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Reconciliation in Hamadryas Baboons (Papio hamadryas): Testing the Relationship Quality Hypothesis

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A community of hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas) consists of a unique organization with four structural levels and marked hierarchical relationships between males and females. This makes it an ideal system for testing the hypothesis that relationship quality influences reconciliation between individuals. Post-conflict reconciliation was studied in hamadryas baboons. The behavior of 436 conflicting pairs was studied. Reconciliation was found to be characteristic of pairs of different composition, including: 1) pairs consisting of a male and a female from his harem; 2) pairs consisting of two females from the same harem; 3) pairs consisting of two related animals; 4) pairs consisting of two males; 5) pairs including a female and a young (almost adult) male. Significant differences in reconciliatory tendencies were seen in different pair categories, along with a high level of selectivity of the interactions between former antagonists, evidencing that the probability of reconciliation between hamadryas baboon individuals depends on the quality of the relationships between them.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 32a Leninskii Prospekt, 117334, Moscow, Russia

    M. L. Butovskaya

  2. Institute of Medical Primatology, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, 354376, Sochi-A, Russia

    V. G. Chalyan & N. V. Meishvili

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  1. M. L. Butovskaya
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  2. V. G. Chalyan
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  3. N. V. Meishvili
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Correspondence to M. L. Butovskaya.

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Translated from Rossiiskii Fiziologicheskii Zhurnal imeni I. M. Sechenova, Vol. 97, No. 8, pp. 870–876, August, 2011.

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Butovskaya, M.L., Chalyan, V.G. & Meishvili, N.V. Reconciliation in Hamadryas Baboons (Papio hamadryas): Testing the Relationship Quality Hypothesis. Neurosci Behav Physi 43, 492–496 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-013-9760-x

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