Costs of and Investment in Mate-Guarding in Wild Long-Tailed Macaques (Macaca fascicularis): Influences of Female Characteristics and Male–Female Social Bonds

• Published in: International journal of primatology Vol. 35; no. 3-4; pp. 701 - 724
• Main Authors: Girard-Buttoz, Cédric, Heistermann, Michael, Rahmi, Erdiansyah, Agil, Muhammad, Fauzan, Panji Ahmad, Engelhardt, Antje
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.08.2014; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal behavior; Animal Ecology; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Animal reproduction; Anthropology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Evolutionary Biology; Females; Human Genetics; Life Sciences; Macaca fascicularis; Mate selection; Old World monkeys; Primate behaviour; Primate reproduction; Primates; Primatology; Zoology; Feeding costs; Vigilance; Reproductive effort; Glucocorticoids; Mate choice; Macaca fascicularis
• ISSN: 0164-0291; 1573-8604
• DOI: 10.1007/s10764-014-9775-3

Male primates living in multimale groups tend to direct mate and mate-guarding choices toward females of high reproductive value, i.e., high-ranking, parous females, or females with which they share strong bonds. Little is known, however, about the constraints that may limit male mate-guarding choices (the costs of this behavior) and the influence of the females’ quality on male investment in mate-guarding. We aimed to study the effects of female rank, parity status, and male–female social bond strength on the costs of and investment in mate-guarding by males. We carried out our study during two reproductive seasons on three groups of wild long-tailed macaques in Indonesia. We combined behavioral observations on male locomotion and activity with noninvasive measurements of fecal glucocorticoids (fGC). Males spent less time feeding when mate-guarding nulliparous females than when mate-guarding parous females and tended to have higher fGC levels when mate-guarding low-ranking nulliparous females than when mate-guarding high-ranking nulliparous ones. Evolution should thus favor male choice for high-ranking parous females because such a decision brings benefits at proximate (reduced costs of mate-guarding) and ultimate (higher reproductive value) levels. Further, male investment in mate-guarding was flexible and contingent on female reproductive and social value. Males were more vigilant and more aggressive toward other males when mate-guarding females to which they were strongly bonded and/or high-ranking ones than when mate-guarding other females. Our findings bring a new dimension to the study of mate choice by showing that males not only mate preferentially with high-quality females but may also aim to secure paternity with these females through optimized monopolization.