Primate Behavior and Conservation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Primate Behavior and Conservation - Essay ExamplePrimates range to live in groups. The one factor that is the most all important(predicate) is ecological factors and egg-producing(prenominal)-female associations as a result of this (Wrangham, 1980, van Schaik, 1983 from Weingrill, 2000). This can be explained as ravage pressure which determines the lower limit to the size of the group whilst the upper limit is determined by the presence of food with regards to time and space. The combination of these factors is responsible for the affable dynamics between females of a group (van Schail, 1983 Dunbar, 1988 from Weingrill, 2000). The distribution of males, on the other hand, is dependent on the number of mating opportunities (Emlen and Oring, 1977 from Weingrill, 2000). In addition to female-female relations and male-male relationships, an important relationship to be considered is the male-female interaction. In the majority of mammals, intersexual relationships happen only fleetin gly during the year. In contrast, over two thirds of order Primates have male-female associations (van Schaik and Kappeler, 1997). In most primates like the savannah baboons, the associations between males and females last for reasonably long periods of time. There appears to be pull aheads to both sexes from this association. For males the main benefit is an improved chance of mating with the female (pre-mating effort hypothesis (Seyfarth, 1978 Smuts, 1985 from Weingrill, 2000)) . Secondly, the fitness of the offspring after birth may be improved through association with a particular female as the male will be more able to defend the infants and provide them with access to certain resources (post mating effort hypothesis ((Packer, 1980 Busse and Hamilton, 1981 Noe and Sluijter, 1990 from Weingrill, 2000). Females, on the other hand, benefit as males are more powerful physically than them in conflict situations and can act as protectors both for the female and her offspring. This c an lead to a reduction in infanticide. (Weingrill,2000). Three different hypotheses have been proposed to explain infanticide. The first is the social-pathology hypothesis whereby infanticide by primates is believed to be as a result of self-conscious living conditions such as overpopulation having to fight for resources. The second hypothesis is the side-effect hypothesis whereby infanticide results from aggression between males (Sussman et al., 1995 from Weingrill, 2000). The third hypothesis is the sexual-selection hypothesis. This is the most commonly used description and this is when male primates kill unrelated offspring so as to quicken the females next ovulation and increase their chances of mating with that female (Soltis et al, 2000).