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Determinants of vigilance behavior in the ring-tailed coati (Nasua nasua): the importance of within-group spatial position

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Abstract

Individuals living in social groups are predicted to live under unequal predation risk due to their spatial location within the group. Previous work has indicated that individuals located at the edge of groups have higher “domains of danger”, thus are more likely to engage in vigilance or antipredator behavior. We studied the determinants of vigilance behavior in two groups of ring-tailed coatis in Iguazu National Park, Argentina. In addition to the expected pattern that coatis were more vigilant at the edge of the group, we found that individuals were particularly vigilant at the front edge of the group. This pattern conforms to predictions of differing predation risk caused by sit-and-wait predators with respect to mobile animal groups. In addition, coatis exhibited less vigilance when the number of neighbors within 5 m and group size increased. Of the three spatial variables tested, within-group spatial position was the most important predictor variable determining vigilance levels. These results confirm that spatial position has major effects on vigilance behavior, and that group directionality is an important factor which should be taken into account when measuring vigilance behavior. Coatis were more vigilant when juveniles less than 6 months old were in the groups. The presence of these young juveniles also affected the relationship between alarm response and vigilance levels. Coatis were more vigilant after strong alarm reactions, but only when young juveniles were not present in the groups. This may indicate that coatis give differential responses to alarm calls depending on the age of the caller. A comparison of antipredator vigilance between coatis and sympatric capuchin monkeys is consistent with the hypothesis that terrestriality leads to higher perceive predation risk for coatis.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Santiago Escobar, Carolina Ferrari, and Fermino Silva for help and assistance during the course of the field work. We would also like to thank Viviana Muñoz for her veterinary assistance. The authors are particularly grateful to Charles Janson for the immeasurable amount of advice he gave us during all aspects of this project, and letting us borrow several pieces of much needed field equipment. The authors are also very thankful for the consistently helpful comments and advice from Mario Di Bitetti. We would like to thank Barry Hirsch for statistical advice and help using SAS. This paper has benefited tremendously, thanks to comments by Mario Di Bitetti, Dan Blumstein, Joanna Burger, Matt Gompper, Charles Janson, Roland Kays, and Abe Ruttenburg. We thank the APN for the permission to carry out work in Iguazu. This study was funded in part by a NSF DDIG grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Universidad Nacional de San Luis, San Luis, Argentina

    Yamil Di Blanco

  2. Interdepartmental Program in Anthropological Sciences, University of Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA

    Ben T. Hirsch

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  1. Yamil Di Blanco
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  2. Ben T. Hirsch
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Correspondence to Ben T. Hirsch.

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Communicated by: P. Bednekoff

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Di Blanco, Y., Hirsch, B.T. Determinants of vigilance behavior in the ring-tailed coati (Nasua nasua): the importance of within-group spatial position. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 61, 173–182 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-006-0248-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-006-0248-3

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