Research has found that male chimpanzee’s that are more
aggressive toward females tend to father more offspring over time. Joseph
Feldblum and his colleagues from Duke University conducted the research in a
chimpanzee community that was living in Tanzania’s Gombe National Park that has
been under close observation for the last 50 years. The community was so well
watched that, it was know that who mated with who and also who the biological
fathers of almost all of the chimpanzees born since 1995 were, because of the
genetic tests done.
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When examining the aggressive males, they looked at two
different periods that the female chimpanzees go through. A period of time when
they were sexually receptive and swollen compared to a period when they were
not. Following the observation, their analyses showed that the males that were
aggressive with the females during the swollen period were more likely to mate,
but they did not have a greater paternity success. As for the high-ranking
males that were aggressive with the females during the period when they were
not swollen, they produced more offspring. Therefore, the results show that
long-term patterns of intimidation give high-ranking males a higher number of
offspring. This is the first example of genetic evidence of sexual coercion
that is used as an adaptive strategy in any social mammal.
I found this article interesting because the title made me
curious on how intimidation could help a male produce more offspring. However,
after reading the article I understand how common aggressive male-female relationships
are in chimpanzee populations. Therefore, it totally makes sense that in order
to mate and reproduce with the females, it is necessary to be more intimidating
and aggressive in order to be more successful.
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