scholarly journals Assessing the reliability of an automated method for measuring dominance hierarchy in nonhuman primates

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sébastien Ballesta ◽  
Baptiste Sadoughi ◽  
Fabia Miss ◽  
Jamie Whitehouse ◽  
Géraud Aguenounon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Dominance Hierarchy ◽  
Social Factor ◽  
Continuous Assessment ◽  
Automated Method ◽  
Social Events ◽  
Hierarchical Stability ◽  
Primate Group ◽  
Free Ranging

AbstractAmong animals’ societies, dominance is an important social factor that influences inter-individual relationships. However, assessing dominance hierarchy can be a time-consuming activity which is potentially impeded by environmental factors, difficulties in the recognition of animals, or through the disturbance of animals during data collection. Here we took advantage of novel devices, Machines for Automated Learning and Testing (MALT), designed primarily to study nonhuman primates’ cognition - to additionally measure the social structure of a primate group. When working on a MALT, an animal can be replaced by another; which could reflect an asymmetric dominance relationship (or could happen by chance). To assess the reliability of our automated method, we analysed a sample of the automated conflicts with video scoring and found that 75% of these replacements include genuine forms of social displacements. We thus first designed a data filtering procedure to exclude events that should not be taken into account when automatically assessing social hierarchies in monkeys. Then, we analysed months of daily use of MALT by 25 semi-free ranging Tonkean macaques (Macaca tonkeana) and found that dominance relationships inferred from these interactions strongly correlate with the ones derived from observations of spontaneous agonistic interactions collected during the same time period. We demonstrate that this method can be used to assess the evolution of individual social status, as well as group-wide hierarchical stability longitudinally with minimal research labour. Further, it facilitates a continuous assessment of dominance hierarchies, even during unpredictable environmental or challenging social events. Altogether, this study supports the use of MALT as a reliable tool to automatically and dynamically assess social status within groups of nonhuman primates, including juveniles.

scholarly journals Ovarian cycle activity varies with respect to age and social status in free-ranging elephants in Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. cot025-cot025 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. W. Freeman ◽  
J. M. Meyer ◽  
S. B. Putman ◽  
B. A. Schulte ◽  
J. L. Brown
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Status ◽  
National Park ◽  
Ovarian Cycle ◽  
Free Ranging

Sex Differences in Hierarchical Stability in a Formation of a Mixed-Sex Group of Rhesus Macaques

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren J Woodell ◽  
Brianne A Beisner ◽  
Amy C Nathman ◽  
Ashleigh Day ◽  
Ashley Cameron ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Macaca Mulatta ◽  
Dominance Hierarchy ◽  
Management Practice ◽  
Rhesus Macaques ◽  
Group Formation ◽  
Alpha Male ◽  
Dominance Relationships ◽  
Hierarchical Stability ◽  
Established Group

Forming groups of captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) is a common management practice. New formations of unfamiliar macaques can be costly, with high levels of trauma, particularly as intense aggression is used to establish a dominance hierarchy. Combining previous subgroups into one new group may be beneficial, as some individuals already have established dominance relationships. We tested this hypothesis by forming a new mixed-sex group of rhesus macaques that combined an established group of females with an established group of males. Prior to the mixed-sex group formation, both the female and male hierarchies had been stable for 3 y; after mixed-sex group formation these hierarchies were maintained by the females and were initially maintained by the males for 3 wks. However, the temporary hospitalization (due to a laceration caused by aggression) of the alpha male destabilized the male hierarchy. Age and weight then predicted male rank. Temporary hospitalizations resulted in rank changes for the males, evidenced by reversals in subordination signals. Thisstudy indicates that using established groups of familiar individuals may maintain female hierarchical stability in a mixed-sex group formation, but further research is needed to understand how to maintain and predict male hierarchical stability to reduce trauma. Improved knowledge of hierarchical stability would be invaluable to managers of large rhesus macaque groups and would help improve the welfare of captive rhesus macaques.

Social choices in farm animals: to fight or not to fight?

