Experimental test of female black howler monkey (Alouatta Pigra) responses to loud calls from potentially infanticidal males: Effects of numeric odds, vulnerable offspring, and companion behavior
✍ Scribed by Dawn M. Kitchen
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2006
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 186 KB
- Volume
- 131
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0002-9483
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
During group defense, the contribution of female black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra) may help deter male intruders; however, their involvement during natural intergroup encounters is facultative. Experimental playback trials simulating potentially infanticidal males were used to examine whether a female's reproductive investment and/or her group's relative fighting ability would influence her participation in loud call displays. Female howlers never responded to recordings without alpha male accompaniment, but their response patterns did not simply mimic his. For example, unlike alpha males, females with small, vulnerable offspring were no more likely than females without infants to participate in howling displays during playback trials. Further, although females without any small infants in their group got closer to speakers than females living in