Aggressive male chimps more likely to be fathers
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E-mail Xinhua, November 14, 2014
The researchers examined the effect of male aggression toward females both when the females were sexually receptive and when they were not.
Their analyses showed that male aggression during a female's sexually receptive periods led to more frequent mating but not greater paternity success.
On the other hand, high-ranking males that showed aggression toward females when those females were not sexually receptive were rewarded for their bullying with more offspring.
The findings showed that long-term patterns of intimidation allow high-ranking males to increase their reproductive success, offering what may be the first genetic evidence of sexual coercion as an adaptive strategy in any social mammal, the researchers said.
The findings in chimps, however, probably don't have much to tell mankind about sex and parenthood in human society, despite the close evolutionary ties between human beings and chimps, they noted.
"The glaring difference between chimpanzee and human mating behavior is that in chimpanzees females mate promiscuously with most male group mates during most cycles, while human females do not," Feldblum said. "Thus, the system that favors male coercion in chimpanzees is not present in humans to favor this behavior. "
Feldblum said he now is interested to find out whether some males might find success in paternity in kinder, gentler ways, for instance, by spending more time grooming females.
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