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Female Coexistence and Competition in Ringtailed Lemurs: A Review of a Long-Term Study at Berenty, Madagascar

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Primates and Cetaceans

Part of the book series: Primatology Monographs ((PrimMono))

Abstract

Ringtailed lemurs (Lemur catta) form female-bonded/matrilineal social groups. In this review, we summarize our long-term field study carried out at Berenty, Madagascar to discuss the balance between female coexistence and competition in this prosimian primate. In our study population, females cooperatively competed against the females of neighboring groups; however, they also displayed persistent aggression toward females within their own group, which occasionally resulted in group fission. The correlation between female fecundity and group size generally agreed with the intergroup feeding competition (IGFC) model. No significant differences in reproductive success were seen among rank categories of females in the medium- and small-sized groups. In contrast, low-ranked females of large-sized groups exhibited lower reproductive success, which may have been the result of within-group competition. Males appeared to be “parasites” on the female groups.

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Acknowledgments

  We express our gratitude to A. Randrianjafy, former Director of the Botanical and Zoological Park of Tsimbazaza, the de Heaulme family, A. Jolly, Y. Kawamoto, and H. Hirai for their kind help and cooperation. We also thank two reviewers for their useful comments on the manuscript, and L. Karczmarski and J. Yamagiwa for giving us the opportunity to write this review. This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research to N. Koyama (No. 06610072 and No. 05041088) and to Y. Takahata (No. 12640700 and No. 21405015).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Policy Studies, Kwansei Gakuin University, Gakuen 2-1, Sanda, 669-1337, Japan

    Yukio Takahata

  2. Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University, Yoshida Shimoadachicho 46, Sakyo-Ku, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan

    Naoki Koyama, Naomi Miyamoto & Takayo Soma

  3. Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Kanrin, Inuyama, 484-8506, Japan

    Shin’ichiro Ichino

  4. Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University, Yamadagaoka 1-2, Suita, 565-0871, Japan

    Masayuki Nakamichi

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  1. Yukio Takahata
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  2. Naoki Koyama
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  3. Shin’ichiro Ichino
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  4. Naomi Miyamoto
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  5. Takayo Soma
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  6. Masayuki Nakamichi
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Correspondence to Yukio Takahata .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Science Laboratory of Human Evolution Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Juichi Yamagiwa

  2. The Swire Institute of Marine Science School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Shek O, Hong Kong SAR

    Leszek Karczmarski

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Takahata, Y., Koyama, N., Ichino, S., Miyamoto, N., Soma, T., Nakamichi, M. (2014). Female Coexistence and Competition in Ringtailed Lemurs: A Review of a Long-Term Study at Berenty, Madagascar. In: Yamagiwa, J., Karczmarski, L. (eds) Primates and Cetaceans. Primatology Monographs. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54523-1_7

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