Dissertation Research: Mate Choice and Competition Among Female Hamadryas Baboons in the Awash National Park, Ethiopia

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Over the past two decades, the role of female strategies in nonhuman primate societies has become a major topic of investigation. Studies of many primate species have shown that both female and male behavior contribute to primate social organization. Hamadryas baboons, however, have long been considered to be a very male-dominated species, in which the role of females has been assumed to be negligible. Male behavior is distinct and highly visible in hamadryas society: males, in trying to prevent females from mating with other males, are very aggressive toward females and often `herd` them by biting them on the neck. Females are generally described as lacking opportunity, and perhaps even motivation, to escape male coercion and behave independently. However, both observations of hamadryas baboons in captivity and evidence from other primate species suggest that females do pursue their own reproductive interests, independent from the behavior of males. This study will be the first to investigate female mate choice and competition among wild female hamadryas baboons and will thus help to clarify the role of females in this presumably male-dominated species. The study will take place in the Awash National Park, Ethiopia, over a period of 18 months. Focal females will be observed and social and sexual behavior between females and males, as well as competitive interactions among females, will be recorded. Fecal and blood samples will be analyzed genetically to determine paternity of infants born to focal females, which will indicate the males with which females have mated and conceived. This study will contribute to our understanding of social and sexual behavior of wild hamadryas baboons.