Effects of provisioning on the social behaviour of Japanese and rhesus macaques: Implications for socioecology |
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Authors: | David A Hill |
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Institution: | (1) School of Biological Sciences, University of Sussex, BN1 9QG Falmer, Brighton, England |
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Abstract: | Long-term studies have shown remarkable similarity in the social behaviour and relationships of Japanese and rhesus macaques
living in free-ranging groups. The vast majority of these studies have been of provisioned groups and many key principles
have been derived from them. Provisioning is known to influence various aspects of life history and demography, as well as
quantitative aspects of social behaviour, such as the frequencies of grooming and aggression. It has been widely assumed,
however, that the fundamental characteristics of social behaviour and relationships observed in provisioned populations are
representative of those that would occur under natural conditions. This paper reviews findings from fieldwork on Japanese
macaques living under natural conditions, and compares them with patterns of social behaviour reported by multiple studies
of provisioned groups of both species. Differences are apparent in the nature of social relationships between adult females,
between adult males, and between adult males and females. Some of these differences can be attributed to the increased levels
of aggression associated with provisioning. Others appear to be related to demographic peculiarities of provisioned groups,
such as large size and skewed sex ratio. These differences can be used to generate predictions concerning the influence of
ecological variables on the dynamics of social relationships and social structure. Ways in which these predictions could be
tested by further fieldwork on provisioned and natural populations are discussed. |
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Keywords: | Provisioning Social behaviour Macaca fuscata Macaca mulatta Yakushima |
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