MATING STRATEGY AND REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS OF MALE PATAS MONKEYS (ERYTHROCEBUS-PATAS)

Mating behavior and paternity of offspring of wild patas monkeys were studied at Kala Maloue National Park, Cameroon. Observation of patas g roups over three years revealed that multi-male situations occurred af ter takeover of the position of a resident male. Direct observation of behavior showed that resident males (harem males) occupied only 31% o f mating in multi-male situations and 100% in one-male situations. DNA -typing revealed that resident males sired two of four of infants in t he one-male situation and four of five in the multi-male situation. Un der the two years cycle of the one-male situation and the multi-male s ituation, calculation shows that resident males sired more offspring t han sneakers both in observation and paternity testing. Sneak mating o ccurred during both one-male and multi-male situations, and resident m ales performed compensatory mating, with dilution of sneaker sperm; th ese activities explain the discrepancy found between observation of ma ting and results of paternity discrimination.