Abstract
Three questions about female-female relationships remain largely unexplored in female-philopatric platyrrhines. First, to what extent is female dominance status dependent on coalitional support? Second, how stable are female dominance hierarchies over multiyear periods? Third, what is the role of allogrooming in servicing long-term social relationships? We addressed these questions using data collected on Cebus capucinus at Lomas Barbudal and Santa Rosa, over a six-year period. Most female-female coalitions against females reinforced the existing dominance hierarchy, but such coalitions were 3–7 times more frequent at Lomas Barbudal than at Santa Rosa. The Lomas Barbudal group's female hierarchy was highly stable throughout the six years of observation, whereas all three of the intensively observed Santa Rosa groups experienced frequent dominance reversals accompanied by physical aggression. In the Lomas Barbudal group, grooming tended to be directed up the hierarchy, and more closely-ranked females groomed at higher rates than distantly-ranked females, whereas these patterns were not consistently found at Santa Rosa. At both sites, grooming was evenly balanced within 67% of female-female dyads, and mothers of young infants received more grooming than other females did. Females did not spend more of their time grooming each other in groups containing more females than in groups containing fewer females, but they distributed their grooming less evenly among their female groupmates in the largest observed group of females. Some of the intersite differences may be attributable to differences in the rate of female mortality or transfer or both.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Altmann, J. (1974). Observational study of behavior: sampling methods. Behaviour 49: 227–265.
Barton, R. A., and Whiten, A. (1993). Feeding competition among female olive baboons, Papio anubis. Anim. Behav. 46: 777–789.
Berman, C. M. (1980). Early agonistic experience and rank acquisition among free-ranging infant rhesus monkeys. Int. J. Primatol. 1: 152–170.
Chance, M. R. A., Emory, G. R., and Payne, R. G. (1977). Status referents in long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis): precursors and effects of a female rebellion. Primates 18: 611–632.
Chapais, B. (1983). Dominance, relatedness, and the structure of female relationships in rhesus monkeys. In Hinde, R. A. (ed.), Primate Social Relationships: An Integrated Approach, Blackwell Scientific, Oxford, pp. 208–217.
Chapais, B. (1988). Rank maintenance in female Japanese macaques: experimental evidence for social dependency. Behaviour 104: 41–59.
Chapais, B. (1992). The role of alliances in social inheritance of rank among female primates. In Harcourt, A. H., and de Waal, F. B. M. (eds.), Coalitions and Alliance in Humans and Other Animals, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 29–59.
Chapais, B. (1995). Alliances as a means of competition in primates: evolutionary, developmental, and cognitive aspects. Yrbk. Phys. Anthropol. 38: 115–136.
Cheney, D. L. (1977). The acquisition of rank and the development of reciprocal alliances among free-ranging immature baboons. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 2: 303–318.
Cheney, D. L. (1983). Extra-familial alliances among vervet monkeys. In Hinde, R. A. (ed.), Primate Social Relationships: An Integrated Approach, Blackwell Scientific, Oxford, pp. 278–286.
Cheney, D. L. (1992). Intragroup cohesion and intergroup hostility: the relation between grooming distributions and intergroup competition among female primates. Behav. Ecol. 3: 334–345.
Datta, S. B. (1983). Relative power and the acquisition of rank. In Hinde, R. A. (ed.), Primate Social Relationships: An Integrated Approach, Blackwell Scientific, Oxford, pp. 93–103.
de Waal, F. B., and Luttrell, L. M. (1988). Mechanisms of social reciprocity in three primate species: symmetrical relationship characteristics or cognition? Ethol. Sociobiol. 9: 101–118.
di Bitetti, M. S. (1997). Evidence for an important social role of allogrooming in a platyrrhine primate. Anim. Behav. 54: 199–211.
Dunbar, R. I. M. (1980). Determinants and evolutionary consequences of dominance among female gelada baboons. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 7: 253–265.
Dunbar, R. I. M. (1988). Primate Social Systems, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York.
Dunbar, R. I. (1991). Functional significance of social grooming in primates. Folia Primatol. 57: 121–131.
Dunbar, R. I. (1992). Time: a hidden constraint on the behavioural ecology of baboons. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 31: 35–49.
Dunbar, R. I. M. (1993). Coevolution of neocortical size, group size and language in humans. Behav. Brain Sci. 16: 681–735.
Ehardt, C. L., and Bernstein, I. S. (1986). Matrilineal overthrows in rhesus monkey groups. Int. J. Primatol. 7: 157–179.
Fairbanks, L. A. (1980). Relationships among adult females in captive vervet monkeys: testing a model of rank-related attractiveness. Anim. Behav. 28: 853–859.
Fedigan, L. (1993). Sex differences and intersexual relations in adult white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus). Int. J. Primatol. 14: 853–877.
Fedigan, L. M., and Rose, L. M. (1995). Interbirth interval variation in three sympatric species of Neotropical monkey. Am. J. Primatol. 37: 9–24.
