The male proboscis monkey’s large nose may help it attract a mate Hemis/Alamy The bizarre enlarged nose of male proboscis monkeys acts like a trumpet, enabling them to make extremely loud sounds that attract females and intimidate rivals. Until now, researchers have speculated that it must play a role in mating and dominance, but evidence for the exact purpose and how it functions has been elusive. Read more Advertisement “No other monkeys have a big nose like that,” says from the Australian National University in Canberra.
“That nose has become a signal of health and dominance. Females find it attractive and males threatening.” To find out more, Balolia and her colleagues conducted a detailed analysis of the cranial anatomy of proboscis monkeys ( ) and compared their nasal structure with three other old-world species: blue monkeys, king colobus monkeys and crab-eating macaques.
They found that the nasal aperture in male proboscis monkeys is 29 per cent larger than in their female counterparts. For the other three species the difference between sexes was between 7 and 15 per cent. A monthly celebration of the biodiversity of our planet’s animals, plants and other organisms.
Male proboscis monkeys also had a 26 per cent larger nasal cavity than females, compared with a 7 to 17 per cent difference in the other three primates. Bigger differences in certain bodily features between the sexes can indicate that sexual selection has been at work. Crucially, this nasal ana.
