A male and female macaque form a pair bond and mate, feed, rest, and travel together, and this typically lasts 16 days on average during the mating season. Females enter into consortships with an average of four males a season. Higher-ranking males have longer consortships than their subordinates. In addition, higher-ranking males try to disrupt consortships of lower-ranking males. Females attempt to mate with males of any rank. However, dominant males mate more as they are more successful in mate guarding. The female decides whether mating takes place. In addition, dominance does not mean a male will successfully mate with a female. Males may also temporarily join another troop during the mating season and mate with the females. Females also engage in same-sex mounting. Such behavior is likely because of hormones and females are mounted more often by other females than males. It has been proposed that female Japanese macaques are generally bisexual, rather than preferentially homo- or heterosexual.