Abstract:
Female dominance over males is more frequent in Malagasy lemurs than in other primate clades, but patterns of female-male dominance vary among species, and few data are available for one particularly species-rich genus, Lepilemur. We investigated the types, temporal distribution, and outcome of female-male agonistic conflicts in the Milne-Edwards\' sportive lemur (Lepilemur edwardsi). Ten L. edwardsi belonging to five social units were equipped with radio collars and observed during 79 focal follows between May and November 1998. We quantified agonistic conflicts, monthly conflict rates, and documented the winner and context for all conflicts. Female-male agonistic conflicts (N = 162) occurred at a mean rate of 0.21 conflicts/hour within groups. Agonistic conflicts peaked during the birth season and occurred mostly in unknown or infant proximity contexts. Females won 96% of all decided agonistic conflicts (N = 154). Other outcomes occurred only when females were with infants during the birth season. In that context, one female sometimes withdrew from her pair partner, and another female withdrew or fled from an extra-group male whose attacks eventually led to infanticide. Our results suggest female dominance in pair-living L. edwardsi. We hypothesize that elevated female aggression may convey fitness benefits to female Lepilemur because it generally allows females to intervene quickly and efficiently on behalf of their infants against nonfather males who may approach the newborn infants when they are parked in vegetation.
摘要:
在马达加斯加狐猴中,雌性对雄性的统治比在其他灵长类动物中更为频繁,但是雌雄优势的模式因物种而异,一个物种特别丰富的属的数据很少,Lepilemur.我们调查了类型,时间分布,以及米尔恩-爱德华兹运动型狐猴(Lepilemuredwardsi)中男女激动冲突的结果。1998年5月至11月期间,属于五个社会单位的10名爱德华博士配备了无线电项圈,并在79个联络人之后进行了观察。我们量化了激烈的冲突,每月冲突率,并记录了所有冲突的赢家和背景。群体内男女激动性冲突(N=162)的平均发生率为0.21冲突/小时。激动性冲突在出生季节达到顶峰,主要发生在未知或婴儿接近的情况下。女性赢得了所有决定性激动性冲突的96%(N=154)。其他结果仅在女性在出生季节与婴儿在一起时才发生。在这种情况下,一名女性有时会退出她的伴侣,另一名女性退出或逃离了一名额外的男性,其袭击最终导致了杀婴。我们的结果表明,女性在成对生活的爱德华斯中占主导地位。我们假设女性攻击性的提高可能会给女性Lepilemur带来健身益处,因为它通常允许女性代表其婴儿进行快速有效的干预,以对抗非父亲男性,这些男性在将新生儿停在植被中时可能会接近新生儿。