The lack of female dominance in golden‐brown mouse lemurs suggests alternative routes in lemur social evolution

Bibliographic Data

ID8320259
AuthorsPia Eichmueller (University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation), Sandra Thorén (Oxford Brookes University), Ute Radespiel (0000-0002-0814-2404, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume150
Issue1
Pages158-164
Publication date2013-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9483 • E-ISSN: 1096-8644
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ajpa.22189
PMID23180122
OpenAlexW2116169817
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited56

Female dominance is a well‐known trait of lemurs, although it has not been reported from all species and is still often unexplored, especially in the nocturnal species. We examined the intersexual dominance relationships in Microcebus ravelobensis, a congener of M. murinus who is well known for its female dominance. Given the many similarities in biology, it was predicted that M. ravelobensis should also possess female dominance. Seventeen unfamiliar male–female pairs were formed with animals captured in northwestern Madagascar and kept in a two‐cage setting (one cage for each animal) for up to 1 week. Four encounter experiments were conducted with each pair. In contrast to the expectations, females were not consistently dominant over their male partners. Only 3 of 17 dyads developed a clear agonistic asymmetry, among which were two cases of male dominance and only one case of female dominance. Because body mass differences did not explain the findings, various other possible explanations are discussed. It is suggested that food may not be the driving factor of female dominance in mouse lemurs. Instead, it is hypothesized that species‐specific differences in the quality of sleeping sites (i.e., tree holes) and in social grouping patterns may better explain why some mouse lemur species have female dominance, whereas others like the golden‐brown mouse lemur do not. It is concluded thatthese arguments and hypotheses may even hold true for other solitary foragers and may thereby lead to a better understanding of the variable social evolution in lemurs and primates in general. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Aggression · Agonistic behaviour · Biology · Dominance (genetics) · Dominance hierarchy · Lemur · Lemur catta · Primate · Trait · Zoology · Animal Behavior and Reproduction · Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior · Ecology · Genetics · Primate Behavior and Ecology · Psychology · Social Psychology

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