We suggest rather, that guarding by the beta male was restricted by the alpha male.
It interfered with and replaced the guarding by the adult beta male more than it did with the yearlings.
We used general linear mixed models (GLMM) to analyse the effect of cycle stage, dominance status of the mating male, occurrence or absence of mate guarding by the mating male and occurrence or absence of ejaculation on the call parameters.
The large increase in guarding by the beta male following its eviction of the alpha also indicates that the beta male's previous lower extent of guarding was not due to incompetence, or laziness or lack of desire to guard.
The situation in long-tailed macaques is intermediated in that mating with multiple partners and mate guarding by the dominant male during the female fertile phase both occur to a significant extent (Engelhardt et al. 2006).
However, except for the case of artificial differential feeding of one particular individual for single days (Wright et al., 2001b), food availability for the group did not alter the relative extent of guarding by the different hierarchical categories.
