Patterns of paternity and group fission in wild multimale mountain gorilla groups

Autor: Linda Vigilant, Christophe Boesch, Martha M. Robbins, Anthony M. Nsubuga
Rok vydání: 2008
Předmět:
Zdroj: American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 135:263-274
ISSN: 1096-8644
0002-9483
Popis: To understand variation among social sys- tems, it is essential to know the relative reproductive suc- cess of individuals in group-living species. Particularly inter- esting for such studies are taxa such as mountain gorillas in which both one-male and multimale groups are common, because of the opportunity to estimate the costs and benefits to males of pursuing different reproductive strategies. We genotyped 68 individuals from two groups of multimale mountain gorilla groups in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda to determine the distribution of paternity among the males. In both groups, the dominant male sired the majority of offspring. One group underwent a fission, and we found that the eight offspring assigned to the domi- nant silverback (and their mothers) remained with their fa- ther, while the two offspring of unknown paternity ended up in the small group headed by the formerly subordinate sil- verback. This is consistent with the proposal that the out- come of group fission in primates is not only influenced by maternal relationships among individuals, but also by patri- lineal relationships. Results of this study show that subordi- nate males may gain reproductive benefits even while queu- ing for dominance status. Despite ecological differences between Bwindi and the Virunga Volcanoes, male mountain gorillas living in both populations benefit from remaining in multimale groups. Am J Phys Anthropol 135:263-274, 2008. V C 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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