DOES AGONISTIC DOMINANCE IMPLY FEEDING PRIORITY IN LEMURS - A STUDY IN EULEMUR FULVUS MAYOTTENSIS

We studied agonistic dominance and priority of access to a limited drinking resource in two captive groups of Eulemur fulvus mayottensis. Gender is not systematically related to agonistic dominance or to drinking priority. The dominance hierarchy obtained in the drinking competition test is correlated with the baseline hierarchy in the absence of induced competition, but not with drinking priority. We analyze results within the framework of recent dicussions on female dominance in Malagasy prosimians.