Squirrel monkey dominance and social behavior as related to group size and group structure

Adult male and female squirrel monkeys were tested in nonsocial adaptation and pairwise and triad social situations differing in sex composition. Social behaviors, nonsocial behaviors, and dominance hierarchies were observed during social testing. Dominance hierarchies were similar in groups differing in size and social structure. Nonsocial behaviors decreased in females and submissive animals paired with males or dominant monkeys. Aggressiveness between females decreased and the beginnings of coalitions between females were observed in the presence of a male. The social behavior patterns, but not dominance hierarchies, are consistent with behaviors observed in larger groups of squirrel monkeys.     

The dynamics of social organization in a population of squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) in a seminatural environment

A population of about 200 squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) living in a seminatural environment at the Monkey Jungle in Goulds, Florida, were studied to determine the composition of the population and the basic pattern of its social structure. The social associations of 95 tagged individuals were recorded over a period of three years to determine the basic social organization of the population. The monkeys lived in one group of male juveniles and three female-centered groups with peripheral male subgroups. In spite of the homogeneity of the environment, the groups utilized different foraging strategies which was reflected in differences in the mean weight of adult females. Although females changed subgroup affiliation, they remained within the same large group. Males, however, rarely changed subgroups, but the subgroups frequently changed their group affiliation.     

Cage design and configuration for an arboreal species of primate

The squirrel monkey (genus Saimiri) is an arboreal primate from equatorial South America. This species forms large social groups that consist of multiple females and males of varying ages, from infant to adult. As the use of squirrel monkeys in research continues to grow, an understanding of optimal cage design and environment is essential. The University of South Alabama Primate Research Laboratory houses a breeding colony of 350 squirrel monkeys. Each group cage, measuring 4.5 X 2.5 X 1.5 meters, can contain up to 20 animals. A breeding group consists of one adult male, eight to ten adult females, and varying numbers of infant and juvenile animals. In order to determine the most suitable cage environment for the squirrel monkey, a series of studies were carried out to compare various perch materials and cage configurations. Squirrel monkeys preferred a poly-vinyl-chloride pipe perch (rigid) over rope perches (non-rigid). When provided with multiple levels of perches, all levels were used. Males tended to distribute their activities randomly at different levels. In a two tiered perch arrangement, females concentrated 67% of their social activity on the top tier. In a triple tier configuration, females concentrated 66% of their travel on the top tier. These results indicate that by creating a cage environment with multiple tiers of horizontal perches the effective cage space can be doubled or tripled. This provides an effective means of reducing population density without enlarging the dimensions of the cage or reducing social group size.     

Characterization of the oestrous cycle and mating season of squirrel monkeys from copulatory behaviour.

Observations of the behaviour of squirrel monkeys, including 8 opposite-sex pairs during daily 30-min social encounters and 2 mixed-sex permanent groups during daily 30-min observation sessions, over a 14-month period were used to determine the periodicity of the oestrous cycle and annual mating season. The median and modal length of the oestrous cycle was 8 days, within which copulations were limited to a 1--2 day period. In a cyclic female, plasma progesterone levels over a 24-day period dropped from 85--151 ng/ml to 25 ng/ml 2 days before oestrus. In non-cyclic females plasma progesterone values were less than 15-4 ng/ml. Males exhibited a 6-8--19-7 week 'season' of copulation and ejaculation. The onset of this 'mating season' in August coincided with the annual peak in male body weight (the 'fatted male' phenomenon).     

Social organization and social behavior in two subspecies of squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus).

Social organization and social behavior were examined in two subspecies of squirrel monkeys which differ markedly in the degree of sexual dimorphism. The Bolivian squirrel monkeys, the subspecies with greater sexual dimorphism, manifested a sexually segregated form of social organization, while the social organization of the Guyanese monkeys was sexually integrated. Dominance relationships were found to reflect these patterns of sexual segregation or integration; in the Bolivian social groups separate linear dominance hierarchies were established within each sex while the Guyanese monkeys established a single linear hierarchy which included both males and females. Relationships between males and females in the two subspecies appear to be regulated by two distinct mechanisms, dominance in the Guyanese monkeys and sexual segregation in the Bolivians.     

Insect-catching behavior in socially inexperienced infant squirrel monkeys

Insects are an essential component of squirrel monkey natural food. Eight of ten socially inexperienced infant squirrel monkeys, during their 2nd and 3rd month of age, directed their attention to living insects or film presentations of moving insects. They attempted to catch them with gradually improving success, and on at least two occasions consumed them. For comparison, group-living squirrel monkeys begin to eat solid food around their 2nd month of age, continuing with some nursing until about 11 or 13 months, and were only at this age seen to successfully catch and eat insects. Thus, as infant squirrel monkeys proved to be able to catch and eat insects before their first experience with conspecifics, an innate basis for this behavior can be assumed.     

