Food competition in captive female sooty mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus atys) |
| |
Authors: | Stahl Daniel Kaumanns Werner |
| |
Institution: | Deutsches Primatenzentrum G?ttingen, Germany. stahl@eva.mpg.de |
| |
Abstract: | We studied the social and foraging behavior of two captive groups of sooty mangabeys under two different spatial food situations.
These food conditions were clumped (food was placed in a box) and dispersed (food was dispersed over the entire enclosure).
In each group five adult females and two adult males were observed. As a criterion for food competition, individual differences
in the relative food intake were used. Adult female mangabeys had a linear, stable, and unidirectional dominance hierarchy.
Access to food was rank dependent among females only under clumped food distribution, as current models of the evolution of
primate social systems predict. However, feeding success appeared to be mediated not by female but by male agonistic behavior
toward females. High-ranking females received relatively less aggression from males and could, therefore, stay and feed longer
in the feeding area. Male tolerance of higher-ranking females seems to mediate female feeding success under restricted food
resources. The establishment of a special relationship with a high-ranking male might, therefore, be a strategy to get better
access to food. This study demonstrates that female competition for access to food should not be analyzed separately from
male influences on females and suggests that a more integral role of males in socioecological models of the evolution of primate
social systems should be considered. |
| |
Keywords: | Food competition Dominance Social tolerance Mangabeys |
本文献已被 PubMed SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|