Primate colour predicts social status and aggressive outcome

“Red wins”, “black wins” and “blue loses” effects are in the eye of beholder, but they are culturally universal: A cross-cultural analysis of the influence of outfit colours on sports performance.

“…Because this topic has been analyzed in many previous studies (e.g., Attrill et al, 2008;Hill & Burton, 2005;Sorokowski & Szmajke, 2007) we only note that in animals, among many species, red coloring or red skin are signals of the male's quality in terms of sex and testosterone level (Bakker & Milinski, 1993;Pryke, Andersson, Lawes, & Piper, 2002;Setchell & Wickings, 2005;Waitt et al, 2003). Despite many suggested explanations, such a phenomenon seems to be connected, above all, to male competition and showing superiority to other males (Gerald, 2001;Pryke et al, 2002;Setchell & Wickings, 2000). The results of the ethologists' research presented above allow us to state that a male's red coloring is a factor in facilitating his victory over other competing males.…”

Color in competition contexts in non-human animals

“…As in birds (Montgomerie, 2006b), the study of primate colour began with subjective rankings and descriptions (J. S. Price et al, 1976;Wickings & Dixson, 1992), then progressed to visual comparison to colour charts (Gauthier, 1999;Gerald, 2001;Setchell & Dixson, 2001a, 2001b, 2001c). This works well for categories (e.g., dark vs. pale) and for species with large individual differences in colour.…”

“…An elegant experimental study split captive male vervets into two categories, based on their scrotal coloration: pale and dark (Gerald, 2001). Pale males were assigned to three experimental groups: pale; painted males, painted with spray paint to match dark males; and control males, painted with clear, transparent spray paint.…”

“…It may be that age and size differences are the primary determinants of rank among wild males, rendering colour differences less important. Further study of the relationship between rank and colour in existing groups is clearly needed, using modern methods to quantify colour, testing for colour change in relation to changes in dominance rank, and linking colour phenotype to reproductive success (Gerald, 2001). Moreover, no study has yet included the red component of the vervet multi-component display.…”

“…We only have experimental evidence for one species (vervets) that males attend to differences in the coloration of rivals (Gerald, 2001). However, while this is strong evidence that blue skin acts as a badge of status in this species, no relationship between rank and colour has been found in the wild.…”