The role of play in social organization: Comparative observations on squirrel monkeys (Saimiri)

Various functional theories of play stress that social play is essential for the practice and learning of sex roles, dominance relationships, troop culture, integration of individuals into the troop structure, the control of aggression, etc. Data on squirrel monkeys (Saimiri) in natural environments indicate that social interaction and troop integration can develop in various manners in the absence of social play.Comparative observations were made on squirrel monkeys in a seminatural environment in Florida and 43 natural environments in Panama, Colombia, Peru, and Brazil. There was a broad range of variance in the data on ecology, troop size, troop cohesiveness, average individual distances, frequency of play, etc. In some environments, individuals in the infant and juvenile age classes engaged in social play for approximately 1.5 to 3 hours a day. However, in one environment, not a single incidence of social play occurred during 261 hours of close range observation. The troops in which no play occurred were very cohesive (i.e., they seldom fragmented), and the animals traveled at close individual distances. Agonistic interactions were not uncontrolled. Copulations were observed; and 85 percent of the adult females were accompanied by infants, which indicates a normal rate of reproductive success for the species.Data are presented on friendly, aggressive, sexual, and spacing behavior in squirrel monkeys. These data indicate that (1) social play is not necessary for the development and/or learning of an adaptive modicum of social interaction patterns and troop cohesion, but (2) the opportunity to play provides learning experiences in which young animals can develop more complex, varied social interaction patterns and stronger habits for engaging in frequent social exchanges.     

Developmental changes in responsiveness to parents and unfamiliar adults in a monogamous monkey (Callicebus moloch)

Titi monkeys (Callicebus moloch) are monogamous New World primates that are characteristically found in family-type groups consisting of a mated adult pair and one or two young. The factors maintaining the small size of these groups are not known. Based on observations of free-ranging and captive families, parental aggression toward older offspring seems unlikely to play a significant role. Maturing individuals themselves, however, could undergo behavioral changes that weaken ties to their natal group. These might include waning of affiliative relations with parents, or subtle forms of aversion. Independent of such changes, increasing interest in unfamiliar conspecifics could be a factor. We examined these possibilities in the present study by assessing changes in social behavior and social preferences from initial ambulatory independence (6 months) through reproductive maturity (24 months) in a combined cross-sectional/longitudinal study of 21 captive titi monkeys living with their parents. Responses to both parents and to an unfamiliar adult heterosexual pair, a single unfamiliar adult male, and a single unfamiliar adult female were observed when subjects were given a choice between parents and strangers presented simultaneously or as the only social incentive. Social stimuli were at opposite ends of a 16.8-m-long test corridor. Subjects could move freely about the corridor for 5 min with each configuration of social stimuli. They stayed closer to parents than to strangers at all ages. Responsiveness to strangers increased with age and suggested growing ambivalence, particularly toward the male stranger. As they approached 24 months of age, male subjects showed a dramatic increase in the frequency and intensity of agonistic behaviors toward male strangers, behaviors that were rarely directed toward female strangers or parents. Waning of attraction to parents may be less important in dispersal from the natal group than changing reactions to strangers.     

Spatial organization of captive monkeys (Macaca nemestrina)

An artificial group of 18 pigtailed monkeys, selected by sex and size (age) to simulate the composition of natural groups of macaques, was formed. All were strangers to each other. Observations were made over five months. Data on the monkeys' resting and clustering locations in the compound were analyzed in two ways. Spatial organization emerged about one month after the group was formed when the group acquired a competent leader. The leader, certain high ranking females, and/or females in estrus were seen consistently in a geographically central area of the compound and therefore were termed central monkeys. This central subgroup, coherent in terms of area and roles, persisted throughout the study. Development of increased group structure was also indicated by increased stability of dyadic affectional relationships. The study indicates that social organization of the pigtailed macaque will develop when some of the environmental and prior experience variables are controlled. The results highlighted the leader's role and suggest that it is at least as essential in social organization as kinship and factors inherent in a natural environment. Estrous cycles of females and seasonal variations of temperature in the compound were other factors affecting spatial and social relationships of the group members.     

Sexual segregation and its ontogeny in squirrel monkey social structure

Four groups of squirrel monkeys were observed to determine the primary basis of adult group structure. These studies included observations on (1) intact and gonadectomized males and females during and after breeding; (2) intact adults only; (3) subadults only; and, (4) a mixed group of adults and subadults. The spatial distribution of subjects in each group was used as a basic measure of social organization. It was found that for adults, regardless of hormonal status, between-sex distances were consistently greater than within-sex distances. This sexually segregated adult structure was largely attributable to the females' attaction to one another and overt rejection of the males. Subadults by themselves did not show any clear sexual segregation. However, in the presence of an adult structure, the subadults gradually manifested the segregated pattern of the adults by gravitating toward same-sex adults. These results indicate that the socialization process, rather than endogenous hormonal status, is the major determinant of adult social structure in squirrel monkeys.     

