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- Title
Variation of life history traits and mating patterns in female langur monkeys ( Semnopithecus entellus).
- Authors
Borries, Carola; Koenig, Andreas; Winkler, Paul
- Abstract
To determine nutritional and social influences on life history traits and mating behavior in female langur monkeys, new long-term data for a feral population living in multi-male groups under poor nutritional conditions are presented and compared with published long-term data for the same species living in one-male groups under excellent nutritional conditions. Under poor nutritional conditions, conceptions were confined to 5 months per year, coinciding with the period of the highest mating activity. Age at first parturition, gestation periods, lactation periods, and interbirth intervals were all significantly increased resulting in a more than 50% reduced reproductive rate under poor conditions. The pattern of sexual behavior during gestation was influenced by neither nutritional nor social conditions but the frequency was higher in multi-male groups. Furthermore, estrus length was significantly increased in multi-male groups where females tended to mate with as many resident males as available. Both phenomena, together with a high percentage of sexual behavior occurring outside the mid-cycle estrus, are interpreted in the light of paternity confusion in multi-male groups in a species where infanticide by males is regularly observed. The extreme variation in life history traits and mating patterns disclosed here in one species suggests that future cross-species comparisons should strictly select datasets based on local ecological and social conditions.
- Subjects
SEMNOPITHECUS entellus; MONKEY behavior; LANGURS; LIFE history theory; PREGNANCY in animals; PARTURITION; LACTATION; ANIMAL sexual behavior
- Publication
Behavioral Ecology & Sociobiology, 2001, Vol 50, Issue 5, p391
- ISSN
0340-5443
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s002650100391