Abstract
Male spider monkeys direct the majority of their aggression toward adult females, and the aggressive interactions may be a form of sexual coercion. We investigated female-directed male aggression in 2 wild communities of spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi yucatanensis) from the Otoch Ma’ax Yetel Kooh Reserve in Yucatan, Mexico to evaluate the sexual coercion hypothesis. The aggression occurred in 2 distinct forms: physical aggression and prolonged noncontact chases. The latter appeared highly ritualized in nature and accounted for >80% of all female-directed male aggression. Rates of prolonged chases, but not physical aggression, peaked when the female target was likely cycling and were associated with male place-sniffing of the substrate previously occupied by the female target. Prolonged chases were also associated with proceptive behavior directed from the female target toward her male attacker after the chase had ceased. Our data therefore suggest that prolonged chases are sexually motivated. Prolonged chases did not result in immediate copulation, but sometimes the female victim left the subgroup to travel alone with her male aggressor, and thus prolonged chases may be a form of male intimidation to coerce females into a mating consortship. However, as prolonged chases appeared highly ritualized, the chases may also be a form of male sexual display. Further investigation of the costs incurred by female recipients of prolonged chases is therefore required before one can interpret the behavior as sexual coercion.
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Acknowledgments
We thank the Punta Laguna community and Pronatura Peninsula de Yucatan for logistical support. We thank Eulogio Canul-Aban, Macedonio Canul-Chan, Augusto Canul-Aban, and Juan Canul-Chan for valuable assistance in the field and Laura Vick, Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez and David Taub for sharing the management of the Punta Laguna spider monkey project. We also thank Anthony Di Fiore for useful comments. A scholarship from the University of Chester provided support for K. Y. Slater. The Wenner-Gren Foundation, The British Academy, and The North of England Zoological Society supported the long-term project. All aspects of the study comply with Mexican regulations.
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Slater, K.Y., Schaffner, C.M. & Aureli, F. Female-directed Male Aggression in Wild Ateles geoffroyi yucatanensis . Int J Primatol 29, 1657–1669 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-008-9311-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-008-9311-4