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

在过去的二十年里，雌性策略在非人灵长类动物社会中的作用已经成为研究的一个主要话题。对许多灵长类物种的研究表明，雌性和雄性的行为都有助于灵长类动物的社会组织。然而，长期以来，哈马德里亚斯狒狒一直被认为是一个非常雄性主导的物种，其中雌性的作用被认为是可以忽略不计的。在hamadryas社会中，雄性的行为是非常明显的：雄性为了阻止雌性与其他雄性交配，对雌性非常有攻击性，经常通过咬它们的脖子来“驱赶”它们。女性通常被描述为缺乏机会，甚至可能是动机，来逃避男性的强迫，独立行事。然而，对圈养的hamadryas狒狒的观察和来自其他灵长类物种的证据都表明，雌性狒狒确实追求自己的生殖利益，独立于雄性狒狒的行为。这项研究将首次调查野生雌性hamadryas狒狒的雌性配偶选择和竞争，从而有助于澄清雌性在这个可能由雄性主导的物种中的作用。这项研究将在埃塞俄比亚的阿瓦什国家公园进行，为期18个月。将观察焦点雌性，并记录雌性和雄性之间的社会和性行为，以及雌性之间的竞争相互作用。将对粪便和血液样本进行遗传分析，以确定焦点雌性所生婴儿的父亲身份，这将表明与雌性交配和怀孕的雄性。这项研究将有助于我们对野生大角狒狒的社会和性行为的理解。

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.