Paternity and status in a rhesus monkey group.

In the blood from 63 rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta), transferrin, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, carbonic anhydrase II, phosphohexose isomerase, NADH diaphorase and leucocyte antigens were polymorphic. On the basis of these traits, paternity eliminations were determined for 29 offspring of 26 females from an established breeding group containing 8 sexually mature males. The dominance of the males was assessed by the directionality of the agonistic encounters. After examination of the results for two breeding seasons it was found that (1) the alpha male did not do all, or even most, of the successful mating and (2) there was evidence demonstrating increased reproductive success for males as a function of relative agonistic rank for the second but not the first of the 2 years.