"Sexual Selection and the Differences Between the Sexes in Mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx)"
Featuring Prof. Jo Setchell, Department of Anthropology, Durham University

February 15, 2024 lecture from 3 pm – 4:30 pm with a light reception following
Freeman Auditorium, HUB-Robeson Center

Abstract - Charles Darwin wrote that ‘no other member in the whole class of mammals is coloured in so extraordinary a manner’. In addition to brightly coloured skin, male mandrills possess long canine teeth and sternal scent-glands, while females show exaggerated pink sexual swellings. I will review what we have learned from long-term studies of semi-free ranging mandrills in Franceville, Gabon, showing how broadening traditional perspectives on sexual selection beyond the ostentatious results of intense sexual selection on males leads to an understanding of more subtle and cryptic forms of competition and choice in both sexes.

Co-sponsored by the Center for Human Evolution and Diversity in the College of the Liberal Arts and Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences