Abstract
We used data from two troops of free-ranging vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops) to assess the proposition that the conspicuous chest rubbing observed in this species constitutes scent-marking behavior. Our data indicate that chest-rubbing behavior is associated with higher-ranking males who are more likely to do so during the breeding season in areas where territorial encounters occur. We found no indication that chest rubbing was triggered directly by encounters between troops. We conclude that these data, in conjunction with reports of chest rubbing from other Old World monkeys, are sufficiently suggestive of scent marking to warrant further, directed research and support the suspicion that olfactory cues remain important to catarrhines in a number of domains.
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