The most important aspect of olive baboons mating systems is their involvement in consortships. Male baboons will follow female baboons around, guarding them from other males and participating in frequent grooming and sexual mountings (Bercovitch 1983). Due to the fact that other male olive baboons often harass couples in consortship, often there is a large male turnover during a single female fertility period—thus their polyandrous behavior. Female baboons often consort with an average of three or four male baboons during one of their sexual cycles (Bercovitch, 1989). A male’s ability to consort with a female is directly related to his relationship and familiarity with said female (Jolly & Phillips-Conroy, 2003). These consortships, which
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Participation in consortships is a costly decision; males must expend a large amount of energy, resources, and time following a female around and protecting her from other males (Bercovitch, 1983). Why would males participate in a behavior that disrupts their daily life and is energetically costly, and how does it benefit them more than promiscuous mating? Using Occam’s Razor and the belief that all behaviors have an evolutionary benefit, we can hypothesize that male olive baboons initiated/participate in consortships, despite the energy costs, because it increases their reproductive fitness, by raising the percent chance they father offspring. In other words, the benefits it provides males outweigh the …show more content…
A baboon troop (of 78-90 individuals) was studied from August 1979- February 1981 (Bercovitch, 1983). The members of the study defined consort as a “continuous close spatial association between a male and sexually receptive female, with the male exhibiting sexual interest in the female (Bercovitch, 1983).” The olive baboons were closely monitored for approximately 18 hours a day and their time budgets were divided into the following categories: rest, move, feed, forage (feeding while moving, or looking for food), vigilance (looking out across the horizon, scanning), affiliative (friendly interactions), and agnostic (hostile
Participation in consortships is a costly decision; males must expend a large amount of energy, resources, and time following a female around and protecting her from other males (Bercovitch, 1983). Why would males participate in a behavior that disrupts their daily life and is energetically costly, and how does it benefit them more than promiscuous mating? Using Occam’s Razor and the belief that all behaviors have an evolutionary benefit, we can hypothesize that male olive baboons initiated/participate in consortships, despite the energy costs, because it increases their reproductive fitness, by raising the percent chance they father offspring. In other words, the benefits it provides males outweigh the …show more content…
A baboon troop (of 78-90 individuals) was studied from August 1979- February 1981 (Bercovitch, 1983). The members of the study defined consort as a “continuous close spatial association between a male and sexually receptive female, with the male exhibiting sexual interest in the female (Bercovitch, 1983).” The olive baboons were closely monitored for approximately 18 hours a day and their time budgets were divided into the following categories: rest, move, feed, forage (feeding while moving, or looking for food), vigilance (looking out across the horizon, scanning), affiliative (friendly interactions), and agnostic (hostile