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

Abstract

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.

Inbreeding Avoidance in Male Primates: A Response to Female Mate Choice?

“…After receiving aggression from related females and being unable to achieve intromission in their natal groups, young male ring‐tailed lemurs who transfer to a new social group enjoy some mating success (Parga ). Pereira and Weiss () argued that because female ring‐tailed lemurs routinely repel the sexual advances of closely related males, natal males disperse in response to their severely limited reproductive opportunities.…”

“Stink flirting” in ring‐tailed lemurs (Lemur catta): Male olfactory displays to females as honest, costly signals

“…Accordingly, our data seem to suggest that although a high rate of olfactory signaling seems to be a part of the alternative male mating strategy of transferring between groups to encounter new mates, showing high signaling rates does not reliably lead to mating success for these novel males. The process of male L. catta transferring between groups (Gould, , ) has been previously identified as a male mating strategy (Parga, ; Sauther, ; Sauther & Sussman, ; Sussman, ), with data on male transfer decisions supporting this function; for example, males avoid transferring into groups having greater numbers of males and/or groups with more male‐biased sex ratios (Parga & Lessnau, ; Sussman, ). Although no peripheral (immigrant or visiting) male was observed to mate with group females in this study, female L. catta have been known to mate with both newly transferred males and males attempting to transfer (Koyama, ; Parga, ; Pereira & Weiss, ; Sauther, ; Sussman, ).…”

Heteropaternity of twins in ring‐tailed lemurs (Lemur catta)

“…All males that were present in the free‐ranging colony and old enough at the time of conception to sire an infant (≥1 year of age) were considered as potential candidate sires. Although in the wild males will typically only mate for the first time once they disperse from their natal groups at approximately 2–5 years of age (Koyama, Nakamichi, Ichino, & Takahata, ; Sussman, ), at our research site of SCI, a yearling male (20 months of age) has been observed to disperse from his natal group and mate to ejaculation (Parga, ), necessitating the inclusion of males this young as potential sires. The genotype file used by CERVUS included the genotypes of all individuals in the colony during the years of our study.…”