Dissertation Research: Male Tactics and Female Mate Choice in Captive Savanna Baboons

论文研究：圈养稀树草原狒狒的雄性策略和雌性择偶

• 批准号: 9528277
• 负责人: Barbara Smuts
• 金额: $ 1.09万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1996
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1996-04-01 至 1998-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9528277&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Male; Tactics; Female

In recent years, an increasing amount of research has been devoted to examining the importance of mate choice by females in primate sexual relationships. However, our understanding of female mate choice is limited due to the difficulty of teasing apart effects of female choice from effects of male behavior which may influence female mate choice. For example, evidence from numerous nonhuman primate species suggests that females are constrained in expressing their mating preferences due to male strategies that involve aggressive exclusion of rivals and sexual coercion of females. Because female mate choice will often be constrained by male tactics, it is difficult to ascertain whether a particular act represents the female's preference, or a compromise between her interests and those of males. This research will involve an experimental study on captive savanna baboons in order to investigate female mating preferences in the absence of male opportunities to coerce females or exclude rival males. This will be accomplished by comparing male-female interactions in a naturalistic outdoor group setting and an experimental condition in which females are given an opportunity to associate and mate with a choice of males in the absence of male tactics. If females' choices of mates are constrained significantly by male behavior, they should associate and mate with different males and/or a greater number of males under experimental conditions than naturalistic group conditions. The proposed research is one of the first attempts to examine nonhuman primate female mate choice experimentally and the first study in a nonhuman primate to investigate the extent to which male mating tactics constrain female mate choice. This experimental paradigm also provides a unique opportunity for validating female preference signals. By comparing females' behavior in the outdoor group setting with their behavior during experimental mate-choice trials, the researchers will determine whether any behaviors exhibited by estrous females in the naturalistic group setting are reliable indicators of female mating preferences for particular males (i.e. female preference signals).

近年来，越来越多的研究致力于探讨灵长类动物性关系中女性择偶的重要性。 然而，我们对女性择偶的理解是有限的，因为很难将女性择偶的影响与男性行为的影响区分开来，这可能会影响女性择偶。 例如，来自许多非人类灵长类物种的证据表明，由于雄性策略涉及对竞争对手的侵略性排斥和对雌性的性胁迫，雌性在表达其交配偏好时受到限制。 由于雌性的择偶往往会受到雄性策略的限制，因此很难确定某一特定行为是否代表了雌性的偏好，或者是她的利益与雄性利益之间的妥协。 这项研究将涉及对圈养的热带草原狒狒的实验研究，以调查在没有雄性机会强迫雌性或排除竞争对手的雄性的情况下，雌性的交配偏好。 这将是通过比较男性和女性的互动在一个自然的户外组设置和实验条件下，女性有机会与男性的选择，在没有男性策略的关联和交配。 如果雌性的择偶受到雄性行为的显着限制，那么在实验条件下，她们应该与不同的雄性和/或比自然群体条件下更多数量的雄性进行交往和交配。 这项研究是首次尝试通过实验研究非人灵长类动物的雌性择偶行为，也是首次在非人灵长类动物中研究雄性择偶策略在多大程度上限制雌性择偶行为。 这种实验范式也为验证女性偏好信号提供了一个独特的机会。 通过比较雌性在户外群体环境中的行为与它们在实验性择偶试验中的行为，研究人员将确定自然主义群体环境中发情雌性所表现出的任何行为是否是雌性对特定雄性交配偏好的可靠指标（即雌性偏好信号）。