Violent coalitionary attack by female mandrills against an injured alpha male

Abstract

Female contact aggression against males is relatively rare in species in which the adult males are larger than the females, but it has the potential to influence group structure, male group membership, tenure, and dominance rank. We report an incident in which female mandrills living in a semi-free-ranging group in Franceville, Gabon, attacked a male that was apparently incapacitated after a fight with another male and was unable to escape. The attack involved the alpha male and did not occur in a sexual or infanticidal context. Other adult and adolescent males observed the attack, but when one adult male attempted to participate he was chased away by the females. This observation adds to reports of female coalitions excluding unwanted males from primate groups, or even killing them. The fact that this can also occur in mandrills suggests that females have a degree of control over male group membership, despite the large degree of sexual dimorphism in this species, and highlights the importance of coalitions in primate social organization.