The context of sexual coercion in orang-utans: when do male and female mating interests collide?

Kunz, Julia; Duvot, Guilhem J.; Willems, Erik P.; Stickelberger, Julia; Spillmann, Brigitte; Atmoko, Sri Suci Utami; Noordwijk, Maria A. van; Schaik, Carel P. van

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.09.012

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 90 publications

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“…Female orangutans in this study population mated proceptively with flanged males during the periovulatory period and mated with multiple males at other times, which is consistent with a mixed mating strategy as an infanticide avoidance strategy (Knott et al, 2010; Stumpf et al, 2008). Additionally, female orangutans at Tuanan, Borneo, and Suaq, Sumatra, were less resistant to mating attempts from subordinate males when dominant males were not nearby and more resistant to mating attempts from subordinate males when dominant males were nearby (Kunz, Duvot, Willems, et al, 2021). These mating patterns are consistent with an infanticide avoidance strategy, mating with multiple whiles while simultaneously inflating a dominant male's own paternity assessment (Kunz, Duvot, van Noordwijk et al, 2021; van Schaik et al, 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The slow life history traits of orangutans (van Noordwijk et al, 2018) push sexual conflict to an extreme. In the mating context, sexual conflict is manifested in the regular occurrence of forced copulations (Knott, 2009; Knott & Kahlenberg, 2011; Kunz, Duvot, van Noordwijk, et al, 2021; Kunz, Duvot, Willems, et al, 2021). Sexual conflict also shapes behaviors outside the mating context, leading to increased costs of association and higher fecal cortisol metabolites for females during male‐maintained associations (Kunz, Duvot, van Noordwijk, et al, 2021), decreased associations with males when females have offspring under 6 years old (Scott et al, 2019), and increased maternal protection of offspring when males are present.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even though infanticide has never been directly observed in wild orangutans, females employ mating and maternal protection strategies consistent with infanticide avoidance (Knott et al, 2010; Kunz, Duvot, Willems, et al, 2021; Scott et al, 2019; Stumpf et al, 2008). Females mate postconceptively (Knott et al, 2010) and employ a mixed mating strategy, mating preferentially with preferred males when the likelihood of conception is highest and with nonpreferred males when the likelihood of conception is lowest (Knott et al, 2010; Stumpf et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mother‐offspring proximity maintenance as an infanticide avoidance strategy in bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii)

Scott

Susanto

Setia

et al. 2023

American J Primatol

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Sexually‐selected infanticide by males is widespread across primates. Maternal protection is one of many infanticide avoidance strategies employed by female primates. Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii) mothers with younger offspring are less social with males than mothers with older offspring. Additionally, the distance between a mother and offspring decreases in the presence of male conspecifics, but not female conspecifics. We hypothesized that mothers are responsible for the change in mother‐offspring proximity when males are present. Using a year of behavioral data from orangutans in Gunung Palung National Park, we tested whether the Hinde Index, a ratio of the number of approaches and leaves between two individuals, was indicative of mother or offspring proximity maintenance across different social groupings. The semi‐solitary social organization of orangutans allows us to observe different social groupings. We found that the mother‐offspring Hinde Index was typically indicative of offspring maintenance of proximity. However, the presence of male conspecifics was associated with an increase in the Hinde Index which indicates that mothers are responsible for the decrease in mother‐offspring distance when males are present. The decrease in mother‐offspring distances and increase in Hinde Index when males are present indicates that mothers react to the presence of males in a protective manner. We suggest this may be an infanticide avoidance behavior by mother orangutans.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Mother‐offspring proximity maintenance as an infanticide avoidance strategy in bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii)

Scott

Susanto

Setia

et al. 2023

American J Primatol

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“…hamadryas baboons [28]). However, in other species, such as orang-utans, subordinate males have been reported to be more coercive, and use forced copulations more often than dominant males [27]. The use of coercive strategies may be rendered more difficult for subordinate males in group-living species compared to solitary ones, such as orang-utans, if other group members, including the alpha male, occasionally step in to defend the victim.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By contrast, long-term strategies, such as intimidation and punishment, are more likely to evolve in species living in stable bisexual groups where males and females maintain medium-to long-term social relationships. Furthermore, in polygynous groups, harassment and forced copulations might be used more frequently by subordinate males that are excluded from mating opportunities [26, 27] while long-term male coercive strategies might be used more often by dominant males to constrain female promiscuity and impose closer proximity (e.g. [28]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual coercion in a natural mandrill population

Smit

Baniel

Roura-Torres

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Increasing evidence indicates that sexual coercion is widespread. While some coercive strategies are conspicuous, such as forced copulation or sexual harassment, less is known about the ecology and evolution of intimidation, where repeated male aggression promotes future rather than immediate mating success with targeted females. Although known in humans, intimidation was recently reported in chimpanzees and chacma baboons, where males are regularly violent against females. Here, we investigate the nature of male coercive strategies in wild mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx), a primate living in large polygynandrous groups where severe male aggression towards females is rare and females can exert mate choice. Yet, we found support for all three predictions of the sexual coercion hypothesis, namely that male aggression (1) specifically targets sexually receptive females, (2) inflicts costs to these females, and (3) increases male mating success in the long-term. These results hold true when considering only non-physical threats, or only severe aggression. Finally, we show that high-ranking females are most targeted by males, probably because of their higher reproductive performances. These results indicate that sexual intimidation is widespread in sexually dimorphic and group-living mammals, can co-occur with female mate choice, and is most costly to the most attractive females.

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Alternative reproductive tactics of unflanged and flanged male orangutans revisited

Kunz

Duvot

Ashbury

et al. 2023

American J Primatol

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In many slowly developing mammal species, males reach sexual maturity well before they develop secondary sexual characteristics. Sexually mature male orangutans have exceptionally long periods of developmental arrest. The two male morphs have been associated with behavioral alternative reproductive tactics, but this interpretation is based on cross‐sectional analyses predominantly of Northwest Sumatran populations. Here we present the first longitudinal analyses of behavioral changes of 10 adult males that have been observed in both unflanged and flanged morph. We also analyzed long‐term behavioral data on an additional 143 individually identified males from two study sites, Suaq (Sumatra, Pongo abelii) and Tuanan (Borneo, Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii), to assess male mating tactics cross‐sectionally in relation to population, male morph (unflanged and flanged), and other socio‐ecological factors. Both our longitudinal and cross‐sectional results confirm and refine previous cross‐sectional accounts of the differences in mating tactics between the unflanged and the flanged male morphs. In the unflanged morph, males exhibit higher sociability, particularly with females, and higher rates of both copulation and sexual coercion than in the flanged morph. Based on our results and those of previous studies showing that females prefer flanged males, and that flanged males have higher reproductive success, we conclude that unflanged males face a trade‐off between avoiding male‐male contest competition and gaining mating access to females, and thus follow a “best‐of‐a‐bad‐job” mating strategy.

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The context of sexual coercion in orang-utans: when do male and female mating interests collide?

Cited by 7 publications

References 90 publications

Mother‐offspring proximity maintenance as an infanticide avoidance strategy in bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii)

Mother‐offspring proximity maintenance as an infanticide avoidance strategy in bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii)

Sexual coercion in a natural mandrill population

Alternative reproductive tactics of unflanged and flanged male orangutans revisited

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