Dominance rank reversals and rank instability among male Lemur catta: The effects of female behavior and ejaculation

Parga, Joyce A.

doi:10.1002/ajpa.20927

Cited by 13 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…Behaviour classified as agonistic could be high arousal (e.g., bite/jump away, chase/flee, stalk/cower or attack/withdraw) or low arousal (e.g., displacement/be displaced, or stare/look away) (Gould, ; Parga, , ; Pereira & Kappeler, ). We determined individual male dominance scores from these data following methods described in detail by Bolt (,c, ), using dominance index calculations (Zumpe & Michael, ), which take all aggressive and submissive interactions in each group into account before assigning an individual dominance percentage to each group member based on the relative number of agonistic wins.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contact calling behaviour in the male ring‐tailed lemur (Lemur catta)

Bolt

Tennenhouse

2017

Ethology

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The ring‐tailed lemur (Lemur catta) is a group‐living strepsirhine primate endemic to Madagascar that has a complex vocal repertoire including affiliative moan and hmm calls. Past research has suggested that both vocalisations may be contact calls, and we assessed their usage in addition to examining the effect of individual differences and social factors on male calling behaviour. We tested three hypotheses: the group cohesion, preferred companion and individual differences hypotheses. From March to July 2010, 565 h of focal animal data were collected on 31 males aged ≥1 year at the Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve, Madagascar. Focal males were observed for 30 min, with vocalisations, allogrooming and agonistic interactions noted using one‐zero sampling, and general behaviour, nearest neighbour identity and distance noted using instantaneous point sampling, all at 2.5 min intervals. We found support for the group cohesion hypothesis for both vocalisations, and support for the preferred companion and individual differences hypotheses for the hmm but not the moan vocalisation. Moan and hmm calls maintained the distance between a male and his nearest neighbour, and were made at higher rates during behaviours which may lead to separation from conspecifics, such as travel and vigilance. Males made hmm calls at higher rates when they were low‐ranking, and/or when the nearest neighbour of a male or a preferred companion of either sex. Low‐ranking males may hmm call to maintain proximity to specific individuals within social groups who will show them increased tolerance, with the hmm signalling peaceful intent. Ring‐tailed lemurs are one of the best living models of gregarious primate ancestors, and gaining a better knowledge of the function and range of usage of their contact calls informs our understanding of the evolution of primate cognition.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contact calling behaviour in the male ring‐tailed lemur (Lemur catta)

Bolt

Tennenhouse

2017

Ethology

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“…One possible explanation involves consideration that in the ring-tailed lemur, male dominance ranks do not always remain stable throughout the annual breeding season [Koyama, 1988;Sauther, 1991;Gould 1994Gould , 1997Gould and Ziegler, 2007;Parga, 2009], which comprised part of my data collection period. In my study, high-ranking males who won agonistic interactions before and after the mating season did not win consistently throughout [Bolt, 2013c].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…cuff, bite or jump fight). An agonistic interaction involves 1 or more acts of avoidance, aggression or defence between 2 individuals [Gould, 1994;Pereira and Kappeler, 1997;Parga 2006aParga , 2009. Times with male-male agonism were defined as 2.5-min one-zero sampling intervals that contained at least 1 instance of intrasexual agonism involving the focal male, while times without male-male agonism meant a 2.5-min sampling interval that did not contain any instances of male-male agonism involving the focal male.…”

Section: Description Of Study Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The male dominance rank is stable for much of the year [Jolly, 1966], but loses stability during the short breeding season, which my data collection encompassed [Budnitz and Dainis, 1975;Gould, 1994]. During the breeding season, subordinate males may temporarily win agonistic encounters against dominant males [Budnitz and Dainis, 1975;Gould, 1994;Gould and Ziegler, 2007;Parga, 2009]. Dominance was calculated from focal data using dominance index calculations, which tally all decided agonistic and submissive interactions before assigning individual males a dominance percentage within its troop [Zumpe and Michael, 1986].…”

