Doctoral Dissertation Research: Female Counterstrategies to Male Aggression Among Primates

hamadryas狒狒是一种具有独特而复杂的多层次社会系统的非人灵长类动物，在这种社会系统中，雄性狒狒在不同的社会单位之间转移雌性狒狒。hamadryas的社会系统可能比任何非人类灵长类动物与人类有更多的相似之处，因此这项研究有很大的潜力来增强我们对人类社会进化的理解。此外，本研究将提供野生动物的经验数据，以改善美国动物园圈养动物的管理，并可为人类妇产科提供参考。该项目将支持研究人员的培训、保护意识、预防人类与野生动物的冲突，以及改善研究地点周围地区的蛇咬伤治疗方案。Hamadryas的收购涉及大量的男性侵略；它们导致女性生育延迟，以及总体上较高的杀婴率和婴儿死亡率。利用从埃塞俄比亚Filoha的野生雌性hamadryas狒狒收集的粪便激素样本中收集的观察行为数据和内分泌测量，研究人员将研究雌性狒狒可能对抗这种胁迫及其影响的策略。例如，哺乳期的雌性在被雄性接管后可能会显示出性接受的错误信号，从而防止失去一个依赖的婴儿。此外，怀孕的雌性可能会采取接管后终止妊娠的策略，从而减轻对后代投资的最终损失。这个项目将是第一个为任何灵长类动物的欺骗性肿胀提供激素证据的项目，也是第一个为hamadryas狒狒怀孕失败提供激素证据的项目。更广泛地说，本研究的结果将填补有关性选择、性冲突和男女生殖策略共同进化的理论科学文献的空白。

This study focuses on the interacting male and female reproductive strategies of hamadryas baboons, a nonhuman primate with a unique and complex multilevel social system in which males transfer females between social units. The hamadryas social system may have more parallels to humans of any nonhuman primate, thus this study has great potential to enhance our understanding of human social evolution. In addition, this study will provide empirical data from wild animals to improve captive animal management in zoological parks in the USA and may also inform human obstetrics and gynecology. The project will support researcher training, conservation awareness, prevention of human-wildlife conflict, and improvement of snake-bite treatment options in areas surrounding the research site. Hamadryas takeovers involve substantial male aggression; they lead to delayed reproduction in females as well as higher rates of infanticide and infant mortality in general. Using observational behavioral data and endocrine measures from fecal hormone samples collected from wild hamadryas baboon females at Filoha, Ethiopia, the investigators will study female strategies that may function to counteract this coercion and its implications. For example, lactating females may display false signals of sexual receptivity to males post-takeover, thereby preventing the loss of a dependent infant. In addition, pregnant females may use a strategy of pregnancy termination post-takeover, thus mitigating the eventual loss of investment in offspring. This project would be the first to provide hormonal evidence of deceptive swellings in any primate species, as well as the first to provide hormonal evidence for pregnancy failure in hamadryas baboons. More broadly, the results of this study will fill gaps in the theoretical scientific literature on sexual selection, sexual conflict, and the co-evolution of male and female reproductive strategies.