Postconflict behavior among female Sichuan snub-nosed monkeys Rhinopithecus roxellana within one-male units in the Qinling Mountains, China

For group-living primates, the information on postconflict management is crucial for understanding primate competition and cooperation. However, such information is poorly known for snub-nosed monkeys, especially for wild populations. In this study, from September 2007 to June 2008, we investigated postconflict behavior among adult females Sichuan snub-nosed monkeys Rhinopithecus roxellana within one-male units in a wild, provisioned group in the Qinling Mountains of China by means of the time-rule method and the PC-MC method. We obtained a total of 81 PC-MC pairs and each individual was involved in only 0.004 aggressive behavior per observation hour. The first affiliative behavior was more likely to occur within the first minute after a conflict. The postconflict affiliative behaviors most often seen were contact-sit, embrace and grooming. The affiliative contacts between adult females occur due to selective attraction, I.e. Reconciliation. The pattern of postconflict affiliation demonstrates that the R. Roxellana belongs to a tolerant species.     

A comparative analysis of subgroup structure and spatial relationships in captive baboons and squirrel monkeys

Subgroup structure, spacing patterns, and the relationship between spatial and behavioral interations were compared for captive baboons and squirrel monkeys. Analysis of the structure, intensity, and permanence of subgroups revealed that the baboons formed low intensity, overlapping subgroups which were relatively flexible while the squirrel monkeys segregated into permanent, high intensity, mutually exclusive cliques. Clique associations and social proximity relationships were found to be better predictors than dominance rank of the nature and frequency of behavioral interactions in the two colonies.     

Conditions of observation and social distance in groups of squirrel monkeys,Saimiri sciureus

Observation conditions were very influential in determining the social distance among members of groups of squirrel monkeys. With observer visible to the animals and recording by talking into a tape recorder the monkeys did not show a consistent pattern of social distance as reflected by actual space and frequency of bodily contacts, whereas when the observer was concealed, looking through a one-way vision screen and recording silently by marking on paper, the subjects tended to group in unisexual clusters, with that of the females showing higher cohesiveness.     

Socio-genetic correlates of unbiased sex dispersal in a population of black capuchin monkeys (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Sapajus nigritus</Emphasis>)

Most social mammal species exhibit male-biased dispersal. Sex bias in dispersal leads to a higher degree of relatedness among individuals of the philopatric sex, thus an atypical dispersal pattern might lead to deviations in the typical within-group kinship structure. Kinship, in turn, influences patterns of social interactions, as widely evident by kin-biased behaviors. We investigated the link between dispersal, relatedness structure, and sociopositive interactions established by adult females of black capuchin monkeys (Sapajus nigritus) living in a population that experiences female dispersal, an unusual pattern for capuchin monkeys. The study was conducted in Parque Estadual Carlos Botelho (PECB), within the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. We addressed dispersal and relatedness patterns by genotyping 20 adults of 3 groups across 9 microsatellite loci. We also sampled the monkeys’ behavior and compared spatial association frequencies and rates of grooming among same- and opposite-sex dyads. There was no difference between males and females in genetic parameters; both males and females show low coefficients of relatedness indicating that neither sex is consistently philopatric. The mean pairwise coefficient of relatedness for co-resident females was not higher than that for co-resident males. Compared to other populations of capuchin monkeys, female bond was weak, as evident by lower spatial association frequencies, reduced rates of grooming and lack of correlation between coefficients of relatedness and measures of dyadic sociopositive interactions. Our findings thus confirm that female dispersal is a habitual process in the capuchin population of PECB, and that, as expected, dispersal by females strongly influences the relatedness structure of the population as well as the affiliative relationships among female groupmates.     

Social organization of captive monandrous squirrel monkey groups (Saimiri sciureus).

1 adult male and 4 adult female squirrel monkeys were observed together as a group, isolated from all other monkeys. 3 of the 4 females were deafened for a previous experiment. Deafening, however, had no apparent, permanent effect on social behavior. Social dominance hierarchy was evaluated in a variety of situations. The results were compared with those of a similar set of observations on the females prior to the introduction of the male. Before the male was introduced, the dyadic interactions involving food stealing, body grasping, and sexual behaviors were indicative of a female linear rank order. After the male was introduced, the rank order among the females generally remained intact, with the male becoming the highest ranking member in the group. The noteworthy exception to the stability involved the highest ranking female, whose position in the hierarchy was threatened. Heterosexual interactions predominated. Homosexual behavior was also observed, although appreciably reduced in frequency as compared to the all-female group situation. A similar rank order hierarchy was observed in a second group of squirrel monkeys comprised of 1 adult male and 4 adult females. None of these monkeys was deaf.     

