It was earlier thought that red bottoms in female baboons attract their potential mates. However, a new study says male baboons look for more than just those red bottoms. It has been reported by scientists that this doesn't play as strong role as compared to other indications of fertility.

Backside of a female baboon swells when she ovulates and this indicates that she is fertile and her potential mates take it as a hint of her fertility. The swelling attracts all the baboons nearby. Some females have more swelling than others; however it was observed that those who have larger bottoms were not able to attract more males.

It was found by the researchers that more swelling during ovulation was not associated with more living children, when they compared swelling with long-term data on offspring. Therefore, apparently males know that how it is.

It appeared that the males also considered another factor regarding fertility and it was the number of menstrual cycles occurred since her last pregnancy.

According to Duke University researcher Courtney Fitzpatrick, "It's almost as if the males are counting. Our study suggests that, at least in part, males follow a rule along the lines of 'later is better' rather than 'bigger is better".

Baboons don't get back their fertility right away after giving birth, particularly when they are still weaning their offspring. Therefore, a male prefers to go for females who have had some break from delivering offspring. Fitzpatrick and her colleagues will attempt to find out in follow-up studies that whether this mating approach in reality is the reason behind more surviving children for the males.