Within‐group female–female agonistic interactions in Taiwanese macaques (Macaca cyclopis)

Abstract

Feeding-related agonism among wild female Taiwanese macaques was investigated in two study groups at ecologically diverse sites (Fu-shan and Ken-ting) to determine whether contest-feeding competition was present in these groups. Females that contest for food within a primate group are hypothesized to form dominance hierarchies and tend to be philopatric. In this study we tested 1) whether Taiwanese macaque females show higher agonism in a feeding context, 2) whether they exhibit stronger agonism over higher-quality foods, and 3) whether higher agonism rates occur in smaller food patches. Female Taiwanese macaques at both study sites showed similar agonism rates in a feeding context (0.30 events/hr). They exhibited higher agonism rates inside food patches than outside food patches in the spring. Higher agonism rates occurred during seasons of higher fruit availability, and a lower agonism rate occurred in winter when the macaques switched to feeding on fallback foods. Females in the Fu-shan group exhibited higher proportions of aggressive interactions over higher-quality foods, such as animal matter and the reproductive parts of plants. In the Ken-ting group, 95.8% of feeding-related agonistic interactions among females occurred over fruits. Agonistic interactions that occurred in small food patches tended to result in the agonism recipient leaving the food patch. We conclude that female Taiwanese macaques show contest feeding competition in certain contexts. The patterns we observed have also been documented in other primate species in which females are philopatric and form linear dominance hierarchies.

Socioecology of wild bearded capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus): an analysis of social relationships among female primates that use tools in feeding

“…: Boinski et al, 2002;Cebus capucinus: Vogel, 2005; Macaca spp. : Su & Birky, 2007;Lemur catta: White et al, 2007;Gorilla beringei: Robbins, 2008;Erythrocebus patas: Nakagawa, 2008; Microcebus berthae and M. murinus: Dammhahn & Kappeler, 2009). Moreover, in accordance with previous studies, we found that food sources of intermediate size generated more agonism, thus, were more usurpable, than food sources with shorter or longer residence times (Janson, 1990;Chancellor & Isbell, 2009).…”

“…Second, females established linear (strongly unidirectional) and stable (low proportion of reversals, that is, lower-ranking females won in agonistic interactions with higher-ranking females: ZA = 1%; CH = 2.5%) dominance hierarchies, a result consistent with several comparative studies showing that more linear and formalized hierarchies are formed when female primates face high levels of within-group contest competition over food (i.e., Macaca spp. : Su & Birky, 2007;Saimiri spp. : Boinski et al, 2002;Pan troglodytes: Wittig & Boesch, 2003;Semnopithecus entellus: Koenig, 2000;Koenig et al, 1998; Presbytis thomasi and M. fascicularis: Sterck & Steenbeek, 1997;E.…”

Socioecologia de macacos-prego (cebus libidinosus) em área de ecótono cerrado/caatinga

“…Apesar das críticas, diversos estudos de campo vêm apresentando resultados que apóiam as previsões dos modelos socioecológicos, especialmente entre espécies de cercopitecóides (Sterck & Steenbeek, 1997;Isbell et al, 1998;Pruetz & Isbell, 2000;Harris, 2006;Su & Birky, 2007;Nakagawa, 2008;Teichroeb & Sicotte, 2009) e lêmures (Kappeler, 1999;Eberle & Kappeler, 2002;White et al, 2007;Dammhahn & Kappeler, 2009). Em relação aos primatas do Novo Mundo, argumenta-se que a sua longa trajetória evolutiva separada dos primatas do Velho Mundo (cerca de 30 MA - Fleagle, 1999), provavelmente resultou em sistemas sociais fundamentalmente diversos dos observados em primatas do Velho Mundo (Isbell & Young, 2002).…”

“…Esse resultado é consistente com o trabalho de Janson (1985), que encontrou que em C. apella a intensidade da competição direta por recursos com distribuição discreta resultou na formação de hierarquias de dominância lineares, e com vários estudos que mostraram que fêmeas primatas estabelecem hierarquias mais lineares quanto submetidas a forte pressão de competição direta por alimento (p. ex., Macaca spp: Su & Birky;Hanya et al, 2008;Saimiri spp: Mitchell et al, 1991;Boinski et al, 2002; Pan troglodytes: Wittig & Boesch, 2003;Semnopithecus entellus: Koenig, 2000; Presbytis entellus: Koenig et al, 1998; P. thomasi e M. fascicularis: Sterck & Steenbeek, 1997;E. patas e C. aethiops: Nakagawa, 2008).…”

Behavioural Variability in Macaques and Langurs of the Western Ghats, India

“…It is often observed that the individuals of a highly specialized fruit-eating species compete directly with each other for food [Sterck and Steenbeck, 1997;Su and Birky, 2007]. Such within-group contest competition often involves aggression and leads to differences in foraging efficiency between the high-and the low-ranked individuals, with the high-ranked females benefitting from increased foraging efficiency [Whitten, 1983;Saito, 1996;Vogel, 2005].…”