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Male Mate Choice in Lemur catta

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Though females are generally more selective in mate choice, males may also derive reproductive benefits from exercising mate selectivity if one or more factors limit male reproductive success and females differ in reproductive potential. I used male mating effort as a proxy for male mate choice in ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta). I calculated mating effort as the rate of male-male agonism during each female's estrous period 30 min before and 30 min after the first and last mountings with intromission. I collected data on 1 free-ranging Lemur catta troop during 2 consecutive breeding seasons on St. Catherines Island, USA. In both yrs, male mating effort differed significantly among troop females once I adjusted male-male agonistic rates to reflect agonistic intensity, and I corrected for the number of observed mates per female (2000: χ2 = 27.43, df = 3, p < 0.0001; 2001: χ2 = 21.10, df = 3, p < 0.001). Results strongly suggest male mate choice. Contrary to expectation, males did not expend the greatest mating effort for females with the highest dominance status nor the highest reproductive success. Males preferred females that either: (1) belonged to the age class in which fecundity and infant survival is the highest at this site (4–9 yrs), or 2) were older females (≥10 yrs) with high reproductive success. Female reproductive potential appears to be an important variable determining male mating effort in Lemur catta.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thank the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Wildlife Survival Center staff on St. Catherines Island, the St. Catherines Island Foundation (SCIF), and Foundation staff for their facilitation of several aspects of my research. R. Lessnau and J. Spratt of the WCS, and R. Hayes and F. Larkin of the SCIF greatly aided the project. I thank R. Smith for assistance in data collection in 2001, and S. J. Lozano for providing assistance with data entry and figures. S. J. Lozano, J. Spratt, and two anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments that improved the manuscript. I thank A. Gordon, D. Overdorff, D. Raichlen, and R. Scott of the University of Texas at Austin for their input on the oral version of this article, presented at the annual conference of the American Society of Primatologists in Calgary, Canada in 2003 as part of a special invited graduate student symposium on primate sexual selection. I thank M. Norconk for inviting me to present, and for helping to organize the session. I also thank all symposium attendees; I am grateful for the many helpful and insightful comments made about this study during the session. Finally, I thank R. Tuttle for inviting the contribution of student papers to this issue. A Research Fellowship from the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin, and a NSF Graduate Fellowship funded this research.

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    Joyce A. Parga

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Parga, J.A. Male Mate Choice in Lemur catta . Int J Primatol 27, 107–131 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-005-9006-z

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