Male-female associations in the domestic guinea pig

Male courtship of nonreceptive females and male-male agonistic encounters were monitored daily for eight heterosexual groups of guinea pigs. Typically, one male (the associating male) accounted for much more courtship of a given female during her pregnancy than did any of the other males. Associating males were high ranking animals but were not always the group’s normal alpha male. Nonalpha associating males invariably ranked higher on the day of the female’s litter and postpartum estrus than their modal daily rank during her pregnancy. In 10 of the 18 cases, a nonalpha associating male took over the alpha position on the day of the litter. The courtship of females by associating males was found to differ from that by nonassociating males in that associating males displayed circling, rumping, swaying, and pursuit in a significantly higher percentage of the total number of courtship bouts.