Abstract
Abstract. Adult female wedge-capped capuchin monkeys, Cebus olivaceus, exhibit a variety of grooming relationships; females groom frequently and reciprocate grooming, groom infrequently with non-reciprocating lower-ranking partners, or fail to form grooming relationships. Females have different motivations for avoiding or engaging in grooming that relate to the benefits derived from the interaction. These benefits include, but are not limited to, spatial proximity, alliance formation, access to a female's infant, and redirecting aggression. A test of Seyfarth's (1977, J. theor. Biol., 65, 671-698) rank-related attractiveness model for grooming showed that adult female wedge-capped capuchin monkeys differed from many cercopithecine species in that grooming was directed down the dominance hierarchy and was not more frequent among adjacent-ranked females. Frequency of grooming was significantly correlated with frequency of approach and alliance formation. Grooming appears to have two underlying social functions, affiliation and appeasement. Affiliative grooming involves reciprocated grooming sessions in which relative rates of grooming are balanced. Affiliative grooming occurs more frequently among females in large groups than in small groups but the duration of grooming sessions is similar. These grooming relationships are significantly affected by the ranks of the females in the dyad; dyads composed of high-ranking females or a high- and middle-ranking female groomed more frequently and tended to reciprocate grooming. Grooming interactions classified as appeasement tend to be short unreciprocated sessions initiated by the higher-ranking female and terminated by the lower-ranking female. These grooming interactions are characteristic of females that avoid other group members and may reflect attempts by females to redirect potential aggression by soliciting grooming. Females with new infants also do not reciprocate, and usually terminate, grooming interactions. High-ranking or closely related females may groom a mother as a means of gaining access to a new infant.
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