Social stratification, social strategies, and reproductive success in primates

Abstract

Social stratification characterizes primate societies, and the conventional assumption is that high rank should enable one to produce more offspring. But the data from primate studies offers conflicting evidence with respect to the actual reproductive consequences of high social status. Nonhuman primates are tactical opportunists who use multiple means for improving reproductive success. Social skills can circumvent social status as determinants of reproductive success. Social stratification probably evolved as a mechanism for reducing the probability of escalated aggressive encounters by providing a reasonable degree of predictability and stability to social relationships. Social cognition may have evolved as a mechanism enabling individuals to adopt alternative reproductive tactics for improving their reproductive success. The frequent nonassociation between rank and reproduction in primates can be attributed to the diversity of reproductive tactics used by primate in attempting to maximize their individual fitness.