Females and Food: Types of relationships (Part 2)
Finish competitive categories
Discuss primate model

Three dimensions used to describe primate relationships
1 Despotic versus egalitarian
2 Individual versus Nepotistic
3 Degree of Tolerance

Rank turnover and place in hierarchy?
• Howling monkey
Females rise in rank,
Then drop back a notch
Why?
• How meaningful is the difference between
#15 and #16 in a group of 30?

May have something to do with…..
FOOD!
• Toque macaque monkeys and vervets .
When food scarce or droughts occur, rank plays a more important role in RS.
• In lemurs , it looks like degree of female dominance over males depends on food availability.

Individual versus Nepotistic (2)
• Somewhat reflects whether group is dominant or egalitarian.
• Nepotism = when female relatives assist each other (coalitions). rank and degree of assistance are intertwined.
• Individual = Female rank is independent of relationship with others (age), kin relationships are less important.

Examples
• Nepotism- baboons, macaques. Can have nepotistic relationships without strong dominance hierarchy (patas monkeys, lemurs)
• Individual- can have individual relationships with hierarchy
(howling) or without
(gorillas).

Example:Females without kin
• Gorillas, Howling monkeys, common chimpanzees, many lemurs
• Female-female harrassment common
• Higher rate of predation
• Time migration around reproduction

Degree of tolerance (3)
• Picture it as a continuum.
• As degree of tolerance between individuals increases, degree of agonism will decrease.

Example...
• Can have highly tolerant animals in a linear dominance hierarchy.
(Stumptailed macaques)

Models to predict female social patterns...
Sterck et al model - Strier page 203
Category 1-
Resident (philopatry), Despotic, Nepotistic, Intolerant
Macaque
Squirrel monkey
Ringtailed lemur

Category 2- resident, Despotic,
Nepotistic, tolerant
Sulawasi macaque
Some guenons

Category 3- Dispersal, Egalitarian, individual
Brown lemurs
(tolerance)
Common chimp
(less tolerance)

Category 4- Resident, Egalitarian
(nepotistic, tolerant)
Patas monkey
Some Cebus monkeys