1 Citation
Female mate choice may drive sexual selection, but discerning whether
female behaviors reflect the free expression of choice or responses to
constraints can be difficult. We investigated the efficacy of female
choice in wild blue monkeys using 10 years of behavioral and paternity
data (2002-2011) encompassing 178 male-female dyads and 63 infants.
Although blue monkeys live modally in one-male polygynous groups, where
male-biased intersexual power is expected, females can access multiple
potential mates during seasonal male influxes and occasional intergroup
encounters. Additionally, extra-group males sire offspring. We examined
the unsolicited proceptive behavior that females directed to males
(corrected for male availability) to determine (1) if blue monkey females
express mate choice by preferentially soliciting sexual interactions with
certain males, (2) which males females prefer, and (3) if observed female
mate preferences are successful in influencing paternity and infant
survival. The two datasets included here allowed us to answer these
questions. The first dataset provides information on the degree of
preference a female in her conceptive period exhibited for each male that
was present, the status of each male (resident or non-resident), and
whether the female’s most preferred male sired her offspring. The second
dataset provides information on whether a female’s parity, rank, or
familiarity with her resident male influenced the likelihood of siring her
offspring with her most preferred male (or with the resident male) and
whether an infant was more likely to survive if sired by the male its
mother most preferred.