As mentioned previously, Kim Wallen and his colleagues at Emory University’s Yerkes National Primate Research Center know it’s important to introduce new males into their macaque population; otherwise the females lose interest in sex entirely. Even supposedly “monogamous” gibbon females hook up with new males when their mates are out of sight. Small summarizes that a thirst for novelty is the single most observable trait among all the sexual behaviors, preferences, and drivers of female primates. In fact, female primates couldn’t be further from reluctant breeders or seekers of “intimacy” with
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