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Evolutionary biology (Communication arising)

Significance of primate sexual swellings

Nature volume 420, pages 142–143 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

Exaggerated sexual signals are likely to be shaped by sexual selection, but few studies have examined signal evolution in females. Domb and Pagel1 have presented support for the hypothesis that individual differences in exaggerated sexual swellings in female primates are reliable indicators of differences in female quality2. However, our re-analysis of their data casts doubt on their conclusions.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Abteilung Verhaltensforschung & Ökologie, Deutsches Primatenzentrum, Göttingen, 37077, Germany

    Dietmar Zinner

  2. Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, 27708, North Carolina, USA

    Susan C. Alberts

  3. Section of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, 95616, California, USA

    Charles L. Nunn

  4. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, 08544, New Jersey, USA

    Jeanne Altmann

Authors
  1. Dietmar Zinner
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  2. Susan C. Alberts
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  3. Charles L. Nunn
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  4. Jeanne Altmann
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susan C. Alberts.

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Cite this article

Zinner, D., Alberts, S., Nunn, C. et al. Significance of primate sexual swellings. Nature 420, 142–143 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/420142a

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