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Behavioral Aspects of Reproduction in Primates

Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Abstract

The present paper summarizes the development of reproductive behaviors in nonhuman primates, particularly the common rhesus macaque. The development of reproductive behavior is described in terms of five heterosexual affectional stages: the reflex stage, the infantile stage, the juvenile stage, the adolescent stage and the adult heterosexual stage.

Although the five stages are discretely described, it is recognized that the development of reproductive behavior is a continuous process in which originally simple and relatively discrete reflexes are coordinated with and complemented by more complex postural adjustments. Throughout this discussion emphasis has been given to the maturational components of these increasingly complex patterns, even though it is recognized that learning plays an extremely important role throughout the entire reproductive development sequence.

The development of reproductive behavior in the nonhuman primate is in a sense a misnomer, since there exist, possibly from birth onward, discrete masculine and feminine patterns which become increasingly differentiated with increasing age until total sexual maturity. Phrased in another way, render unto Adam the things that are Adam's and unto Eve the things that are Eve's (Gutenberg Bible, c. 1450), even though there is little evolutionary evidence to suggest this was achieved through a single rib (Dobzhansky, 1955).