生物谷报道：北京时间12月27日消息，据澳大利亚广播公司网站报道，新加坡的科学家近日称，他们的一项最新研究发现雄性猕猴们为了获得性爱，同样会在物质或相关行为上向雌性猕猴们大献殷勤，这非常类似于人类社会的“付出补偿”，比如它们会用梳理毛发、除去污垢或者清除寄生虫等手段取悦对方。
新加坡南洋理工大学心理学系教授迈克·古默特在12月份的爱思唯尔期刊《动物行为》（Animal Behaviour）杂志上发表了他的这项最新研究成果。迈克·古默特说：“我发现，雄性猕猴在性交过程中为雌性猕猴梳理毛发的次数与雌性的供需比率有关。”换而言之，在周围雌性猴子相对较少的情况下，雄性猴子，尤其是地位较低的一方，必须为对方进行毛发梳理以获得更多的性交。猕猴的毛发梳理方式包括用牙齿和双手为对方从毛发中除去污垢、缠结和寄生虫。这种梳理毛发的行为常常可以激起猴子，尤其是雄性猴子的性欲，因而许多科学家们猜测，人类性活动中的前戏就是由此进化而来的。为了与雌性猴子交配，雄巴巴利猕猴还会在求爱者面前不停地摆动自己的后腿及臀部。然而这种挑逗行为并没有结束，一旦交配开始，雄巴巴利猕猴便开始嚎叫，并变换身体的角度和速度用于配合雌猴的动作。
2003至2005年间，迈克·古默特对印度尼西亚丹戎普廷国家公园的长尾猕猴进行了大量的分析，记载了243个雄性猕猴为雌性猕猴梳理毛发的时间段，期间绝大多数的雄性都把目标瞄准愿意与其进行交配的雌性。这种“性交前梳理毛发”的行为持续时间从几秒到半小时或更长不等，持续时间常常与潜在的其它伴侣数量或者梳理者与被梳理者的地位状况有关。古默特认为：“等级并不能让这种市场消失，只能令其失衡。强势的一方可以向弱势一方索取更多却付出更少，这表明，这种公平交易理念的恶化似乎是灵长类社会生活所固有的一个特点，在小到猴子性交，大到人类政治学均有存在。”
由于雌性猕猴在同意交配前需要更多的关注，因此雄性猕猴就不得不尽力与雌性“调情”，通过面部表情或者别的方式，如弯腰低头，挑眉或者咂嘴，接近雌性猕猴并取得她们的欢心。这意味着，等级高的雌性同样可以扭曲这个体系。古默特还发现，雌性猕猴有时也会为雄性猕猴梳理毛发，不过这种行为似乎与性无关。他表示，这可能是雌性猕猴在表明与某些雄性猕猴之间的关系，从而保护其儿女免受家族中其它没有这种特权的雄性的侵害。在美国埃默里大学耶基斯灵长目中心心理学家法兰斯·华尔看来，这个最新研究“完成得非常好，运用生物市场概念解释为性交而进行毛发梳理的交换活动”。华尔补充说：“众所周知，灵长类雄性动物会在与雌性交配前为其进行毛发梳理，然而，如果雌性没有生育能力的话，他们就几乎不会怎么为对方梳理毛发。”
迈克·古默特语带幽默地表示，在现实生活中，他自己也经历了类似的“公平交易”，按照他的话来说就是，“我给我妻子娘家送了一些彩礼，尽管我没有收到任何他们的实物礼物，但是我得到了我的妻子”。（来源：新浪科技 刘妍）
生物谷推荐英文原文：
Animal Behaviour
Volume 74, Issue 6, December 2007, Pages 1655-1667
Payment for sex in a macaque mating market
Michael D. Gumert, a, b,
aDepartment of Biology, Hiram College, Hiram, OH, U.S.A.
bDepartment of Psychology, Hiram College, Hiram, OH, U.S.A.
Received 18 September 2006; revised 26 October 2006; accepted 13 March 2007. MS. number: A10560R. Available online 5 November 2007.
In primate sexual relationships, males and females can cooperate through social trade. Market-like trading of sexual activity has been theorized, but no data have yet been presented that clearly show its existence. I collected data to test whether biological market theory could account for exchanges of male-to-female grooming and sexual activity in longtailed macaques. I explored male-to-female grooming, rates of sexual activity, and grooming–mating interchanges, which were male-to-female grooming bouts that directly involved mating. Male-to-female grooming mainly occurred when females were sexually active, and males groomed females longer per bout when mating, inspection, or presentation of female hindquarters was involved. Moreover, male-to-female grooming was associated with an increase in female rates for all forms of sexual activity, where in contrast, female-to-male grooming was associated with decreased rates of mating in the groomed males. Males did not preferentially mate with swollen females or invest more grooming in them during grooming–mating interchanges, as swellings did not seem to be a reliable indicator of female fertility. Rank status was correlated with grooming payment during grooming–mating interchanges in favour of higher-ranked males and females. In support of a biological market interpretation, the amount of grooming a male performed on a female during grooming–mating interchanges was related to the current supply of females around the interaction. The results provided evidence of a grooming–mating trade that was influenced by a mating market.
Keywords: biological markets; grooming; interchange; Macaca fascicularis; macaque; mating; sex; social exchange
Correspondence and present address: M. D. Gumert, Division of Psychology, School of Humanities, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 639798.
