The Influence of Gender, Age, Matriline and Hierarchical Rank on Individual Social Position, Role and Interactional Patterns in Macaca sylvanus at ‘La Forêt des Singes’: A Multilevel Social Network Approach

Sebastian Sosa

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00529

Abstract

A society is a complex system composed of individuals that can be characterized by their own attributes that influence their behaviors. In this study, a specific analytical protocol based on social network analysis was adopted to investigate the influence of four attributes (gender, age, matriline, and hierarchical rank) on affiliative (allogrooming) and agonistic networks in a non-human primate species, Macaca sylvanus, at the park La Forêt des Singes in France. The results show significant differences with respect to the position (i.e., centric, peripheral) and role (i.e., implication in the network cohesiveness) of an individual within a social network and hence interactional patterns. Females are more central, more active, and have a denser ego network in the affiliative social network tan males; thus, they contribute in a greater way to the cohesive structure of the network. High-ranking individuals are likely to receive fewer agonistic behaviors than low-ranking individuals, and high-ranking females receive more allogrooming. I also observe homophily for affiliative interactions regarding all attributes and homophily for agonistic interactions regarding gender and age. Revealing the positions, the roles, and the interactional behavioral patterns of individuals can help understand the mechanisms that shape the overall structure of a social network.

Highlights

Animal societies are complex systems in which individuals have non-random and complex interactions, and are likely to develop behavioral strategies (Dunbar, 1989)
This study focuses on four specific attributes: gender, age, matriline, and hierarchical rank
In the agonistic social network, results show that the higher the matriline, the more central and active its members, and the more they receive agonistic behaviors and contribute to network cohesion

Summary

Introduction

Animal societies are complex systems in which individuals have non-random and complex interactions, and are likely to develop behavioral strategies (Dunbar, 1989). This leads to the formation of a multilayered and multi-behavioral structure. Previous studies of animal species, including human and non-human primates, have investigated the behavioral differences and interactions among individuals according to attributes such as gender (Fedigan, 1982), age (Wey and Blumstein, 2010), body size (Archie et al, 2006), social status (Bergman and Moore, 2003), reproductive state (Cavigelli and Pereira, 2000), and Multilevel Network Analysis in Primates kinship (Widdig et al, 2001). Differences in gender lead to contrasting reproductive (Fragaszy and Mitchell, 1974; Fedigan and Baxter, 1984; Pereira, 1988; Cords, 2002) and behavioral strategies (Fedigan, 1982), and in particular, the expression of aggressiveness and allogrooming

Methods

Results

Conclusion