Browsing by Author "Kitchen, Dawn M."

Free-ranging adult male baboons give loud two-syllable ‘wahoo’ calls during dawn choruses, interactions between groups, when chasing females, and in aggressive interactions with other males. Previous research has shown that the rate and duration of these contest wahoos are correlated with a male’s competitive ability: high-ranking males call more often, call at faster rates, and call for longer bouts than do low-ranking males. Here we report that acoustic features of wahoos also reveal information about male competitive ability. High-ranking males give wahoos with higher fundamental frequencies (F0) and longer ‘hoo’ syllables. Within-subject analyses revealed that, as males fall in rank, the hoo syllables tend to shorten within a period of months. As males age and continue to fall in rank, F0 declines, hoo syllables shorten, and formant dispersion decreases. Independent of age and rank, within bouts of calling F0 declines and hoo syllables become shorter. Because wahoos are often given while males are running or leaping through trees, variation in these acoustic features may function as an indicator of a male’s stamina. The acoustic features of contest wahoos thus potentially allow listeners to assess a male’s competitive ability.

We present results of a 10-year study of free-ranging gray-footed chacma baboons (Papio ursinus griseipes) in the Okavango Delta of Botswana. The majority of deaths among adult females and juveniles were due to predation, while infants were more likely to die of infanticide. There were strong seasonal effects on birth and mortality, with the majority of conceptions occurring during the period of highest rainfall. Mortality due to predation and infanticide was highest during the 3-mo period when flooding was at its peak, when the group was more scattered and constrained to move along predictable routes. The reproductive parameters most likely to be associated with superior competitive ability—interbirth interval and infant growth rates—conferred a slight fitness advantage on high-ranking females. However, it was counterbalanced by the effects of infanticide and predation. Infanticide affected high- and low-ranking females more than middle-ranking females, while predation affected females of all ranks relatively equally. As a result, there were few rank-related differences in estimated female lifetime reproductive success.

Among male chacma baboons (Papio hamadryas ursinus), rank positions in the dominance hierarchy are fiercely contested. Physical fighting is costly but relatively rare in this species. Instead, disputes are frequently resolved using displays that include loud, repetitive “wahoo” (two-syllable bark) vocalizations. We previously found that males of all ranks adjust their contest behavior based on the relative fighting ability of opponents and that length of the second syllable (“hoo” duration), calling rate, and fundamental frequency reliably indicate fighting ability. To test whether males indeed attend to hoo duration when assessing opponents, we designed two sets of playback experiments in which call sequence pairs were identical except for this single modified feature. In experiment 1, we used calls recorded from high-ranking males unfamiliar to all subjects. In experiment 2, callers were familiar rivals that ranked one position below subjects in the dominance hierarchy. In paired analyses, subjects in both experiments responded more strongly to sequences with more intense signal features (most commonly associated with high-quality males) compared to sequences with relatively less exaggerated features (most often associated with low-quality males). Results suggest that males can use acoustic features to both indirectly evaluate strangers and to monitor the changing condition of those rivals that present the biggest intragroup threat to their position in the dominance hierarchy. Taken together with our previous research, baboons appear to follow a classic assessor strategy—signal features related to rank and condition are salient to males and directly affect their propensity to respond to rivals.

Predation, food competition, and infanticide all negatively impact female reproductive success. Female dominance rank may mitigate these effects, if competitive exclusion allows high-ranking females to gain priority of access to critical food resources. It may also exacerbate them, if low-ranking females are forced to feed or rest in marginal habitats where they are at increased risk. In this chapter, we present data on reproduction, mortality, and female reproductive success from a 10-year study of free-ranging chacma baboons (Papio hamadryas ursinus) in the Okavango Delta of Botswana and examine the influence of predation, infanticide, and dominance rank on female reproductive success. Predation appeared to be the cause of most deaths among adult females and juveniles, whereas infanticide was the most likely cause of deaths among infants. Seasonality strongly affected both births and mortality: The majority of conceptions occurred during the period of highest rainfall. Mortality due to predation and infanticide was highest during the 3-month period when flooding was at its peak, most likely because the group was more constrained to move along predictable routes during this time. Those reproductive parameters most likely to be associated with superior competitive ability-interbirth interval and infant growth rates-conferred a slight fitness advantage on high-ranking females. This fitness advantage was counterbalanced, however, by the effects of infanticide and predation. Infanticide affected high- and low-ranking females more than middle-ranking females, while predation affected females of all ranks relatively equally. As a result, there were few rank-related differences in estimated female lifetime reproductive success.