Experimental assessments of behavioral and anatomical components of female chacma baboon (Papio ursinus) sexual attractiveness

Two experiments were carried out in order to separate the effects of the behavioral and the anatomical components of female sexual attractiveness in baboons. In the first experiment, two ovariectomized females were given increasing dosages of exogenous estradiol benzoate, and data were collected on their behavior as well as on male sexual arousal as assessed by the occurrence of coagulated seminal emissions of the type that result from masturbation. Male sexual arousal levels increased positively with the females' perineal swellings and appeared relatively unrelated to the females' behavior. In the second experiment, data were collected from five different groups of males in a systematic fashion across the period of a full menstrual cycle for their varied stimulus female partners. Behavior observations were carried out on the five different stimulus females, and ratings also were made of fluctuations in their perineal tumescence. The results of this experiment make it clear that male sexual arousal fluctuated across the study cycles in a fashion very similar to that of the perineal swellings of the stimulus females. Behavior was shown during all phases of the cycle, and, although it may have had a positive influence on male arousal during the follicular phase of the female's cycle, it had no apparent effect during the luteal phase. These results taken together establish for the first time that an estrogen stimulated female perineum per se has the potential to sexually arouse the male baboon. In addition, the data suggest that, although behavior may exert a positive effect on male arousal, in the absence of an estrogen stimulated perineum it is not sufficient to arouse males to masturbate. Finally the results establish that, although intact females appear to show behavior increases which may be arousing to males around the time of ovulation, these behaviors do not have to be shown by a female in order to arouse a male, provided she is swollen.