Section: Assessing Male Rankmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Male-Specific Use of the Purr in the Ring-Tailed Lemur (Lemur catta)

Bolt

2014

Folia Primatol

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In mammals, purring has been described in mostly affiliative contexts. In the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta), both males and females purr, but only males were observed purring in agonistic contexts. In order to determine whether male ring-tailed lemurs purr as aggressive displays during intrasexual agonistic encounters, 480 h of focal data were collected on 25 adult males from Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve, Madagascar, from March to July 2010. The male purring rate increased during periods of male-male agonism when compared to times without intrasexual agonism, and the purring rate was positively correlated with male dominance rank. However, the purring rate was not significantly higher during winning agonistic interactions when compared with losing encounters. My results indicate that the male ring-tailed lemur purr is used most frequently as an agonistic vocalization in male-male encounters, in addition to being used less frequently in other social contexts, including during tail-waving at females, resting, scent-marking, feeding and copulation. Dominant males have higher purring rates across social situations, suggesting that the purring rate may be driven by intrinsic male qualities rather than functioning as a meaningful signal in each disparate social context. Male purring in intrasexual agonistic encounters can be added to previously described social contexts for ring-tailed lemur purring.

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“…Most females conceive during their first estrous cycle of the season in the wild [Sauther, 1991] and on SCI [Parga and Lessnau, 2005]. Female L. catta often mate with more than 1 male during estrus, including high-and low-ranking resident males, extra-group males and 'visiting' males [Koyama, 1988;Pereira and Weiss, 1991;Sauther, 1991;Sussman, 1991Sussman, , 1992Gould, 1994Gould, , 1996Sauther et al, 1999;Parga, 2009], and female mate choice has been documented in captive [Van Horn and Resko, 1977;Taylor and Sussman, 1985;Taylor, 1986;Pereira and Weiss, 1991] and wild individuals [Koyama, 1988;Sauther, 1991;Gould, 1994]. Male L. catta are multiple-mount ejaculators, meaning that a copulatory bout typically involves several separate mounts with penile intromission that culminate in a single ejaculation [Sauther 1991;Parga et al, 2006].…”

Section: Study Site and Study Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Male Inter-Troop Transfer as a Mating Strategy among Ring-Tailed Lemurs on St. Catherines Island, USA

Parga

2010

IJFP

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One commonly cited function of dispersal is to increase mating opportunities. In this study, I evaluated the hypothesis that male inter-troop transfer is used as a mating strategy in ring-tailed lemurs, Lemur catta, on St. Catherines Island (SCI), Ga., USA. I measured male mating success and inter-troop transfer behavior across 5 years in a population consisting of 4 lemur groups on SCI. Data strongly supported dispersal as a successful mating strategy of natal males, because these males did not mate within their natal groups, but always mated in their new groups of entry. For secondary male dispersal (transfers between 2 non-natal groups), data on 2 males collected in breeding seasons immediately prior to and following transfer show that their individual mating success measures increased following a transfer. Data revealed that among non-natal males, high-ranking males on SCI were more likely to transfer between groups than lower-ranking males, which is somewhat contrary to the more common trend among primates of lower-ranking males transferring more frequently. In sum, male primary dispersal appears to function as a mating strategy among male L. catta on SCI, with indications that secondary dispersal may also be successful at increasing male mating success.

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Dominance rank reversals and rank instability among male Lemur catta: The effects of female behavior and ejaculation

Cited by 13 publications

References 95 publications

Contact calling behaviour in the male ring‐tailed lemur (Lemur catta)

Contact calling behaviour in the male ring‐tailed lemur (Lemur catta)

Male-Specific Use of the Purr in the Ring-Tailed Lemur <b><i>(Lemur catta)</i></b>

Evaluation of Male Inter-Troop Transfer as a Mating Strategy among Ring-Tailed Lemurs on St. Catherines Island, USA

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