Gombe chimpanzee (Image by Ian Gilby)
Hanging out with alpha males can help male chimps of lower order get the attention of their preferred mate. Normally, the alpha male’s aim is to sire offspring with many females, fighting off advances from subordinate males. But a new study shows that there’s more cooperation between male chimps than previously thought. By analyzing the largest dataset of its kind, researchers found that alpha males exchange a kind of social favours with their subordinate males: the subordinate males have a chance to mate with a preferred female in the presence of the alpha male in exchange for protection in fights against other male clans.
Authors:
Joel Bray, Anne E. Pusey, Ian C. Gilby
Corresponding author:
Joel Bray, Arizona State University, Email: joel.bray@asu.edu
Original paper published in Royal Society Proceedings B on November 8, 2016.