Squirrel monkey chuck call: vocal response to playback chucks based on acoustic structure and affiliative relationship with the caller

Adult female squirrel monkeys (genus Saimiri) that are socially familiar often exchange the chuck vocalization, which differs acoustically across individuals. We used behavioral observations, vocalization playback experiments, and analysis of the acoustic properties of vocalizations to investigate the effect of caller identity and acoustic structure on vocal response to playback chucks in two all-female social groups (n=10 females). Females were most likely to respond with a chuck to the playback chucks of their closely affiliated partners compared to those of nonaffiliated group members. This shows for the first time that the chuck stimulus alone is sufficient to elicit a chuck response from a female's affiliated partner. Additionally, females responded with a chuck mostly to familiar playback chucks from their own group and least to playbacks of silent controls. Unfamiliar playback chucks from the same species and a different squirrel monkey species elicited chuck responses intermediate between familiar chucks and silent controls. Post-hoc discriminant function analyses provide preliminary evidence that females are most likely to respond to unfamiliar chucks when those chucks are close in acoustic structure to familiar chucks from their own social group. These results provide a provisional explanation for error in the squirrel monkey signal processing system, in which unfamiliar chucks never heard before nevertheless elicit a chuck response if they are similar in acoustic structure to familiar group chucks.     

Comparative normal levels of serum triiodothyronine and thyroxine in nonhuman primates.

Normative values were obtained for triiodothyronine and thyroxine from four species of Old World primate (chimpanzees, rhesus monkeys, African green monkeys and talopoin monkeys) and a single species of New World primate (squirrel monkeys) represented by two subspecies, Colombian and Bolivian. The Bolivian squirrel monkeys exhibited the lowest values for both triiodothyronine and thyroxine. Male talapoins had the highest levels of thyroxine. Significant differences were found in levels of triiodothyronine and thyroxine between males and females of the same species and between the two subspecies of squirrel monkeys. Triiodothyronine:thryroxine ratios were consistently lower in the males of all species examined.     

非人灵长类雌性等级的研究方法

在非人灵长类动物等级研究中, 有关判定与描述优势等级方法的选择至关重要。早期对旧大陆灵长类的等级研究主要关注雄性, 对雌性涉猎较少。目前主要应用攻击-屈服、取食、携婴、相互理毛等行为标准来研究灵长类的雌性等级, 也发现不同的物种往往有不同的雌性等级模式。依据社群结构的完整性将其分为线性等级与非线性等级, 并采用不同的方式进行描述。本文通过查阅文献资料, 对雌性等级的研究内容、判定标准以及描述方式进行论述, 以便抛砖引玉提高非人灵长类雌性等级的研究水平。     

Social and environmental influences on self-aggression in monkeys

Three studies of stumptailed macaques examined the occurrence of self-aggression (SA) under different housing conditions. In group tests those environmental manipulations which increased social aggression decreased SA, but similar environmental conditions were found to increase SA in monkeys when tested in individual cages. SA increased in a group of monkeys in response to a temporarily impoverished environment. Like stereotyped movements reported for other species, SA may increase sensory input in poor environments, but this is probably not true for group-living monkeys, in which SA appears to be primarily a form of redirected social aggression. This research partially supported by SRC grant B/RG-98910 to A.S.C. Both J.R.A. and V.J.N. were partly supported by SRC studentships.     

Male behavior through the breeding season in Saimiri boliviensis boliviensis

The Bolivian squirrel monkey (Saimiri boliviensis boliviensis) is a seasonal breeder. Male squirrel monkeys show distinct morphological and behavioral changes prior to and during the breeding season. A “fatting syndrome” includes increased body weight, increased levels of androgens, and in the Bolivian subspecies, an increasingly active role in the social organization of the group. In this study, the behavior of ten adult male Bolivian squirrel monkeys was analyzed over a 6-month period prior to, during, and after the breeding season. Each was housed as the only adult male in a breeding unit with six to ten adult females and one juvenile male. Employing a principle components method, 11 behavioral clusters were generated from 27 responses. Their activity clusters were identified as follows: sexual activity that showed a peak around the time of peak conceptions; excitatory activity that was initially high but decreased throughout the breeding season; and maintenance activity that did not change across the breeding season. The changing social behavior of the male squirrel monkey parallels physiological changes and is correlated with changing androgen levels.