Schoof, ValerieFane, Taylor Courtney2024-03-182024-03-182024-03-16https://hdl.handle.net/10315/41913In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of male dominance rank, tenure, and age on male mating effort and female choice while quantifying four sociometric variables of male dominance hierarchy (stability, linearity, directional consistency, steepness) in two groups of wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) at Lewa-Borana Conservancy, Kenya. We collected a total of 305 hours of behavioural data across a 4-month field season in 2022 on 13 adult/subadult males. Overall, adult, high-ranking males who had been in the group for a shorter amount of time, generally put forth more mating effort, copulated more frequently, and were preferred by females. The male dominance hierarchies for both groups were stable (mean S = 0.9844 ± 0.001), quasi-linear (mean h’ = 0.7554 ± 0.018), unidirectional (mean DCI = 0.7017 ± 0.121), and moderately steep (mean Dij = 0.6437 ± 0.044).Author owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.ZoologyAnimal behaviorEcologyElectronic Thesis or Dissertation2024-03-16Animal behaviourPrimatologyPrimatesVervet monkeyDominanceMale dominance hierarchyMating successSexual strategiesReproductive skewHierarchy characteristicsHierarchy strength