Female dominance and feeding priority in a prosimian primate: experimental manipulation of feeding competition

Abstract

Female dominance and feeding priority are considered unique behavioral strategies in many Malagasy lemuriformes, particularly Lemur catta. Two hypotheses have been introduced to explain these behavior patterns: 1) females are agonistically dominant over males to mitigate female-male food competition so that females can compensate for high energy demands and inefficient reproductive physiology, and 2) males defer to females when feeding as a reproductive strategy. We tested these hypotheses by conducting controlled feeding experiments on free-ranging ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) on St. Catherine's Island, GA. Food was dispersed in three ways to simulate varying patch sizes. All feeding and agonistic interactions were recorded during each trial (n = 24). The degree of relatedness between individuals was determined using DNA fingerprinting. There was a clear relationship between food dispersion and both expression of female dominance and feeding priority. Elements of both hypotheses were supported because male and female L. catta used different strategies depending on rank and the dispersion of food. Interpretation of the impact of male rank was complicated because the younger, low-ranking males had female relatives in the group. Females fed more than males, and rates of aggression decreased as food dispersion increased. High-ranking, older unrelated males deferred to females and received little aggression. The top-ranking male deferred the most and sired most if not all of the offspring. Low-ranking, younger related males fought with females for access to food sources, received more aggression, and did not sire offspring.

The influence of androgenic steroid hormones on female aggression in ‘atypical’ mammals

“…Moreover, females are generally intolerant of other conspecifics and fail to provide support to others during conflicts [44]. Nearly all lemurs are seasonal breeders and aggression peaks during times of peak mating and birth seasons [45], and female lemur aggression is intimately linked with patterns of feeding [46,47].…”

Sex ratio affects sex‐specific innovation and learning in captive ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegataandVarecia rubra)

“…However, as food in baseline trials was dispersed over a larger area than in the puzzleboxes any effect of male deference or female feeding priority was likely reduced as females could not monopolize the dispersed food as effectively [White et al, 2007]. Novel food resources, particularly those that contain highly desirable food, such as in our puzzlebox, may also provide a prized resource and are therefore more likely to be monopolized.…”

“…The ability of females to gain faster access to the puzzlebox, and to solve it sooner, than males in male-biased groups may relate to the reported female dominance in these species [Overdorff, et al, 2005]. It has been argued that the apparent female dominance observed in lemur species could have evolved in two ways, either due to female agonistic superiority or due to male deference [Kappeler, 1990;Pereira et al, 1990;White et al, 2007]. It is possible that the female dominance effect is only a feeding priority and does not extend to other domains.…”

“…First, multiple groups are accessible to observation in zoos where they are housed in a range of group sizes and sex ratios. Second, there are reports of both female aggression toward males, and male deference to females, during foraging [Overdorff et al, 2005;White et al, 2007]. These effects are potentially sensitive to the sex ratio within the group, and might be expected to affect sex differences in the rate of problem solving, particularly the solving of foraging tasks.…”

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

“…Although this is a provisioned population, L. catta on SCI still come into direct competition with group mates over food resources, including those that are artificially distributed (monkey chow and fruits and vegetables) [White et al, 2007] and naturally occurring. As such, it is possible that male inter-troop movement may reflect the intensity of within-group feeding competition [Sterck et al, 1997] (and therefore be driven by group size) rather than primarily representing a mating strategy of males.…”