Dominance status of adult male Japanese macaques: Relationship to female dominance status, male mating behaviour, seasonal changes, and developmental changes

Abstract

Aggressive dominance orders of all adults in a confined troop of Japanese macaques ( Macaca fuscata) were determined each mating and birth season during a 4-year interval. Males outranked more females in the mating than in the birth season, and some males shifted back and forth from ranks lower than female ranks in the birth season to ranks higher than female ranks in the mating season. Mating behaviour (number of female partners in mount and ejaculation series and ejaculation frequency) did not differ among males with ranks higher than, as high as, or lower than those of most females, nor did individual males mate more in years, when they were high-ranking than in years when they were not. There was a correlation, however, between ejaculation frequency and the number of females defeated by males. A pattern of increasing male rank with age was found.