Sociological study on the troop fission of wild |
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Authors: | Toru Oi |
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Institution: | (1) Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 484 Inuyama, Aichi, Japan |
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Abstract: | During the period from June to July 1983, the Hanyama-A troop of wild non-provisioned Japanese monkeys on Yakushima Island
began to show signs of troop fission. Adult females together with their infants and juveniles subdivided into two groups,
the Hanyama-K group and Hanyama-M group. After the subdivision, all of the troop males were observed vacillating between these
two female groups. During the mating season, non-troop males were also observed moving around the two female groups. After
this mating season, one of these non-troop males was found to have entered and become the alpha male in one of the groups,
while higher-ranking adult males of the original troop settled into the other group. Each fissioned group was strongly considered
to be composed of either high-ranking matrilines or low-ranking matrilines as observed previously in provisioned troops. The
dominance relation between the two fissioned groups indicated that dominance rank reversal between these two female kin groups
must have occurred during the course of subdivision of the troop. However, different from most previous cases of troop fission,
there was no indication that males ever participated in the subdivision of the original female group. This was disrupted not
as a result of males' involvement, but only as a result of antagonism among females, which initiated the troop fission. The
main factor which appeared to determine when and in which fission group males eventually settled was the competition between
the troop males' coalition and non-troop males and their ability to monopolize females. The present process of troop fission
suggests a dual strategy between males and females (Wrangham, 1979, 1980) even in the society of Japanese macaques. |
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Keywords: | Troop fission Non-provisioned Matrilines Males' involvement Males' vacillation and stabilization |
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