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Changes in Behaviour Following A ‘Rank Changeover by Challenge’ in the Nicobar Long-Tailed Macaque (Macaca fascicularis umbrosus)


Affiliations
1 Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore 641 108, India
2 Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576 104, India
3 Biopsychology Laboratory and Institution of Excellence, University of Mysore, Mysuru 570 006, India
4 Organismal Biology Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advance Scientific Research, Bengaluru 560 064, India
 

A rank changeover is a sexual strategy by primate males to gain access to reproductive females. We observed one such event in the Nicobar long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis umbrosus) at the Great Nicobar Island, India. In the three and half months of the post-rank changeover period, the home range reduced significantly while there was no change in the intensity of range use and day range length. The sleeping sites in the post-rank changeover period were confined to the centre of the home range. The overall mating rate and aggressive mating approach by males increased significantly during the post-rank changeover period. The females developed sexual swelling and started soliciting the immigrated males within two weeks after the rank changeover event. During this period no female conceived, which suggests that they used situation-dependent receptivity with deceptive swelling as a counter strategy to avoid male aggression for copulation.

Keywords

Between-Group Encounters, Grid Use, Nicobar Long-Tailed Macaque, Rank Changeover, Reproductive Behaviour.
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  • Changes in Behaviour Following A ‘Rank Changeover by Challenge’ in the Nicobar Long-Tailed Macaque (Macaca fascicularis umbrosus)

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Authors

Arijit Pal
Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore 641 108, India
Honnavalli N. Kumara
Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore 641 108, India
Avadhoot D. Velankar
Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576 104, India
Partha Sarathi Mishra
Biopsychology Laboratory and Institution of Excellence, University of Mysore, Mysuru 570 006, India
Mewa Singh
Organismal Biology Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advance Scientific Research, Bengaluru 560 064, India

Abstract


A rank changeover is a sexual strategy by primate males to gain access to reproductive females. We observed one such event in the Nicobar long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis umbrosus) at the Great Nicobar Island, India. In the three and half months of the post-rank changeover period, the home range reduced significantly while there was no change in the intensity of range use and day range length. The sleeping sites in the post-rank changeover period were confined to the centre of the home range. The overall mating rate and aggressive mating approach by males increased significantly during the post-rank changeover period. The females developed sexual swelling and started soliciting the immigrated males within two weeks after the rank changeover event. During this period no female conceived, which suggests that they used situation-dependent receptivity with deceptive swelling as a counter strategy to avoid male aggression for copulation.

Keywords


Between-Group Encounters, Grid Use, Nicobar Long-Tailed Macaque, Rank Changeover, Reproductive Behaviour.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv117%2Fi4%2F672-682