Socially tolerant relationships among wild male moor macaques (Macaca maura)

Behaviour ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 151 (7) ◽  
pp. 1021-1044 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin P. Riley ◽  
Cristina Sagnotti ◽  
Monica Carosi ◽  
Ngakan Putu Oka

Researchers are increasingly documenting the existence of social tolerance and affiliative behavior among primate males, including in male-dispersing species. We investigated the nature of male social relationships in a relatively understudied macaque species, the moor macaque (Macaca maura), in order to expand our knowledge of male social relationships in male dispersing primates. The classification of social styles for primates rests largely on data about female social relationships. Therefore, by providing data on male–male relationships, we also contribute to our understanding of social style variation within the genus Macaca. Observations were conducted on a wild yet well-habituated group in Bantimurung-Bulusaraung National Park in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. We collected focal animal and ad libitum data on four adult males, recording social behavior during 209 contact hours over two field seasons in 2010 and 2011. The adult male moor macaques in this study did not interact frequently. Interactions that did occur more frequently involved affiliation rather than aggression, with greetings being the most common form of interaction. Greetings occurred in a predominately neutral context and were more common between specific males with uncertain or ambiguous dominance relationships and low-quality relationships, but the initiation of greetings was not linked to dominance rank. These results suggest that greetings enable males to communicate information about their willingness to invest in the relationship, representing one way for adult males to ease social tension and build social bonds. To expand our understanding of social style variation in Macaca, we compared our data to those published for other macaque taxa. In the present study, the observed pattern of aggression (i.e., low rate, low to moderate intensity and high symmetry) was consistent with the species’ social style classification as highly tolerant. The relatively low grooming rate and low percentage of counteraggression, however, were more consistent with the social style of less tolerant taxa. Further research is needed to determine what factors explain this pattern of social tolerance among male moor macaques.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arielle S. Fogel ◽  
Emily M. McLean ◽  
Jacob B. Gordon ◽  
Elizabeth A. Archie ◽  
Jenny Tung ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTOpposite-sex social relationships are important predictors of fitness in many animals, including several group-living mammals. Consequently, understanding sources of variance in the tendency to form opposite-sex relationships is important for understanding social evolution. Genetic contributions are of particular interest due to their importance in long-term evolutionary change, but little is known about genetic effects on male-female relationships in social mammals, especially outside of the mating context. Here, we investigate the effects of genetic ancestry on male-female affiliative behavior in a hybrid zone between the yellow baboon (Papio cynocephalus) and the anubis baboon (P. anubis), in a population in which male-female social bonds are known predictors of lifespan. We place our analysis within the context of other social and demographic predictors of affiliative behavior in baboons. Genetic ancestry was the most consistent predictor of opposite-sex affiliative behavior we observed, with the exception of strong effects of dominance rank. Our results show that increased anubis genetic ancestry is associated with subtly, but significantly higher rates of opposite-sex affiliative behavior, in both males and females. Additionally, pairs of anubis-like males and anubis-like females were the most likely to socially affiliate, resulting in moderate assortativity in grooming and proximity behavior as a function of genetic ancestry. Our findings indicate that opposite-sex affiliative behavior partially diverged during baboon evolution to differentiate yellow and anubis baboons, despite overall similarities in their social structures and mating systems. Further, they suggest that affiliative behavior may simultaneously promote and constrain baboon admixture, through additive and assortative effects of ancestry, respectively.HIGHLIGHTSOpposite-sex social relationships can have important fitness consequences.In hybrid baboons, genetic ancestry predicted male-female affiliative behavior.Both an individual’s genetic ancestry and that of its social partner mattered.Male-female affiliation was assortative with respect to genetic ancestry.Dominance rank and group demography also influenced male-female social affiliation.


2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1793) ◽  
pp. 20141261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Archie ◽  
Jenny Tung ◽  
Michael Clark ◽  
Jeanne Altmann ◽  
Susan C. Alberts

Social integration and support can have profound effects on human survival. The extent of this phenomenon in non-human animals is largely unknown, but such knowledge is important to understanding the evolution of both lifespan and sociality. Here, we report evidence that levels of affiliative social behaviour (i.e. ‘social connectedness’) with both same-sex and opposite-sex conspecifics predict adult survival in wild female baboons. In the Amboseli ecosystem in Kenya, adult female baboons that were socially connected to either adult males or adult females lived longer than females who were socially isolated from both sexes—females with strong connectedness to individuals of both sexes lived the longest. Female social connectedness to males was predicted by high dominance rank, indicating that males are a limited resource for females, and females compete for access to male social partners. To date, only a handful of animal studies have found that social relationships may affect survival. This study extends those findings by examining relationships to both sexes in by far the largest dataset yet examined for any animal. Our results support the idea that social effects on survival are evolutionarily conserved in social mammals.


Behaviour ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 156 (9) ◽  
pp. 927-968
Author(s):  
Claudio de la O ◽  
Ines Fürtbauer ◽  
Andrew J. King ◽  
David Valenzuela-Galván

Abstract Dominance relationships imply consistent asymmetries in social relationships. Socioecological models predict that resource distribution determines the mode of competition that animals will face and, ultimately, the nature of their social relationships. Here, we provide the first systematic investigation of dominance style in white-nosed coatis (Nasua narica). Coatis live in cohesive female-resident groups, and have a diet based on clumped (fruits) and dispersed (insects) food items, which are predicted to favour despotic and egalitarian social styles, respectively. Our results revealed moderate linearity and steepness in dominance relationships over time, with variations attributed to stages of reproductive season, rather than presumed variations in food resources. Primary social bonds and coalitions were found to mediate dominance rank. Overall, our results suggest some similarities between coatis and despotic-tolerant primate species, at least under particular ecological circumstances, and we discuss their potential for affording a deeper understanding on the sources of variation in mammal social systems.


