Sexual Selection, Temperature, and the Lion's Mane

@article{West2002SexualST,
  title={Sexual Selection, Temperature, and the Lion's Mane},
  author={Peyton M. West and Craig Packer},
  journal={Science},
  year={2002},
  volume={297},
  pages={1339 - 1343}
}
The mane of the African lion (Panthera leo) is a highly variable trait that reflects male condition and ambient temperature. We examined the consequences of this variation in a long-term study of lions in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Mane darkness indicates nutrition and testosterone and influences both female choice and male-male competition. Mane length signals fighting success and only appears to influence male-male assessment. Dark-maned males enjoy longer reproductive life-spans… 
View on AAAS
cbs.umn.edu
208 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
7
Background Citations
60
Methods Citations
2
Results Citations
6

208 Citations

Citation Type

Citation Type

Of Lion Manes and Human Beards: Some Unusual Effects of the Interaction between Aggression and Sociality
TLDR
Analysis of specific attack behaviors and targets, and the social consequences of manelessness for lions living in very hot climates suggest that male manes may indeed mitigate the outcomes of intraspecific male attack and thus serve a permissive function for multi-male + female groups, facilitating protection of prides against take-overs and infanticide by nomadic males.
Sex‐specific seasonal variation in puma and snow leopard home range utilization
TLDR
The results show that male and female territorial boundaries tend to intersect in these species, and hint at the operation of female choice and male mate guarding within these mating systems.
Is Fatter Sexier? Reproductive Strategies of Male Squirrel Monkeys (Saimiri sciureus)
  • A. Stone
  • Biology
    International Journal of Primatology
  • 2014
TLDR
Data on wild Saimiri sciureus studied in Brazil is presented to describe male reproductive investment in the species and to examine the hypothesis that male fattening is a product of sexual selection.
Dissociation between mane development and sexual maturity in lions (Panthera leo): solution to the Tsavo riddle?
TLDR
The correlation between climate and mane development suggests that climatic adaptation results in the inhibition and/or delay in the development of a secondary sexual character without compromising reproductive viability.
Thermoregulatory Requirements Shape Mating Opportunities of Male Proboscis Bats
TLDR
The findings suggest that the increase in ambient temperatures associated with climate change has the potential to affect the intensity of sexual selection in bat species and may have far-reaching behavioral, demographic and evolutionary consequences for their populations.
Melanin-based coloration of sneaker male Atlantic salmon is linked to viability and emergence timing of their offspring
TLDR
It is found that darker males sired more viable offspring, whereas red coloration was negatively correlated with offspring survival, and sneaker ornaments may potentially play a role in both intra- and intersexual selection.
Melanin coloration has temperature‐dependent effects on breeding performance that may maintain phenotypic variation in a passerine bird
TLDR
It is shown that the extensive variation in the coloration of male pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) can be maintained through differences in the reproductive success of male phenotypes under different conditions, and environmental heterogeneity plays a role in maintaining phenotypic variation.
Seasonal shifts in sociosexual behaviour and reproductive phenology in giraffe
Abstract Reproductive phenology (timing) is a heritable trait that confers a range of fitness or survival advantages. Giraffe ( Giraffa spp.) breed year-round; however, some studies have suggested…
Stronger Sexual Selection in Warmer Waters: The Case of a Sex Role Reversed Pipefish
TLDR
Contrary to expectations of an enhanced opportunity for sexual selection in the north, it is found the opposite: higher female reproductive investment coupled with increased sexual size dimorphism in warmer waters, implying that a prolonged breeding season does not necessarily translate into reduced sexual selection pressure.
Estrous female goats use testosterone-dependent cues to assess mates
...
1
2
3
4
5
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 73 REFERENCES
Evolutionary costs of aggression revealed by testosterone manipulations in free-living male lizards
TLDR
The natural plasmalevel of testosterone may be at an optimal level balancing any potential selection pressures for a higher level of testosterone through sexual selection with selection pressures through a lower level through a decrease in survivorship.
Hunting by male lions: ecological influences and socioecological implications
TLDR
This study, the most intensive to date of male lion ecology, showed that in savanna woodlands, with high buffalo, Syncerus caffer, densities, male lions were frequent and successful hunters, and that in a range of ecosystems in southern and eastern Africa the proportion of time territorial males spent with, and thus scavenged from, their pride females was strongly influenced by vegetation structure.
Adaptations of Female Lions to Infanticide by Incoming Males
TLDR
A simple model is presented that specifies one set of conditions under which a female will improve her lifetime reproductive success by showing temporary periods of infertility, but attracting a larger coalition.
Testosterone influences basal metabolic rate in male house sparrows: a new cost of dominance signalling?
TLDR
It is demonstrated that testosterone simultaneously affects both signal development and basal metabolic rate in the house sparrow (Passer domesticus), supporting a novel conclusion: that testosterone–dependent signals act as honest indicators of male quality possibly because only high–quality individuals can sustain the energetic costs associated with signal development.
Reproductive and genetic consequences of founding isolated lion populations
TLDR
In an examination of three distinct lion populations, a direct correlation was observed between genetic variability and two physiological traits, incidence of abnormal sperm and circulating testosterone, a critical hormone for spermatogenesis.
Sexual Selection and the Barn Swallow
Models of sexual selection and monogamy the study organism male mating advantages benefits of mate choice determinants of tail ornament size advantages of early arrival options for unmated males…
Sexual Selection
MR. DARWIN in his recent work on the “Descent of Man has shown that throughout the animal kingdom the male generally displays the stronger passions and is always the most eager. The males, moreover,…
Costs and the Diversification of Exaggerated Animal Structures
TLDR
It is shown that costs of weapon production also may drive patterns of weapon evolution, a critical but overlooked role in sexual selection and has implications for understanding the evolution of animal morphology.
Widespread loss of sexually selected traits: how the peacock lost its spots
TLDR
Losses of elaborate male traits are widespread and can be much more common than are gains, and female preferences for these male traits can be reduced, lost, or even reversed.
Geographic variation in the carotenoid plumage pigmentation of male house finches (Carpodacus mexicanus)
TLDR
The author concludes that the difference in patch size between frontalis and griscomi males reflects genetic differences between these populations, but that the Differences in the mean plumage colouration of males among populations reflect differences in the access that males have to carotenoid pigments during moult.
...
1
2
3
4
5
...