Dominance style of Japanese macaques compared with rhesus and stumptail macaques.

Abstract

In the present study, we seek to relate dominance style with group cohesion in a captive group of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata). Social data were gathered on approach rate, result, and direction, aggression rate and intensity, grooming rate and direction, and conciliatory tendency. Data were collected using focal animal sampling and instantaneous scan sampling. Reconciliation data were collected using ad libitum observations of aggression with ten-minute post-conflict and matched-control focal observations. Data were compared to prior studies on rhesus (M. mulatta) and stumptail macaques (M. arctoides) living in similar environments. Each species demonstrated the presence of a formalized dominance hierarchy based on the teeth-baring display. The Japanese macaque group showed a lower rate of approach with a higher proportion of negative outcomes than either of the other species. Rates of aggression and reconciliation were also lower in the study troop, suggesting a strict hierarchy while maintaining an optimal nearest-neighbor distance. Overall, this group of Japanese macaques was less sociable than other groups of the same species, perhaps due to a history of individual removals. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.