Social influences on grooming site preferences among captive long-tailed macaques |
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Authors: | Roman Moser Marina Cords Hans Kummer |
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Institution: | (1) Ethology and Wildlife Research, Zoological Institute, University of Zürich-Irchel, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland;(2) Anthropology Department, Columbia University, 10027 New York, New York |
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Abstract: | Data on grooming in a colony of 38 captive Macaca fascicularis were collected over a period of 6 months. The goal was to investigate
how five social parameters (age, kinship, sex, grooming frequency, and relative rank) influenced the choice of body part being
groomed. Age and kinship did not have systematic effects of grooming site preferences. The sex composition of individual dyads
and the frequency at which grooming occurred were the factors with the greatest effect on body sites groomed among adults.
Relative to other dyad types, male-male dyads almost never groomed on the face, avoided the front side of the trunk, and preferred
the tail and back. Dyads that groomed relatively infrequently also favored the tail and avoided the face, chest, and belly.
Relative rank had an effect on the body sites groomed among adult females: a groomer ranking lower than her partner groomed
more often on the face, chest, and belly than a groomer ranking higher than her partner. Several hypotheses are discussed
in the context of these results. The only one that explains most of the major results is that recipients of grooming expose
relatively invulnerable parts of their bodies (i.e., back and tail) to and avoid eye contact with groomers that are relatively
dangerous. |
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Keywords: | social grooming allogrooming body site preferences macaques |
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