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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Royal Society Open Science

Animation, but not facial femininity, increases attention to female faces in male mandrills

  • Nicolas Martin Dibot1,2,3,4
  • Alice Baniel5
  • Jean Nzue Nguema6,7
  • Thierry Audrey Tsoumbou6
  • Barthélémy Ngoubangoye6
  • Marie Charpentier5,8
  • William Puech2
  • Julien P. Renoult1
8 affiliations
  1. 1CEFE, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD 1 , Montpellier, France
  2. 2LIRMM Univ Montpellier, CNRS 2 , Montpellier, France
  3. 3Department of Cognitive Studies, École Normale Supérieure PSL University 3 , Paris, France
  4. 4Paris-Est University, INSERM U955, Mondor Biomedical Research Institute, Neuropsychology Team 4 , Créteil, France
  5. 5Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (ISEM), UMR 5554, University of Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, EPHE 5 , Montpellier, France
  6. 6Centre de Primatologie, Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherches Médicales de Franceville (CIRMF) 6 , Franceville, Gabon
  7. 7Laboratoire de Biométrie et de Biologie Évolutive 7 , Lyon, France
  8. 8Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior 8 , Konstanz, Germany
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Abstract

Previous correlational studies in wild mandrills suggest that males may show greater socio-sexual interest toward less feminine-looking females, challenging the expectation that facial femininity enhances attractiveness. However, whether facial femininity itself causally influences male response remains unknown, as natural faces vary simultaneously in many visual and social attributes. We tested this question in semi-captive male mandrills using paired looking-time assays with synthetic female faces generated by a generative artificial intelligence (AI) model trained on mandrill face photographs. This approach allowed us to manipulate facial femininity along a calibrated axis while holding identity and other visual features constant. We also used the same framework to animate static portraits, testing whether dynamic presentation increases attention to facial stimuli. Contrary to predictions from previous field observations, males showed no detectable preference for either more feminine or less feminine female faces. By contrast, they looked longer at animated rather than static versions of the same faces. These findings suggest that facial femininity alone is insufficient to elicit a consistent visual preference in male mandrills under controlled conditions, whereas motion enhances the salience of conspecific facial stimuli. More broadly, our study shows how calibrated generative-AI stimuli can experimentally isolate socio-sexual signal components that are difficult to disentangle observationally.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{dibot2026animation,
  title = {{Animation, but not facial femininity, increases attention to female faces in male mandrills}},
  author = {Nicolas Martin Dibot and Alice Baniel and Jean Nzue Nguema and Thierry Audrey Tsoumbou and Barthélémy Ngoubangoye and Marie Charpentier and William Puech and Julien P. Renoult},
  journal = {Royal Society Open Science},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.1098/rsos.260618},
  url = {https://hal.science/hal-05772993v1},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Animation, but not facial femininity, increases attention to female faces in male mandrills
AU  - Nicolas Martin Dibot
AU  - Alice Baniel
AU  - Jean Nzue Nguema
AU  - Thierry Audrey Tsoumbou
AU  - Barthélémy Ngoubangoye
AU  - Marie Charpentier
AU  - William Puech
AU  - Julien P. Renoult
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/30
JO  - Royal Society Open Science
DO  - 10.1098/rsos.260618
UR  - https://hal.science/hal-05772993v1
AB  - Previous correlational studies in wild mandrills suggest that males may show greater socio-sexual interest toward less feminine-looking females, challenging the expectation that facial femininity enhances attractiveness. However, whether facial femininity itself causally influences male response remains unknown, as natural faces vary simultaneously in many visual and social attributes. We tested this question in semi-captive male mandrills using paired looking-time assays with synthetic female faces generated by a generative artificial intelligence (AI) model trained on mandrill face photographs. This approach allowed us to manipulate facial femininity along a calibrated axis while holding identity and other visual features constant. We also used the same framework to animate static portraits, testing whether dynamic presentation increases attention to facial stimuli. Contrary to predictions from previous field observations, males showed no detectable preference for either more feminine or less feminine female faces. By contrast, they looked longer at animated rather than static versions of the same faces. These findings suggest that facial femininity alone is insufficient to elicit a consistent visual preference in male mandrills under controlled conditions, whereas motion enhances the salience of conspecific facial stimuli. More broadly, our study shows how calibrated generative-AI stimuli can experimentally isolate socio-sexual signal components that are difficult to disentangle observationally.
SN  - 2054-5703
SN  - 2054-5703
ER  -