Definition
Sneak copulations are copulations that take place quickly, where the copulating pair attempts to remain hidden to avoid harassment and prevention of copulation.
Introduction
Sneak copulations occur in the following contexts in primates: 1) as an alternative to consortships (i.e., a short term mate guarding relationship) when consortships are harassed by higher ranking males (typically in species with shorter consortships), where females spend significant time not directly mate guarded (i.e., rhesus macaques Macaca mulatta Berard et al. 1994; Japanese macaques Macaca fuscata Soltis et al. 1997); 2) as an alternative to consorting when higher ranking males are able to monopolize access to females, typically while the male is distracted (i.e., mandrills Mandrillus sphinx Setchell et al. 2005; yellow baboons Papio hamadryas cynocephalus Alberts et al. 2006; olive baboons Papio hamadryas...
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References
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Danish, L.M. (2016). Sneak Copulation. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_77-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_77-1
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