1997 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 45-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Mendl ◽  
H.W. Erhard
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Farm Animals ◽  
Alternative Strategies ◽  
Aggressive Interactions ◽  
Fighting Ability ◽  
Young Pigs ◽  
Attack Latency ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
Mixed Groups

AbstractFrom an animal production and welfare perspective, an important social choice made by farm animals is whether and how vigorously to fight others. The choice to fight (i.e. simultaneous escalated aggression by both contestants) may result in severe injury when unfamiliar animals first meet or compete for highly valued resources. Game theory models of aggressive interactions predict that animals have evolved to stop or avoid fighting when they assess their chances of winning a contest to be poor. Assessment may occur during or before a fight. If it occurs before a fight, reliable cues of fighting ability must exist. If farm animals can establish relative social status by assessment prior to fighting, it may be possible to construct social groups which contain individuals of differing abilities such that most disputes are resolved through assessment and levels of damaging aggression are kept low. Social status appears to be established by assessment rather than fighting in free-ranging deer and sheep when asymmetries exist in reliable cues of their fighting abilities such as roaring rate and horn size. However, there have been few detailed studies of other farmed species and findings are equivocal. Work on young pigs suggests that, in pair-wise encounters, individuals are unable to assess weight-related asymmetries in their abilities without fighting. However, recent studies of groups of pigs suggest that some form of assessment prior to fighting may occur. Individuals were classified as high (H) or low (L) aggressive on the basis of their behaviour in an attack latency test. When litters of H pigs were mixed with litters of L pigs, significantly fewer pairs of unfamiliar pigs fought than when newly mixed groups were made up of litters of H pigs only, or litters of L pigs only. Thus, fighting was least frequent when there was a marked asymmetry in the aggressiveness of unfamiliar individuals. Another study raised the possibility that H and L pigs may be following alternative strategies which, under certain circumstances, are similarly beneficial in welfare and production terms. Further work is required to substantiate these findings and to determine whether aggressiveness is a reliable cue of fighting ability and, if so, how it is manifest and assessed.

Chronic Social Stress, Social Status, and Susceptibility to Upper Respiratory Infections in Nonhuman Primates

1997 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheldon Cohen ◽  
Scott Line ◽  
Stephen B. Manuck ◽  
Bruce S. Rabin ◽  
Eugene R. Heise ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Respiratory Infections ◽  
Chronic Social Stress ◽  
Upper Respiratory Infections ◽  
Upper Respiratory

LEPTOSPIRA SPECIES STATUS OF CAPTIVE NONHUMAN PRIMATES AND FREE-RANGING RODENTS AT THE BARRANQUILLA ZOO, COLOMBIA, 2013

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle Woolf ◽  
Carlos Sanchez ◽  
Viviana Gonzalez-Astudillo ◽  
Mauricio Navarro ◽  
Cristian Camilo Tapia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Species Status ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
Leptospira Species

scholarly journals Sperm competition within a dominance hierarchy: investment in social status vs. investment in ejaculates

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1290-1296 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. TAMARA MONTROSE ◽  
W. Edwin Harris ◽  
A. J. MOORE ◽  
P. J. MOORE
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Dominance Hierarchy

Does social status within a dominance hierarchy mediate individual growth, residency and relocation?

Oecologia ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 176 (3) ◽  
pp. 771-779 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abbas Akbaripasand ◽  
Martin Krkosek ◽  
P. Mark Lokman ◽  
Gerard P. Closs
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Dominance Hierarchy ◽  
Individual Growth

Free-Ranging Rhesus Monkeys: Behavioural Effects of Removal, Separation and Reintroduction of Group Members

Behaviour ◽  
1971 ◽  
Vol 40 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 216-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen H. Vessey
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Rhesus Monkeys ◽  
Dominance Hierarchy ◽  
Social Rank ◽  
Alpha Male ◽  
Behavioural Effects ◽  
Lower Ranking ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Island Habitats ◽  
Free Ranging

AbstractRhesus monkeys (26) varying in age, sex and social rank were removed from their free-ranging groups and held captive for periods of 1 to 103 days. 'The absence of the alpha male did not affect the group's home range on the island habitats or its rank in the intergroup dominance hierarchy. When released the monkeys interacted most with those closest to them in rank, attacking those lower and grooming those higher. Of 18 males, 8 failed to rejoin their groups and became solitary or low-ranking in other groups. Only 1 of 9 females failed to rejoin their group. Males held captive for more than four weeks seldom rejoined after release. Upon reintroduction alpha females experienced more difficulty than lower-ranking females in maintaining rank. This procedure of removing and reintroducing members of free-ranging groups is of value in studying social roles.

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