Reproductive Strategies in Baboons
Social structure, skewed sex ratio, and behavioural flexibility.
The baboons of the Cape Peninsula are unique in that the sex ratios in most troops are highly skewed towards females. Males are more likely to explore areas inhabited by humans and engage in risky behaviours such as raiding, and so are more likely than females to die from unnatural causes. As a consequence, most troops in the Peninsula contain far fewer males than would be the norm for chacma baboons.
A comparison between Cape Peninsula chacma baboons and other baboon populations may thus be particularly revealing. Like other chacma baboons, Peninsula baboons live in multi-male, multi-female groups with relatively unstructured relationships between females and males. However, like hamadryas baboons and highland chacmas, several troops in the Peninsula in fact have only one adult male. This begs the question of how females respond to this skewed social structure. Do female baboons in the Cape Peninsula use the same behavioural strategies as other lowland chacma baboons, or have they adapted their behaviour to accommodate the artifically-imposed one-male social structure? A comparison of how the one-male group structure changes female behaviour and reproduction can shed light on reproductive strategies of male and female baboons. It will also inform us about baboon flexibility in general, which has far-reaching scientific and management implications.
We are currently looking for volunteers and students willing to commit to long-term field research on this population as part of the baboon research unit. If you are interested in participating in our project on reproductive strategies and behavioural flexibility, please contact us.
For more information
Alberts SC, Altmann J. (2006) The Evolutionary Past and the Research Future: Environmental Variation and Life History Flexibility in a Primate Lineage. In: Swedell L, Leigh SR, editors. Reproduction and Fitness in Baboons: Behavioral, Ecological, and Life History Perspectives. New York: Springer, pp. 277-303.
Henzi P, Barrett L. (2003) Evolutionary Ecology, Sexual Conflict, and Behavioral Differentiation Among Baboon Populations. Evolutionary Anthropology 12:217-230.
Swedell L, Leigh SR. (2006) Perspectives on Reproduction and Life History in Baboons. In: Swedell L, Leigh SR, editors. Reproduction and Fitness in Baboons: Behavioral, Ecological, and Life History Perspectives. New York: Springer, pp. 1-15.
Swedell L, Saunders J. (2006) Infant Mortality, Paternity Certainty, and Female Reproductive Strategies in Hamadryas Baboons. In: Swedell L, Leigh SR, editors. Reproduction and Fitness in Baboons: Behavioral, Ecological, and Life History Perspectives. New York: Springer, pp. 19-51.
