A group of Gallic and English scientists, led by the Institute for Advanced Studies in Toulouse (France), has carried out a study for years to find out if male Chacma baboons ( Papio ursinus ), which live in Namibia, used some type of sexual coercion with the females of the group to incite them to mate with them in the
Males of this species rarely force females to mate, but that does not mean that they are free to choose a sexual partner. According to the results of this research, there are aggressions –beating and biting– and periods of intimidation against females, mainly when they are fertile; What happens is that this violence and the sexual act take place at different times – with a difference that can be days.
The research, which has been published by the journal Current Biology , thus explains that sexual intimidation could be a long-term mating strategy in these primates. They have observed that aggressive behavior occurs preferentially with females who are fertile and that males stay close to them to establish strong bonds. What they have found no evidence for is a female preference for aggressive males.
Likewise, the study explains that the aggressions of the males represent an important source of injuries for these fertile females , who, according to their estimates, would receive an attack every eight hours and would be victims of an injury every 73 days. Aggressions would be less common in those females that are already pregnant or breastfeeding.
The research findings could partly explain the evolutionary origins of sexual violence also in humans, although it is not something that even the scientists who participated in the study are clear. They see it only as a possibility, since, according to Elise Huchard, a zoologist at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), there could be other alternative explanations.
