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Mate guarding constrains foraging activity of male baboons

Publication ,  Journal Article
Alberts, SC; Altmann, J; Wilson, ML
Published in: Animal Behaviour
January 1, 1996

For many species, mate guarding results in dramatic departures from normal behaviour that reflect compromised attention to feeding and other activities. Such departures have previously been difficult to document in primates, however. Data were gathered on two aspects of male behaviour that were predicted to be constrained during consortships, individual travel distance and duration of feeding bouts, for wild male baboons, Papio cynocephalus, in and out of mate-guarding episodes. In each case, consorting males were compared with themselves outside of consortships, and, in the case of distance travelled, they were compared also with non- consorting males matched for sample time and location. Males travelled significantly shorter distances while consorting than while not consorting, with the result that consorting males travelled distances similar to those travelled by females. Males also had significantly shorter feeding bouts while consorting. The shorter travel distances and feeding bouts experienced by consorting males may represent important constraints on male foraging activity, and probably result in decreased energy intake during mate guarding. Seasonal and non-seasonal breeding patterns will have different consequences for the magnitude of fluctuations in energy stores and depletions experienced during mate guarding, and costs of mate guarding in species that breed non-seasonally will be more difficult to document because they are necessarily smaller and temporally dispersed. When considered across the lifespan, however, mate guarding costs to non-seasonal breeders may equal or exceed costs to seasonal breeders.

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Published In

Animal Behaviour

DOI

ISSN

0003-3472

Publication Date

January 1, 1996

Volume

51

Issue

6

Start / End Page

1269 / 1277

Related Subject Headings

  • Behavioral Science & Comparative Psychology
  • 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  • 07 Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences
  • 06 Biological Sciences
 

Citation

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Alberts, S. C., Altmann, J., & Wilson, M. L. (1996). Mate guarding constrains foraging activity of male baboons. Animal Behaviour, 51(6), 1269–1277. https://doi.org/10.1006/anbe.1996.0131
Alberts, S. C., J. Altmann, and M. L. Wilson. “Mate guarding constrains foraging activity of male baboons.” Animal Behaviour 51, no. 6 (January 1, 1996): 1269–77. https://doi.org/10.1006/anbe.1996.0131.
Alberts SC, Altmann J, Wilson ML. Mate guarding constrains foraging activity of male baboons. Animal Behaviour. 1996 Jan 1;51(6):1269–77.
Alberts, S. C., et al. “Mate guarding constrains foraging activity of male baboons.” Animal Behaviour, vol. 51, no. 6, Jan. 1996, pp. 1269–77. Scopus, doi:10.1006/anbe.1996.0131.
Alberts SC, Altmann J, Wilson ML. Mate guarding constrains foraging activity of male baboons. Animal Behaviour. 1996 Jan 1;51(6):1269–1277.
Journal cover image

Published In

Animal Behaviour

DOI

ISSN

0003-3472

Publication Date

January 1, 1996

Volume

51

Issue

6

Start / End Page

1269 / 1277

Related Subject Headings

  • Behavioral Science & Comparative Psychology
  • 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
  • 07 Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences
  • 06 Biological Sciences