London, Nov 25 (Inditop.com) The world’s largest monkey species prefer mates with genes different from their own, for healthy and strong offspring, says a new study.
The results obtained from mandrills, a species closely related to humans, support the disputed theory that humans are attracted to those with a dissimilar genetic make up to maintain genetic diversity.
Female mandrills are more likely to reproduce with males whose genes are complementary, possibly because they ‘smell out’ suitable candidates, according to the research team.
The research team, which involved scientists from Durham, Cambridge and Montpellier Universities, and researchers in Gabon, Central Africa, analysed blood samples and reproduction patterns of around 200 mandrills living in Gabon.
Although it is not entirely clear how the females work out whose genes complement theirs, researchers suspect it might be done through smell.
Monkeys know their own body smell, which is partly determined by their genes. They will sniff out the males whose body odour is different, say the scientists.
Besides the potential role of smell, researchers speculate that female mandrills may ‘choose’ their mates through selective fertilisation.
This is where the female mates with a number of males but her body rejects sperm from males with a similar genetic makeup and ‘picks’ those with genes which complement the female’s own, said a Durham release.
Jo Setchell, anthropologist from Durham University, said: “This is an important advance in our knowledge of how mate selection works in monkeys. We now need to dig deeper and establish how they do this. I think smell is a strong candidate here.”
“Mandrills have a scent-gland on their chest, which males rub vigorously against trees. That would be a good way to advertise their presence to females, who could then use the smell signals to determine whether the male was a suitable mate.”
These results were published in Journal of Evolutionary Biology.
