![]() ![]() They also found that females tend to reproduce with males who have a more diverse set of genes coding for molecules that play an important role in the body’s immune response to pathogens and other environmental stressors. But the only way to know who the fathers are is with genetics,” Strier says.įrom their lab analysis, Chaves and Di Fiore confirmed that there were no mother-son pairings, which suggests the muriquis may recognize their kin, allowing them to avoid incestuous mating. “I knew from behavioral observations that there was lack of competition in mating and that mothers didn’t mate with their sons or close male relatives. They used the fecal samples (among the best non-invasive samples they could collect) as a source of DNA to analyze the muriquis’ mating behavior through genetic data.īecause Strier’s field crew knew which sample belonged to whom, the research team was able to ask unique genetic questions. She and her team collected samples and provided them to Anthony Di Fiore, a professor of anthropology and director of the Primate Molecular Ecology and Evolution Lab at UT Austin, and Paulo Chaves, then Di Fiore’s graduate student. It also means she knows how to tell whose poop is whose. ![]() She and her team know how to identify each individual monkey and who they are related to. ![]() Karen Strier, a professor of anthropology at UW–Madison and co-author of the paper, has spent 40 years studying the behavior and ecology of these monkeys in a small, preserved portion of Brazilian forest. Unlike most primates, muriquis live in peaceful, egalitarian societies, the core of which is made up of related males and their mothers. 2 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the scientists combined genetic analysis with long-term behavioral observations to better understand the reproductive patterns of the endangered muriqui. To better understand what goes on in the mating lives of muriquis, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Wisconsin–Madison turned to the monkeys’ poop to help gain insight into how the primates choose their mates. Choosing good mates and rearing thriving offspring are key to the species’ long-term survival. Northern muriquis, which live in the Atlantic forest of Brazil, are one of the most endangered species of monkey in the world. ![]()
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