Biological Market examples
grooming in primates: trading grooming for sex
a male chacma baboon grooms a female with sexual swelling
Eburru Cliffs Group, Gilgil, Kenya
Photo: R. Noë
The idea that sex can be traded for other commodities is much older than the biological market paradigm (see also 'Mating markets'). The idea that reproduction takes place in the context of a mating market also exists at least since Darwin set the theory of sexual selection in motion. We seem nevertheless to have inspired a few people to take a closer look at exchange rates between grooming and access to sexual partners.
The careful analysis of the exchange between grooming and 'genital rubbing' among female bonobos by Anzà etal (2021) shows that this is not only about males trading grooming for sex with females.
Anzà, S., Demuru, E. & Palagi, E. (2021). Sex and grooming as exchange commodities in female bonobos’ daily biological market. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 19344
Barelli, C., Reichard, U. H. & Mundry, R. 2011. Is grooming used as a commodity in wild white-handed gibbons, Hylobates lar? Animal Behaviour,82, 801-809
Clarke, P. M. R., Halliday, J. E. B., Barrett, L. & Henzi, S. P. 2010. Chacma baboon mating markets: competitor suppression mediates the potential for intersexual exchange. Behavioral Ecology, 21, 1211-1220
Gomes, C. & Boesch, C. 2011. Reciprocity and trades in wild West African chimpanzees. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 65, 2183-2196
Gumert, M. D. 2007. Payment for sex in a macaque mating market. Animal Behaviour, 74, 1655-1667
Koyama, N. F., Caws, C. & Aureli, F. 2012. Supply and demand predict male grooming of swollen females in captive chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes. Animal Behaviour 84, 1419-1425
Lewis, R. J. 2010. Grooming patterns in Verreaux's sifaka. American Journal of Primatology, 72, 254-261
Norscia, I., Antonacci, D. & Palagi, E. 2009. Mating first, mating more: biological market fluctuation in a wild prosimian. PLoS ONE, 4, e4679
Tiddi, B., F. Aureli, et al. (2011). "Social relationships between adult females and the alpha male in wild tufted capuchin monkeys." American Journal of Primatology 73, 812-820
last update: 29 SEP 2021