Titre |
Are Eulemur species pairbonded Social organization and mating stratégies of Eulemur fulvus rufus in Madagascar?. |
Titre de la série |
American Journal of Physical Anthropology. |
Résumé |
Strong social relationships have been reported between adult male and female prosimian primates in the genera Eulemur and Varecia and have been referred to as "pair-bonding." It has been hypothesized that females benefit from these affiliative relationships with an adult male by having protection against infanticidal males, implying that the male member of the dyad also is the father of her offspring. I evaluated this hypothesis and whether or not the term pair-bond was appropriate by using field data collected on two groups of Eulemur fulvus rufus in southeastern Madagascar. Four predictions were tested: 1) male-female dyads will be stable throughout the year, 2) male-female dyads will be more prevalent during the mating season, and/or the birth season when infants would be most vulnerable to infanticide, 3) females should copulate either exclusively or most often with their male dyad partner than with other males during the mating and/or birth season, and 4) rates of aggression will be higher between males or between females and males who are not their dyad partner. |