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Sex Differences in the Development of Aggressive Behavior in Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta)

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Abstract

Aggressive behavior plays a central role in primate life, having a crucial effect on their reproductive performance and survival and possibly affecting the formation and maintenance of social bonds. Although aggressive behavior might serve a different function in males and females, and sex differences in aggressive behavior seem to emerge early during development, very few studies have investigated whether aggressive patterns follow different developmental trajectories in male and female primates. However, the developmental perspective is crucial to understanding when differences in adults’ aggression emerge and which factors trigger them. We here analyzed aggressive interactions in rhesus macaques from birth to sexual maturation (before male dispersal), including male and female focal subjects. We further considered the partner’s sex, age, and rank, as well as maternal and paternal kinship, and used powerful multivariate statistical analysis. The probability to initiate aggression was largely similar for both sexes and throughout development. Both males and females were more aggressive toward partners of the same sex and similar age. In contrast, the probability of receiving aggression mostly differed between sexes across development and depended on the social context. The probability of receiving aggression increased through development. Finally, important developmental changes appeared between 2 and 3 yr of age, indicating that this period is crucial for the development of adult social roles. Our results suggest that aggressive behavior largely serves a similar function for both sexes during the first years of development, only partially anticipating adult aggressive patterns.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the CPRC for allowing us to conduct this study and providing support throughout. We are especially grateful to the staff of the Cayo Santiago Field Station, including Edgar Davila, Julio Resto, Giselle Caraballo Cruz, and Angelina Ruiz, for their cooperation during observations and DNA collection. We also thank Joyce Moewius, Akie Yanagie, Klaus Leipholz, and Margaret Chiavetta for their help with data and sample collection. We are also grateful to Fred Bercovitch, Matt Kessler, John Berard, Michael Krawczak, Peter Nürnberg, and Jörg Schmidtke, who started the genetic data base of the Cayo Santiago population, mainly funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the German Research Foundation (DFG). We would further like to thank Andrea Trefilov, Elisabeth Kirst, Peter Nürnberg, Petra Otremba, Marion Nagy, Laura Muniz, and Stefanie Bley for their help in improving and extending the genetic database, and Linda Vigilant for allowing us laboratory access. Moreover, we thank Roger Mundry for statistical advice, Hagen Stenzel for writing a number of macros for data analysis, and Brigitte Weiß for helpful discussion and comments on a previous version of the manuscript. The editor and two anonymous reviewers provided very helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. The population of Cayo Santiago was supported by grant number 8P40 OD012217-25 from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), the Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP) of the National Institutes of Health, and the Medical Sciences Campus of the University of Puerto Rico. The content of this publication is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of NCRR or ORIP. We conducted this project within the Jr. Research Group of Primate Kin Selection, an Emmy-Noether Group funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) (grant numbers WI 1801/1-1, 1-2, 2-1, 3-1 awarded to A. Widdig). Further funding was provided by a PhD grant of the University of Leipzig (awarded to L. Kulik and D. Langos) and the KKGS Stiftung, Elsa-Neumann Stiftung, and the DAAD (awarded to D. Langos). We are grateful to the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, for their logistic support and for hosting the Jr. Research Group of Primate Kin Selection.

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  1. Junior Research Group of Primate Kin Selection, Department of Primatology, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Lars Kulik, Doreen Langos & Anja Widdig

  2. Institute of Biology, Faculty of Bioscience, Pharmacy and Psychology, University of Leipzig, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Lars Kulik, Federica Amici, Doreen Langos & Anja Widdig

  3. Department of Comparative and Developmental Psychology, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Federica Amici

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Correspondence to Lars Kulik.

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Kulik, L., Amici, F., Langos, D. et al. Sex Differences in the Development of Aggressive Behavior in Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta). Int J Primatol 36, 764–789 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-015-9853-1

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