Causes and consequences of single-male and multimale mating in free-ranging patas monkeys, Erythrocebus patas

摘要

Patas monkeys and many forest guenon species live in one-male groups throughout the year. During some conceptive seasons, extragroup males enter the troop singly or in small groups to couplate with females, although this multimale state persists only as long as the conceptive season lasts. Our goals in this study were to (1) examine how the number of males in the group affected levels of intrasexual mate competition in males and females, (2) identify the proximate factors accounting for changes form single- to multimale mating, and (3) develop a model comparing the proximate factors leading to single-and multimale mating in patas monkeys with those for forest guenons.