1. Home
  2. Pieces of science (vol. 14, 2024)
  3. Amici

Primate social behaviour: Benefits, challenges and diversity of relations

Federica Amici

Abstract


Primates usually live in groups and interact with other group members, sometimes forming preferential long-term relationships. Sociality provides primates with benefits like support and learning opportunities that ultimately increase their fitness. Sociality also poses challenges in terms of competition and coordination, though, which primates face with the use of different behavioural and cognitive strategies. Moreover, primates show important variation in sociality, both between species, between groups, across individuals and through developmental stages. Overall, observational studies are a powerful tool to understand the richness in primate sociality, and the factors that explain the emergence and maintenance of specific forms of sociality and behavioural traits.

Keywords


sociality; development; primates; social learning; evolution

Full Text: PDF

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.14.25454

References


Amici, F., Widdig, A., von Fersen, L., Lopez Caicoya, A., & Majolo, B. (2021). Intra-specific variation in the social behaviour of Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus). Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 666166. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.666166

Archie, E. A., Tung, J., Clark, M., Altmann, J., & Alberts, S. C. (2014). Social affiliation matters: Both same-sex and opposite-sex relationships predict survival in wild female baboons. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 281, 20141261. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.1261

Aureli, F., Schaffner, C. M., Boesch, C., Bearder, S. K., Call, J., Chapman, C. A., Connor, R., Di Fiore, A., Dunbar, R. I. M., Petmann, S., Manson, J. H., Ramos-Fernandez, G., Strier, K. B., & van Schaik, C. P. (2008). Fission-fusion dynamics: New research frameworks. Current Anthropology, 48, 627–654. https://doi.org/10.1086/586708

Burghardt, G. M. (2005). The genesis of animal play: Testing the limits. MIT Press.

Dunbar, R. I. M. (2012). Bridging the bonding gap: The transition from primates to humans. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 367, 1837–1846. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2011.0217

Heyes, C. M. (1994). Social learning in animals: Categories and mechanisms. Biological Reviews, 69, 207–231. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-185X.1994.tb01506.x

Joly, M., Micheletta, J., De Marco, A., Langermans, J. A., Sterck, E. H. M., & Waller, B. M. (2017). Comparing physical and social cognitive skills in macaque species with different degrees of social tolerance. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 284, 20162738. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.2738

Mitani, J. C., Call, J., Kappeler, P. M., Palombit, R., & Silk, J. (Eds.). (2012). The evolution of primate societies. University of Chicago Press.

Reader, S. M., & Laland, K. N. (2003). Animal innovation. Oxford University Press.

Sánchez-Amaro, A., & Amici, F. (2015). Are primates out of the market? Animal Behaviour, 110, 51–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.09.020

Silk, J. B., Beehner, J. C., Bergman, T. J., Crockdord, C., Engh, A. L., Moscovice, L. R., Wittig, R. M., Seyfarth, R. M., & Cheney, D. L. (2009). The benefits of social capital: Close social bonds among female baboons enhance offspring survival. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 276, 3099–3104. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2009.0681

Tennie, C., Bandini, E., Van Schaik, C. P., & Hopper, L. M. (2020). The zone of latent solutions and its relevance to understanding ape cultures. Biology & Philosophy, 35, 1–42. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-020-09769-9

Whiten, A., & Byrne, R. W. (1988). Tactical deception in primates. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 11, 233–273. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X00049682


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Bookmark and Share