Bercovitch F B, Nürnberg P
Caribbean Primate Research Center, University of Puerto Rico, Sabana Seca, 00952, USA.
J Reprod Fertil. 1996 May;107(1):59-68. doi: 10.1530/jrf.0.1070059.
When females mate with several males, problems arise in identifying sire and in determining factors contributing to differential male reproductive success. Three potential primary correlates of differential reproduction in males include fighting ability, sperm competition, and body condition. We collected a variety of socioendocrine and morphological measurements from sexually mature rhesus macaques to determine corollaries of paternity. We studied a troop of about 150 rhesus macaques living in a 0.3 ha corral and identified the sires of 70% of infants using multilocus DNA fingerprints. Eight of 21 males sired offspring, and dominant males were more successful than subordinate males. Neither canine size nor age influenced the probability of siring offspring. Male reproductive success was primarily an outcome of the number of females mated with, which was associated with an ensemble of traits including high dominance rank, large body size, relatively voluminous testicles and good body condition. Testes size was significantly larger in sires than in non-sires, but among sires the number of progeny produced was not correlated with testicle size. Sires began the mating season with more body fat than non-sires, but the energetic costs of mating resulted in a 50% reduction in abdominal skinfold thickness during the mating season. We conclude that social status exerts a major impact on paternity by affecting the number of females mated with, that male quality is a critical factor modulating paternity, and that male feeding strategies have a direct influence on variation in male reproductive success.
当雌性与多个雄性交配时，在确定父系以及确定导致雄性繁殖成功率差异的因素方面就会出现问题。雄性繁殖差异的三个潜在主要相关因素包括战斗能力、精子竞争和身体状况。我们从性成熟的恒河猴身上收集了各种社会内分泌和形态学测量数据，以确定父系的相关因素。我们研究了一群生活在0.3公顷围栏中的约150只恒河猴，并使用多位点DNA指纹识别了70%婴儿的父系。21只雄性中有8只生育了后代，优势雄性比从属雄性更成功。犬齿大小和年龄都不影响生育后代的概率。雄性的繁殖成功主要是与其交配的雌性数量的结果，这与一系列特征相关，包括高优势等级、大体型、相对较大的睾丸和良好的身体状况。父亲的睾丸大小明显大于非父亲，但在父亲中，产生的后代数量与睾丸大小无关。父亲在交配季节开始时比非父亲有更多的体脂，但交配的能量消耗导致交配季节腹部皮褶厚度减少了50%。我们得出结论，社会地位通过影响与之交配的雌性数量对父系产生重大影响，雄性质量是调节父系的关键因素，并且雄性的觅食策略对雄性繁殖成功的差异有直接影响。
