The adaptive value of secondary males in the polygynous multi‐level society of hamadryas baboons

Chowdhury, Shahrina; Pines, Mathew; Saunders, Julian; Swedell, Larissa

doi:10.1002/ajpa.22804

Cited by 27 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 98 publications

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“…Females are spatially segregated from other OMUs, partly through male enforcement (Kummer, ; Swedell & Schreier, ). Despite their name, some OMUs may have “follower males” (Chowdhury, Pines, Saunders, & Swedell, ; Kummer, ; Pines, Saunders, & Swedell, ), who are less likely to interact sexually with females than leader males (Swedell, ). Multiple OMUs aggregate into clans, and several clans and additional bachelor males form a band (Kummer, ; Swedell & Plummer, ).…”

Section: Baboons As a Model For Social Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Charting the neglected West: The social system of Guinea baboons

Fischer

Kopp

Pesco

et al. 2017

American J Phys Anthropol

109

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Objectives: Primate social systems are remarkably diverse, and thus play a central role in understanding social evolution, including the biological origin of human societies. Although baboons have been prominently featured in this context, historically little was known about the westernmost member of the genus, the Guinea baboon (Papio papio). Material and Methods:Here, we summarize the findings from the first years of observations at the field site CRP Simenti in the Niokolo Koba National Park in Senegal.Results: Guinea baboons reveal a nested multi-level social organization, with reproductive units comprising one "primary" male, one to several females, young, and occasionally "secondary" males at the base of the society. Three to five units form "parties," which team up with other parties to form a "gang." Different gangs have largely overlapping home ranges and agonistic interactions between different parties or gangs are rare. Some but not all strongly socially bonded males are highly related, and population genetic and behavioral evidence indicate female-biased dispersal.Females play an important role in intersexual bond formation and maintenance, and female tenure length varies between a few weeks to several years.Discussion: While the social organization resembles that of hamadryas baboons (P. hamadryas), the social structure differs considerably, specifically in terms of low male aggressiveness and female freedom. Despite substantial differences in social organization and social structure, the acoustic structure of Guinea baboon vocalizations does not differ substantially from that of other baboon taxa. With its multi-level organization, stable bonds between males and females, as well as a high-degree of male-male cooperation and tolerance, Guinea baboons constitute an intriguing model for reconstructing human social evolution.

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Section: Baboons As a Model For Social Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Charting the neglected West: The social system of Guinea baboons

Fischer

Kopp

Pesco

et al. 2017

American J Phys Anthropol

109

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“…Few studies have addressed this topic in other species with both one‐male and multimale groups. In both hamadryas and gelada baboons, the presence of follower males led to longer tenures, more females per group, and increased reproductive success for the dominant male and also provided benefits for the followers . In contrast, Port et al found no benefits for dominant male Verreaux's sifakas to have followers, but those followers have higher fitness than males that do not join groups (floaters).…”

Section: Fitness Consequences Of Male Dispersalmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…In both hamadryas and gelada baboons, the presence of follower males led to longer tenures, more females per group, and increased reproductive success for the dominant male and also provided benefits for the followers. 16,81 In contrast, Port et al 14 National Park, Gabon, 89 ) or human barriers (i.e., Grauer's gorillas in the highland sector of Kahuzi-Beiga is only~100 km 2 ), multimale groups rarely occur. 35 The possibility that human disturbance has had an influence on grouping patterns in mountain gorillas cannot be ruled out, but there is also no practical way to test the hypothesis.…”

Section: Subordinate Males: Stay or Go?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in the social organization of gorillas: Life history and socioecological perspectives

Robbins

2018

Evolutionary Anthropology

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A focus of socioecological research is to understand how ecological, social, and life history factors influence the variability of social organization within and between species. The genus Gorilla exhibits variability in social organization with western gorilla groups being almost exclusively one‐male, yet approximately 40% of mountain gorilla groups are multimale. We review five ultimate causes for the variability in social organization within and among gorilla populations: human disturbance, ecological constraints on group size, risk of infanticide, life history patterns, and population density. We find the most evidence for the ecological constraints and life history hypotheses, but an over‐riding explanation remains elusive. The variability may hinge on variation in female dispersal patterns, as females seek a group of optimal size and with a good protector male. Our review illustrates the challenges of understanding why the social organization of closely related species may deviate from predictions based on socioecological and life history theory.

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“…We do not know the strategy behind the takeovers for enough dyads of known kinship to test whether followers that are related to leaders are more likely to inherit adult females than unrelated followers. Nevertheless, it has recently been shown that OMUs with one or more followers produce three times as many offspring as OMUs without followers due to prolonged leader and female tenures and the acquisition by leaders of twice as many females during their tenure [Chowdhury et al, ]. Thus, assuming, as behavioral evidence suggests, near exclusive paternity certainty for leader males, the presence of followers appears to increase a leader's direct fitness and consequentially a related follower's indirect fitness [Chowdhury et al, ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Follower males apparently benefit from their status as followers in that they often acquire more of their leader's females than other males [Pines et al, , ]. Leader males also benefit from follower presence, which is associated with longer leader tenure lengths, more females, and higher reproductive output based on observational data [Chowdhury et al, ]. If followers and leaders are kin, then both could also benefit via inclusive fitness [Abegglen, ; Chowdhury et al, ; Colmenares, ; Pines et al, ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ties that bind: Maternal kin bias in a multilevel primate society despite natal dispersal by both sexes

Städele

Pines²,

Swedell

et al. 2016

American J Primatol

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In many social animals, individuals derive fitness benefits from close social bonds, which are often formed among kin of the philopatric sex. Hamadryas baboons, however, exhibit a hierarchical, multilevel social system where both sexes disperse from their natal one-male-unit (OMU). Although this would seem to hinder maintenance of kin ties, both sexes appear largely philopatric at the higher order band and clan levels, possibly allowing for bonds with same sex kin by both males and females. In order to investigate the possibility of kin bonds in hamadryas baboons, we identified kin dyads in a band without known pedigree information using a large panel of genetic markers: 1 Y-linked, 4 X-linked, and 23 autosomal microsatellites and part of the mitochondrial hypervariable region I. With these data, we performed a kinship analysis while accounting for misclassification rates through simulations and determined kinship among two types of dyads: leader and follower males and female dyads within OMUs. Leader and follower males were maternal relatives more often than expected by chance, suggesting that kinship plays a role in the formation of these relationships. Moreover, maternal female relatives were found in the same OMU more often than expected by chance, indicating that females may be motivated to maintain post-dispersal contact with maternal female kin. Our results suggest that hamadryas baboons can recognize maternal kin and that kin selection has contributed to shaping their complex social system. This implies that an ancestral maternal kin bias has been retained in hamadryas society. Am. J. Primatol. 78:731-744, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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The adaptive value of secondary males in the polygynous multi‐level society of hamadryas baboons

Cited by 27 publications

References 98 publications

Charting the neglected West: The social system of Guinea baboons

Charting the neglected West: The social system of Guinea baboons

Variation in the social organization of gorillas: Life history and socioecological perspectives

The ties that bind: Maternal kin bias in a multilevel primate society despite natal dispersal by both sexes

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