Squib published In:
Interaction StudiesVol. 20:2 (2019) ► pp.362–374
Short report
Copulation calls in wild Mueller’s gibbons (Hylobates muelleri)
A case study
Kazuo Okanoya | Cognition and Behavior Joint Research Laboratory, RIKEN Brain Science Institute | Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo
Mating activity of a wild Mueller’s gibbon group (Hylobates muelleri) was observed in the Danum Valley Conservation Area, Sabah, Malaysia. The purpose of this study was to investigate the function of copulation calls in gibbons. The female emitted copulation calls at the time of intromission and pelvic thrusting. Copulation calls were composed of two notes and one of them was sung only while mating. Approximately half of copulation calls were sung near the range boundary. Mating with copulation calls sometimes occurred while singing. According to the model that female copulation calls have evolved under the selective pressures of risk of infanticide and sperm competition, copulation calls should be rare in species with little female promiscuity. As gibbons usually live in pair-living social organization and have a monogamous mating system, no vocal signals by female gibbons are considered to be needed. However, clear copulation calls were emitted by the female. It suggests that the relationship between paired gibbons is unstable. Copulation calls by the female Mueller’s gibbon may function to increase mate guarding and strengthen the pair bond.
Keywords: gibbon,
Hylobates muelleri
, mating, copulation call, mating while singing
Article outline
- Introduction
- Methods
- Study area and animals
- Behavioral data, sound recordings and analysis
- Results
- Mating activity
- Copulation call
- Discussion
- Acknowledgments
-
References
References
Alfred, J. R. B., & Sati, J. P.
(1991) On the first record of infanticide in the Hoolock gibbon Hylobates hoolock in the wild. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 891, 319–321.
Bartlett, T. Q.
(2001) Extra-group copulations by sub-adult gibbons: implications for understanding gibbon social organization. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 321 (
supplement
), 36.
Brockelman, W. Y.
(2009) Ecology and the social system of gibbons. In: Lappan, S. & Whittaker, D. J. (eds.), The gibbons: New perspectives on small ape socioecology and population biology. Springer, New York. pp. 211–239. 
Cheyne, S. M., & Chivers, D. J.
(2006) Sexual swellings of female gibbons. Folia Primatologica, 771, 345–352.
Dixson, A. F.
(1998) Primate sexuality: comparative studies of the prosimians, monkeys, apes and human beings. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Geissmann, T.
(1999) Duet songs of the siamang, Hylobates syndactylus: II, Testing the pair-bonding hypothesis during a partner exchange. Behaviour, 1361, 1005–1039.
Geissmann, T., & Orgeldinger, M.
(2000) The relationship between duet songs and pair bonds in siamangs, Hylobates syndactylus. Animal Behaviour, 601, 805–809.
Haimoff, E. H.
(1984) Acoustic and organizational features of gibbon songs. In: Preuschoft, H., Chivers, D. J., Brockelman, W. Y. & Creel, N. (eds.), The lesser apes. Evolutionary and behavioural biology (pp. 333–353). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
(1985) The organization of song in Mueller’s gibbon (Hylobates muelleri). International Journal of Primatology, 61, 173–192.
Hamilton, W. J. III., & Arrowood, P. C.
(1978) Copulatory vocalizations of chacma baboons (Papio ursinus), gibbons (Hylobates hoolock) and humans. Science, 2001, 1405–1409.
Inoue, Y., Waidi, S., & Okanoya, K.
(2016) Activity budget, travel distance, sleeping time, height of activity and travel order of wild East Bornean Grey gibbons (Hylobates funereus) in Danum Valley Conservation Area. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 641, 127–138.
Inoue, Y., Waidi, S., Yosida, S., & Okanoya, K.
Leighton, D. R.
(1987) Gibbons: Territoriality and monogamy. In: Smuts, B. B., Cheney, D. L., Seyfarth, R. M., Wrangham, R. W. & Struhsaker, T. T. (eds.), Primate societies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 135–145.
Maestripieri, D., & Roney, J. R.
(2005) Primate copulation calls and postcopulatory female choice. Behavioral Ecology, 161, 106–113.
O’Connell, S. M., & Cowlishaw, G.
(1994) Infanticide avoidance, sperm competition and mate choice: the function of copulation calls in female baboons. Animal Behaviour, 481, 687–694.
Palombit, R. A.
(1994) Extra pair copulations in a monogamous ape. Animal Behaviour, 471, 721–723.
Pradhan, G. R., Engelhardt, A., van Schaik, C. P., & Maestripieri, D.
(2006) The evolution of female copulation calls in primates: a review and a new model. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 591, 333–343.
Reichard, U.
(1995) Extra-pair copulations in a monogamous gibbon (Hylobates lar). Ethology, 1001, 99–112.
Reichard, U. H.
(2003) Social monogamy in gibbons: The male perspective. In: Reichard, U. H., & Boesch, C. (eds.), Monogamy: Mating strategies and partnerships in birds, humans and other mammals. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 190–213.
Sommer, V., & Reichard, U.
(2000) Rethinking monogamy: The gibbon case. In: Kappeler, P. M. (eds.) Primate males: Causes and consequences of variation in group composition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 159–168.
van Schaik, C. P., Van Noordwijk, M. A., & Nunn, C. L.
(1999) Sex and social evolution in primates. In: Lee, P. C. (eds.) Comparative Primate Socio-ecology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 204–240.
Cited by
Cited by 1 other publications
Inoue, Yoichi, Waidi Sinun & Kazuo Okanoya
2023. Non-aggressive inter-group interactions in wild Northern Gray gibbons (Hylobates funereus). acta ethologica 26:1 ► pp. 59 ff. 
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 31 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.