(Image credit: Chloe Coxshall)īecause all infant macaques are trapped and genotyped to determine their parentage, the team was able to look at how genetics may influence the likelihood of a male monkey having sex with other males. Male monkeys engaging in same-sex behavior on Cayo Santiago. "As a result, they probably get an advantage in the group, access more females and end up having more babies." "We find this behavior between males helps them form coalitions - when they bond by having sex, they fight together against other males ," Savolainen said. Researchers previously thought this behavior would reduce the animals' reproductivity, but in an analysis, the team found this behavior boosted reproduction success. Scientists have previously observed same-sex sexual behavior in a wide range of animals including insects, reptiles, birds and primates, but it is generally thought to be a rare behavior. The scientists distinguished between individual monkeys using unique markings that had previously been tattooed onto the animals. This revealed that 72% of males had sex with each other, while just 46% had sex with females. The team logged how often male monkeys mounted, or were mounted by, other males and how often males mounted females over three periods in 2017, 20.
(Image credit: Abhishek Mittal/Getty Images)
The monkeys that engaged in same-sex behavior fathered more infants than those that didn't.
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