such that the alpha male's rate of success decreased from 67% with few competitors to only 38% with four or more competitors. The increasing number of synchronously receptive females in large groups also reduced the proportion of paternities by the alpha male. Thus, patterns of paternity in Taï chimpanzees fit well the predictions of the priority-of-access model. We also found that despite the inability of dominants to monopolize reproduction, they achieved a higher reproductive rate in large multimale groups, because these have more females and a higher infant survival rate. Varied levels of male competition within communities seem to explain differences in the reproductive success of alpha males observed in different chimpanzee populations, and in other primate species. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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