Cooperation and competition in two forest monkeys

Putty-nosed monkeys, Cercopithecus nictitans stampflii, occurat various sites in West Africa, particularly in the transitionzone between rainforest and savannah. The species is sometimesseen in primary rainforest, although at a curiously low densitycompared with that of other monkey species. We conducted a 24-monthfield study in the tropical rainforest of Taï NationalPark, Ivory Coast, and found that putty-nosed monkeys requirean ecological niche almost identical to that of the Diana monkeys,Cercopithecus diana diana. Moreover, the niche breadth of putty-nosedmonkeys was significantly decreased in the presence of Dianamonkeys, suggesting that feeding competition with Diana monkeyskept putty-nosed monkeys from successfully colonizing a rainforesthabitat. However, contrary to the interspecies competition hypothesis,groups of both species almost completely overlapped in homeranges and formed near-permanent mixed-species associations,rather than avoiding each other. We hypothesized that Dianamonkeys tolerated immigrating putty-nosed monkeys and formedmixed-species groups with them, despite high levels of competition,because of their merit in predation defense. Direct observationsand a series of field experiments confirmed that male putty-nosedmonkeys play a vital role in defense against crowned eagles,suggesting that putty-nosed monkeys obtain access to feedingtrees by offering antipredation benefits to Diana monkeys. Wediscuss these findings in light of biological market theory.