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Correlation Between Female Dominance And Mounting Behavior In One-Male Unit Of Sichuan Golden Monkeys (Rhinopithecus Roxellana) In The Qinling Mountains, China

Posted on:2012-12-05Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:H T ZhaoFull Text:PDF
GTID:2120330332994058Subject:Ecology
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Socioecological theory suggests a link between the rates of agonism, strength of competition for food or safety, reproduction, and structure of dominance hierarchies among group-living females. During the research of non-human primates, it is critical to select the method of determining and describing the dominance relationship. In the early days, the researches on the relationship of old world monkeys were mainly focused on male, little has been done in female. However, the dominance relationship between females attracted more attention of the researchers in recent years. In primatology studies, the methods to determine dominance hierarchies are a key tool. Plenty of behavior standards (such as aggre(?)issive, feeding, carrying baby, grooming etc.) were settled in researching the female relationship and the results showed that the models among different species are quite different. According to their integrality, social structures were divided into two types:linear hierarchy and partial hierarchy, which are also expressed with different methods. Socioecological theory also suggests a relation between rates of agonism, the social structure in One-Male unit (OMU), and female rank among group-living females. The Sichuan golden monkey(Rhinopithecus roxellana) is characterized by some forms of female dominance, ranging from female resting to complete female rank, although this is a rare trait in other primates. In the early days, the researches on the dominance relationship have even been judged by the behavior of grooming and agonistic many times, but fail to ensure the existence of the female rank in the Sichuan sub-nose monkey. This study presents preliminary data on displacement behavior among adult female and dominance relationship of female golden monkey. Behavioral observations are conduct on four OMUs (one OMU contains five adult females and others contains three adult females, respectively). The direction, rates, outcome of displacement interactions and the times, last time of mounting behavior were collected. Rates of displacement and mate behavior were from focal continuous recordings and ad libitum sampling, while female dominance hierarchies were constructed from the displacement behavior (focal continuous recordings). Some short-term studies had found little or no displacement between females. The aim of the current, long-term study was to resolve the question about the low rate of displacement behavior between female and to quantify the correlation between female dominance and mate in this wild Sichuan golden monkey by the Spcarman Older Rank Correlation Overall, we collected 1223 displacement behaviors among females and 316 mate behaviors over the course of year (ranging from September 2009 to June 2010), female-female displacement occurred at a rate of<0.68 interactions per hour. Although this rate of displacement behavior may be low, this evidence still can determine female linear dominance in OMU. We also found the females' rank in OMUs was stable during the periods of researching. In addition, the results of statistic test were support the view that the correlation between displacement behaviors and mate opportunities was positive: dominant individuals are more likely to win contest for mating, accruing more benefits from group living than the other adult females of the OMU. Future research should consider the notion that female reproductive success may be relation to linear dominance hierarchies.
Keywords/Search Tags:Sichuan sub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana), Female dominance, Displacement behavior, Mounting
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