Animals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giada Cordoni ◽  
Elisabetta Palagi

This review focuses on wolf sociobiology to delineate the traits of cooperative baggage driven by natural selection (wolf-wolf cooperation) and better understand the changes obtained by artificial selection (dog-human cooperation). We selected some behaviors of the dog’s ancestors that provide the basis for the expression of a cooperative society, such as dominance relationships, leverage power, post-aggressive strategies, and playful dynamics between pack members. When possible, we tried to compare the data on wolves with those coming from the dog literature. Wolves can negotiate commodities when the interacting subjects occupy different ranking positions by bargaining social tolerance with helping and support. They are able to manage group disruption by engaging in sophisticated post-conflict maneuvers, thus restoring the relationship between the opponents and reducing the spreading of aggression in the group. Wolves engage in social play also as adults to manipulate social relationships. They are able to flexibly adjust their playful interactions to minimize the risk of escalation. Complex cognitive abilities and communicative skills are probably the main proximate causes for the evolution of inter-specific cooperation in wolves.


Behaviour ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 133 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 827-845 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.H. Harcourt ◽  
K.J. Stewart

We investigate the social significance of the within group ('close') calls of gorillas by examining correlates of calling with dominance rank and with relatedness of adults, and by examining whether the outcomes of interactions between adults differ depending on the calls given during the interactions. In two wild gorilla groups, the majority of adults give most of their calls when near another adult and fully in sight of them. Thus gorillas' use 'close' calls as more than mere contact calls. An adult gorilla's use of 'close' calls correlates with its own and with its partner's dominance rank, with effects being most obvious for the most dominant animals, the fully adult males. Thus the proportion of 'double grunts', the most common 'close' call, in an individual's repertoire correlated consistently with dominance rank; all non-silverback adults gave a higher percent of double grunts in the presence of subordinates than they did near dominant animals; individuals were most likely to give 'non-syllabled' grunts in the adult male's presence; and they consistently exchanged calls at a higher rate with the adult males than with other group members. An adult's type of calls did not obviously differ depending on whether their neighbour was kin or non-kin, but kin were overall more likely to give calls in the presence of kin, and to exchange calls with kin than with non-kin, although the association was not consistent throughout the two years of the study. With regard to the consequences of calling, subordinates were less likely to be feeding one minute after an approach by a fully adult male during which calls were exchanged than during silent approaches. In contrast to findings from studies of some other species, calling did not correlate with duration of grooming. We suggest that, among other functions, gorillas' 'close' calls mediate social interactions. One form of calls, 'non-syllabled' calls, are interpretable as appeasement signals. The broadest interpretation of the 'double grunt' is that it is an exaggerated announcement of presence, whose function is to attract attention to the caller, and to signal conditional future activity.


Behaviour ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 151 (7) ◽  
pp. 993-1020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa C. Corewyn ◽  
Mary A. Kelaita

Cooperative relationships among male primates are emerging as an important aspect of primate social behavior. What remains unclear is the extent to which male associations with coresident males vary within species, and what social and demographic factors drive these associations. This information provides an important contribution to our understanding of how cooperative relationships play an adaptive role in the evolution of male social and reproductive strategies. To examine the nature of male associations and the influence of social and demographic factors, including rank and age, we collected 1751 h of focal behavioral data on adult males in two large multimale–multifemale groups of mantled howlers (Alouatta palliata) at La Pacifica, Costa Rica. Both groups inhabited upland forest area, were of similar size and sex ratio, and exhibited strongly linear male hierarchies. Based on observed spatial associations within 3 m proximity, dyadic patterns varied from strongly preferred to strongly avoided associations that were largely consistent among dyads over the study period. In contrast to reports from other mantled howler study sites, neither rank nor age differences among males predicted whether dyads spent any time in proximity to one another, nor the amount of time in proximity. However, higher-ranked males within dyads were more likely to maintain close proximity than their lower-ranked counterparts. Our results provide important data on the nature of male associations within mantled howler groups with linear dominance relationships, and are suggestive of the adaptive value of cooperative relationships.


2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 339-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deanna L. Forrester ◽  
Doug P. VanderLaan ◽  
Paul L. Vasey ◽  
Jessica L. Parker

AbstractAndrophilia refers to sexual attraction and arousal to adult males, whereas gynephilia refers to sexual attraction and arousal to adult females. The Kin Selection Hypothesis (KSH) posits that genes for male androphilia can persist if androphilic males offset the fitness costs of not reproducing directly by enhancing indirect fitness. In theory, by directing altruistic behavior toward kin, androphilic males can increase the reproduction of kin, thereby enhancing indirect fitness. Evidence supporting the KSH has been documented in Samoa. Samoan transgendered, androphilic males, known locally as fa’afafine, are socially accepted by the majority of Samoans. In contrast, no supportive evidence has been garnered from other cultures (i.e., USA, UK, Japan) that are characterized by less social tolerance toward male androphiles. Tests of the KSH in Canada might be more likely to yield findings consistent with Samoa because Canadian social and political attitudes toward male androphiles are markedly more tolerant and accepting. Here, we compared the willingness of Canadian androphilic men, gynephilic men, and androphilic women to invest in nieces and nephews as well as in non-kin children. Consistent with the KSH and findings from Samoa, androphilic men exhibited a significantly greater cognitive dissociation between altruistic tendencies directed toward kin versus non-kin children relative to gynephilic men and androphilic women. The present study, therefore, provides some tentative support for the KSH from a culture other than Samoa. Findings and future directions for research are considered within the context of the existing cross-cultural literature.


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