A Busy Love Life, Built With a Mother’s Help - The muriqui monkeys of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil, a highly endangered species numbering only about 1,000, live in an egalitarian society.
Females are as muscular as males, so there is no threat of physical subjugation. Males, eschewing any kind of pecking order, do not compete to be alpha monkey. Even when it comes to mating, males tend to simply wait their turn instead of fighting.
Karen Strier, an anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin who has been observing muriquis for 29 years, says she has always thought that in the absence of a social hierarchy, no individual male should be much more successful at reproducing than any other. To test this idea, she and a team recently used DNA analysis to determine who fathered each of 22 muriqui babies.
A muriqui monkey and her two sons in the Atlantic Forest in Brazil.
Their research, which appeared in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that while there were no superdads, some males did have a slight edge.
But it had nothing to do with physical attributes. A male enjoys greater reproductive success if he shares an unusual physical closeness with his mother, or if he happens to be lucky enough to live with a sister or two.
Dr. Strier’s team thinks these females may help their male kin learn how to behave appropriately around potential mates, or perhaps give them special access to prime mating opportunities. “Like you’re out with your mom,” she said, “and you run into her friend who has a really gorgeous daughter.” (To a muriqui male, “gorgeous” means ovulating.)
In addition, Dr. Strier says muriqui mating patterns could lend credence to the “grandmother hypothesis” in humans: the idea that women evolved to live past their reproductive years so they could focus on their children’s children. ( nytimes.com )
Females are as muscular as males, so there is no threat of physical subjugation. Males, eschewing any kind of pecking order, do not compete to be alpha monkey. Even when it comes to mating, males tend to simply wait their turn instead of fighting.
Karen Strier, an anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin who has been observing muriquis for 29 years, says she has always thought that in the absence of a social hierarchy, no individual male should be much more successful at reproducing than any other. To test this idea, she and a team recently used DNA analysis to determine who fathered each of 22 muriqui babies.
A muriqui monkey and her two sons in the Atlantic Forest in Brazil.
Their research, which appeared in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that while there were no superdads, some males did have a slight edge.
But it had nothing to do with physical attributes. A male enjoys greater reproductive success if he shares an unusual physical closeness with his mother, or if he happens to be lucky enough to live with a sister or two.
Dr. Strier’s team thinks these females may help their male kin learn how to behave appropriately around potential mates, or perhaps give them special access to prime mating opportunities. “Like you’re out with your mom,” she said, “and you run into her friend who has a really gorgeous daughter.” (To a muriqui male, “gorgeous” means ovulating.)
In addition, Dr. Strier says muriqui mating patterns could lend credence to the “grandmother hypothesis” in humans: the idea that women evolved to live past their reproductive years so they could focus on their children’s children. ( nytimes.com )
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