Research Objective

Japanese macaques are promiscuous and females have on average 6 different partners per mating season. They choose their partners from both males and females, forming hetero- and homosexual consortships, effectively making them bisexual. The aim of the project is to directly compare the behavioural qualities involved in both types of partnerships and how they relate to partner preferences. We will directly compare the behaviour in consortships to the pairs’ duration spent in consortship and their recurrence within and across mating seasons. Further we will analyse potential effects of the consortship behaviour on both the females’ social networks and their individual endocrine stress levels throughout the mating season.

Research Questions

If females prefer female over male partners, can we identify behavioural factors in their consortships related to their preference?

Do female’s have stronger connections to their previous consortship partners outside the mating season, depending on the consortship’s duration and the behaviour displayed?

Is the behaviour shared in a consortship reflected in the female’s endocrine stress levels?