Abstracts of presentations: Abstracts 106-118

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 67 KB
• Volume: 45
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0275-2565
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2345(1998)45:2<209::aid-ajp8>3.0.co;2-#

✦ Synopsis

The male leaders of free-ranging harem groups of hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas hamadryas) are believed to sire offspring exclusively with the female members of their harem which they herd aggressively. Even though brief and furtive matings occur between harem females and either non-leader males within the harem or male leaders of other harems, studies of reproductive success of males in harems containing more than 2 or 3 females have not been done. Paternity of 49 offspring born in two different captive groups of hamadryas baboons, each containing five adult males with stable harems of about five females each, was determined using nine microsatellite (STR) loci known to be highly polymorphic in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Reproductive success was widely distributed within each group, but the males in both groups sired only about half their offspring with the females in their own harem. Departures from the strict mating between harem members was not solely correlated with harem size, age or rank of males. The results of this study suggest that harem leaders might not be able to monopolize mating activity in harem groups whose membership exceeds 2-3 females. Occasional demographic circumstances that create effective local panmixia by fostering female choice in mating might always have exerted important evolutionary consequences on free-ranging groups of hamadryas baboons.