Evolution.

Society for Experimental Biology

Date:: 1953

Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Credit: Evolution. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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426 SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AND PRIMATE EVOLUTION quences of fights between male mammals on their subsequent mating behaviour. He was describing experiences at an Artificial Insemination Centre where 'on one occasion two stallions broke out of control and got together in an enclosure, and fought for twenty minutes before they were finally separated, without the fight having reached a conclusion'. Never¬ theless, the younger male suffered permanent interference with its ability to mate on subsequent occasions, whereas the older animal showed no change in its behaviour. A similar sequel was the result of a fight between two bulls, following which the vanquished animal refused to mate with females on heat. It may be assumed, therefore, that the immature male primate is not only in danger of failing to reach a sufficient degree of dominance, but also of serious impairment of its mating behaviour, if the equilibrational behaviour is not adequate. Owing to the emergence of mature mating behaviour at puberty before the maximum strength and size of the primate has been reached, failure to equilibrate for a considerable time following puberty may prevent the male reaching a social position from which he can exert his potential dominance. These new conditions render mating behaviour per se inappropriate for reproductive functions, so that it becomes necessary for the young primate to antedate his major reproductive activity by behaviour appropriate for the achievement of a social status, adequate for a successful association of mating behaviour with full dominance. This in turn leads to a succession of sires for the females, and thus to a rapid succession of generations sired at any one time by the male which, in each generation, displayed appropriate forms of behaviour at different times in his maturation. {d) Social conflict in other mammals In the preceding sections we have demonstrated the relationship between the combination of factors in mating systems and the development and resolution of social conflict. The emphasis has been placed upon the con¬ tinual provocation and ability to mate and the perpetual nature of the conflict thus engendered for the maturing animals of a primate group. Unfortunately, there is insufficient information for an exhaustive review of the mating systems of mammals and their social consequences, but the information available (Echstein, 1949; Asdell, 1946) is sufficient for us to state that the time available to all other mammals for mating is restricted, in comparison with the primates, by virtue of a periodicity imposed on this activity by different circumstances. That such restriction exists does not rule out the possibility that social conflict may develop in all mammals, but as no other mammal is able to mate continually we should infer that the