Primates

, Volume 58, Issue 1, pp 83–91 | Cite as

Testing for links between face color and age, dominance status, parity, weight, and intestinal nematode infection in a sample of female Japanese macaques

  • Lucie Rigaill
  • Andrew J. J. MacIntosh
  • James P. Higham
  • Sandra Winters
  • Keiko Shimizu
  • Keiko Mouri
  • Takafumi Suzumura
  • Takeshi Furuichi
  • Cécile Garcia
Original Article
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

Studies of the role of secondary sexual ornaments in mate choice tend to focus on colorful traits in males, but females of many animal species express colorful ornamentation too. Among non-human primates, investigations into the role of female secondary sexual traits as indicators of life history characteristics, reproductive success, and health status have mostly focused on sexual swellings, whereas only few studies have been conducted on the role of facial color. Recent studies on rhesus macaques and mandrills suggested that female ornamentation might provide information about female life history characteristics, but not on disease resistance factors and parasite infection, which have been shown to affect male ornamentation in some non-primate species. In Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata), females have brightly colored faces that are indicative of their reproductive status. Here, we aimed to determine whether female facial color might also convey information about age, dominance rank, parity, weight, and intestinal nematode infection in free-ranging individuals. We analyzed whether female facial parameters (luminance and redness) were linked to these individual characteristics, using digital photography and data on intestinal parasite infection collected systematically during 1 month for each of seven free-ranging females. We found no evidence to suggest that female facial color is an indicator of any of these measures in Japanese macaques. Considering our small data set, it is still preliminary to draft any clear conclusions. Future studies combining digital, hormonal, parasitological and behavioral data are needed to assess the possible role of female face color on male preferences and mating choice in Japanese macaques.

Keywords

Sexual selection Secondary sexual ornaments Signaling Macaca fuscata 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

We thank the Cooperative Research Program of Kyoto University’s Wildlife Research Center for research permits and use of the Koshima field station. Thanks also to Akiko Takahashi and Julie Duboscq for their help in the field, and to Louise Ducroix for her help with the preparation of images and samples. We thank Prof. Fred Bercovitch for comments on the manuscript. The comments of Dr Joanna Setchell and an anonymous reviewer also greatly improved an earlier draft of this paper. The research protocol was reviewed and approved by the Wildlife Research Center of Kyoto University and was in agreement with the Guidelines for the Care and Use of Nonhuman Primates of the Kyoto University Primate Research Institute. Financial support was provided by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France), Projet International de Coopération Scientifique n°06274 (to C. Garcia) and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (to A. J. J. MacIntosh).

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Copyright information

© Japan Monkey Centre and Springer Japan 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Lucie Rigaill
    • 1
  • Andrew J. J. MacIntosh
    • 1
    • 2
  • James P. Higham
    • 3
  • Sandra Winters
    • 3
  • Keiko Shimizu
    • 4
  • Keiko Mouri
    • 1
  • Takafumi Suzumura
    • 2
  • Takeshi Furuichi
    • 1
  • Cécile Garcia
    • 5
  1. 1.Social Systems Evolution Section, Department of Ecology and Social Behaviors, Primate Research InstituteKyoto UniversityInuyamaJapan
  2. 2.Wildlife Research CenterKyoto UniversityKyotoJapan
  3. 3.Department of Anthropology, Center for the Study of Human OriginsNew York UniversityNew YorkUSA
  4. 4.Department of Zoology, Faculty of ScienceOkayama University of ScienceOkayama CityJapan
  5. 5.CNRS-Muséum National d’Histoire NaturelleParisFrance

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