What is the ideal Female to Male Ratio per habitat for breeding Japanese Macaque?

[JonasH8000]

My favorite animal in the whole of Planet Zoo is the Japanese Macaque, because in real life I LOVE watching apes and especially love getting up close and personal with them. So I'd love to visit a habitat with Japanese Macaques (or meet them in the wild in Japan)

However pretty early on, I noticed that the females are very hard to get on the animal market, so I started breeding them myself.

I currently have 334 Japanese Macaques spread over 6 habitats, with one male per habitat and a bunch of females. (I do this so I can prevent inbreeding and make sure that the animals with the best match in genes end up in the same habitat) But I'm wondering if someone smarter than me can figure out what the ideal amount of female macaques is for one male. (To make sure we get the maximum amount of babies) If I put too many females in one habitat, it will take longer for them all to get pregnant and I lose valuable time of their life that they could've been pregnant. If I put too few females in the habitat the male will want to mate at times while all of the females are in a period of inter birth sterility.

The gestation/incubation period is 5 months. With 24 months inter birth period of sterility.
Adult at 4 years old, sterile at 20. So I guess the maximum amount of babies in theory would be 7 or so. (I currently have 6, 20+ year old females, 5 of them gave birth 3 times, one gave birth 4 times)

Does anyone know how many times per season a male mates? Or any insights in this mechanic?

 

[FoxyDee]

Lol, I am glad this is a game, this sound utterly horrendous if it was real life.

But japanese macaques can have multiple males in enclosure, so it could help to just add more males?

Edit: Nvm just noticed you wanted to prevent inbreeding.

 

[JonasH8000]

Lol, I am glad this is a game, this sound utterly horrendous if it was real life.

But japanese macaques can have multiple males in enclosure, so it could help to just add more males?

Edit: Nvm just noticed you wanted to prevent inbreeding.

Yeah, now that you mention it, it does sound pretty horrible. But the end justifies the means .
Well not only do I want to prevent inbreeding but I try to put the females with the males that have the best genes for them, so I can get the best quality offspring. If I put two males in one habitat there is no way to make sure that the females in fact mate with the male that is the best match for them, thus that would further complicate things.

And further more the question would still remain: how many females are ideal for two males...

 

[Cool Cats and Kittens]

Lets make it even worse

Much more important than the optimal female to male ration is the bug, that female mammals wont get pregnant if her offspring is in the same habitat. That means, females will get pregnant again four years after giving birth (age of maturity) instead of two years (interbirth period according to the zoopedia). But if you move the offspring to another habitat in the zoo, the female can become pregnant again after two years.

It did this for a couple generations to jump start my Macaque population after I was lucky enough to get some good females. In the picture below is on of the females. Shes 18 years old and her fourth child is almost 2, so I would get a fifth child out of her if I would send the current one to the now decommissioned (because I am to lazy to continue this for the macaques) kindergarten habitat

Btw FunkyMonkesy is not the name of my zoo, so please do not report him to Peta for unethical husbandry.

Besides, I dont relay enjoy doing this trick, but it is necessary for some animals like rendeer, orang utans or water buffaloes (before 1.3) if one doesnt want to depend on new females from the market if ones current females got two male babies (because every female would get only 2 babies in her live without this trick)

 

[JonasH8000]

Lets make it even worse

Much more important than the optimal female to male ration is the bug, that female mammals wont get pregnant if her offspring is in the same habitat. That means, females will get pregnant again four years after giving birth (age of maturity) instead of two years (interbirth period according to the zoopedia). But if you move the offspring to another habitat in the zoo, the female can become pregnant again after two years.

It did this for a couple generations to jump start my Macaque population after I was lucky enough to get some good females. In the picture below is on of the females. Shes 18 years old and her fourth child is almost 2, so I would get a fifth child out of her if I would send the current one to the now decommissioned (because I am to lazy to continue this for the macaques) kindergarten habitat
View attachment 199359

Btw FunkyMonkesy is not the name of my zoo, so please do not report him to Peta for unethical husbandry.

Besides, I dont relay enjoy doing this trick, but it is necessary for some animals like rendeer, orang utans or water buffaloes (before 1.3) if one doesnt want to depend on new females from the market if ones current females got two male babies (because every female would get only 2 babies in her live without this trick)

Thanks for sharing, although I have to say: I seem te be able to get 3 babies out of almost every female without using this trick, nonetheless I will take your suggestion to heart and make a new habitat for all the baby Macaques. let's see if I can get it up to 4-5!

 

[Cool Cats and Kittens]

I am always happy to share this in the hope, that Frontier fixes the underlying bug!

3 is the average amount of babies per Macaque female without the trick. Lets do the math, for simplicity amusing that a female needs one year to become pregnant and give birth:

- 4 years interbirth period (+1 year pregnancy = 5 years between children): The female will get babies at the ages of: 5 (she reaches maturity at 4 and needs 1 year until the birth), 10, 15, 20. That means the female will only get 4 babies if she needs less than one year for becoming pregnant and give birth, which is possible. But the average female will only have 3 kids

- 2 years interbirth period (+1 year pregnancy = 3 years between children): The female will get babies at the ages of: 5 (she reaches maturity at 4 and needs 1 year until the birth), 8,11,14,17, 20. Here, the average female should have 5 babies and 6, if you are very lucky

 

[JonasH8000]

I am always happy to share this in the hope, that Frontier fixes the underlying bug!

3 is the average amount of babies per Macaque female without the trick. Lets do the math, for simplicity amusing that a female needs one year to become pregnant and give birth:

- 4 years interbirth period (+1 year pregnancy = 5 years between children): The female will get babies at the ages of: 5 (she reaches maturity at 4 and needs 1 year until the birth), 10, 15, 20. That means the female will only get 4 babies if she needs less than one year for becoming pregnant and give birth, which is possible. But the average female will only have 3 kids

- 2 years interbirth period (+1 year pregnancy = 3 years between children): The female will get babies at the ages of: 5 (she reaches maturity at 4 and needs 1 year until the birth), 8,11,14,17, 20. Here, the average female should have 5 babies and 6, if you are very lucky

I came to a similar conclusion, but the question remains, "How many females can one male have in his harem without pulling the amount of babies down?"
I had one daddy Macaque which seems to have very good genes because he ended up with 18 females in his habitat. I'm guessing that might have been a bit too much for optimal conception. Poor/lucky guy.

I wonder if the males in this game are always ready to get to it and basically solely depend on whether or not the female is ready to mate...

 

[JonasH8000]

Much more important than the optimal female to male ration is the bug, that female mammals wont get pregnant if her offspring is in the same habitat. That means, females will get pregnant again four years after giving birth (age of maturity) instead of two years (interbirth period according to the zoopedia). But if you move the offspring to another habitat in the zoo, the female can become pregnant again after two years.

I can confirm!