Abstract
Non-reproductive copulation, which takes place outside of the mating season and does not result in conception and birth, was studied in a free-ranging group of Tibetan monkeys (Macaca thibetana) at Mt. Huangshan, China, in the birth seasons of 1992 and 1997. We employed all occurrence and focal animal samplings to record sexual and related behaviors and affiliation interactions, respectively. Compared with sexual behavior in mating season, non-reproductive copulation occurred at a lower frequency, with less frequent ejaculation, less harassment, shorter mount duration, and an absence of pause with vocalization. It often took place in a situation in which non-lactating females were involved in social conflict or approached males for mating. Neither pregnant nor lactating females were observed to mate in the birth seasons. Copulation during the birth season did not increase a sexually receptive female’s delivery the next year, nor was it associated with increased proximity, grooming, or agonistic aid for the mating pair. However, copulated pairs spent more time co-feeding, presumably reflecting an increased tolerance on the part of the male. Adolescent males, who rarely copulated in the mating season, engaged in mating activity in birth seasons as well. Therefore, though birth-season copulation had no reproductive functions, it may have fulfilled social functions for females, such as post-aggression appeasing by males or gaining access to resources. This also offered good opportunities for adolescent males and females to develop their sexual skills for later competition.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the Huangshan Monkey Center, Huangshan Garden Forest Bureau and X.M. Chen’s family for permission and/or logistic support to our study. We thank K. Wada and H. Ogawa for their cooperation and assistance in the field. We specially thank C.M. Berman, H. Ogawa, and L. Sun for comments and the English revision. The authors also benefited from discussions with Q.S. Wang, J. Shao, and R.M. Ren. The original manuscript was written at the Laboratory of Human Evolution Studies of the Graduate School of Science in Kyoto University and then finished in the College of the Sciences of Central Washington University. J.H. Li thank T. Nishida and L. Sun for their invitations and hosting. This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Key Teacher Program of the Ministry of Education of China, Outstanding Youth Foundation of Anhui, Natural Science Foundation of Anhui, and China Scholarship Council.
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Li, J., Yin, H. & Zhou, L. Non-reproductive copulation behavior among Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) at Huangshan, China. Primates 48, 64–72 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-006-0002-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-006-0002-5