Fedigan, L. M., Avila, R. M., and Rose, L. M. (1996). See how they grow: tracking capuchin monkey populations in a regenerating Costa Rican dry forest. In Norconk, M., Garber, P. and Rosenberger, A. (eds.), Adaptive Radiations of Neotropical Primates, Plenum Press, New York, pp. 289–307.
Frankie, G. W., Vinston, S. B., Newstrom, L. E., and Barthell, J. F. (1988). Nest site and habitat preferences of Centris bees in the Costa Rican dry forest. Biotropica 20: 301–310.
Gouzoules, H. (1980). A description of genealogical rank changes in a troop of Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata). Primates 21: 262–267.
Hemelrijk, C. K. (1990). Models of, and tests for, reciprocity, unidirectionality and other social interaction patterns at a group level. Anim. Behav. 39: 1013–1029.
Henzi, S. P., Lycett, J. E., and Weingrill, T. (1997). Cohort size and the allocation of social effort by female mountain baboons. Anim. Behav. 54: 1235–1243.
Hunte, W., and Horrocks, J. A. (1987). Kin and non-kin interventions in the aggressive disputes of vervet monkeys. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 20: 257–263.
Isbell, L. (1991). Contest and scramble competition: patterns of female aggression and ranging behavior among primates. Behav. Ecol. 2: 143–155.
Isbell, L., and Young, T. P. (1993). Social and ecological influences on activity budgets of vervet monkeys and their implication for group living. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 32: 377–385.
Isbell, L., and Pruetz, J. D. (1998). Differences between vervets (Cercopithecus aethiops) and Patas monkeys (Erythrocebus patas) in agonistic interactions between adult females. Int. J. Primatol. 19: 837–855.
Isbell, L., and van Vuren, D. (1996). Differential costs of locational and social dispersal and their consequences for female group-living primates. Behaviour 133: 1–36.
Janson, C. H. (1985). Aggressive competition and individual food consumption in wild brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 18: 125–138.
Janson, C. H. (1988). Food competition in brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella): quantitative effects of group size and tree productivity. Behaviour 105: 53–76.
Janzen, D. H. (1983). Costa Rican Natural History, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Koyama, N. (1970). Changes in dominance rank and division of a wild Japanese monkey troop in Arashiyama. Primates 11: 335–390.
Maestripieri, D. (1994). Influence of infants on female social relationships in monkeys. Folia Primatol. 63: 192–202.
Manson, J. H. (1999). Infant handling in wild Cebus capucinus: testing bonds between females? Anim. Behav. 57: 911–921.
Mitchell, C. L., Boinski, S., and van Schaik, C. P. (1991). Competitive regimes and female bonding in two species of squirrel monkeys (Saimiri oerstedi and S. sciureus). Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 28: 55–60.
Moore, J. (1993). Inbreeding and outbreeding in primates: what's wrong with “the dispersing sex”? In Thornhill, N. W. (ed.), The Natural History of Inbreeding and Outbreeding, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 392–426.
Netto, W. J., and van Hooff, J. A. R. A. M. (1986). Conflict interference and the development of dominance relationships in immature Macaca fuscata. In Else, J. G., and Lee, P. C. (eds.), Primate Ontogeny, Cognition and Social Behaviour, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 291–300.
O'Brien, T. G. (1991). Female-male social interactions in wedge-capped capuchin monkeys and costs of group living. Anim. Behav. 41: 555–567.
O'Brien, T. G. (1993). Allogrooming behaviour among adult female wedge-capped capuchin monkeys. Anim. Behav. 46: 499–510.
O'Brien, T. G., and Robinson, J. G. (1993). Stability of social relationships in female wedge-capped capuchin monkeys. In Pereira, M. E., and Fairbanks, L. A. (eds.), Juvenile Primates, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 197–210.
Packer, C., Collins, D. A., Sindimwo, A., and Goodall, J. (1995). Reproductive constraints on aggressive competition in female baboons. Nature 373: 60–63.
Parr, L. A., Matheson, M. D., Bernstein, I. S., and de Waal, F. B. M. (1997). Grooming down the hierarchy: Allogrooming in captive brown capuchin monkeys, Cebus apella. Anim. Behav. 54: 361–367.
Pereira, M. E. (1989). Agonistic interactions of juvenile savanna baboons: II. Agonistic support and rank acquisition. Ethology 80: 152–171.
Perry, S. (1996a). Female-female social relationships in wild white-faced capuchin monkeys, Cebus capucinus. Am. J. Primatol. 40: 167–182.
Perry, S. (1996b). Intergroup encounters in wild white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus). Int. J. Primatol. 17: 309–330.
Perry, S. (1997). Male-female social relationships in wild white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus). Behaviour 134: 477–510.
Robinson, J. G. (1988a). Demography and group structure in wedge-capped capuchin monkeys, Cebus olivaceus. Behaviour 104: 202–232.
Robinson, J. G. (1988b). Group size in wedge-capped capuchin monkeys (Cebus olivaceus) and the reproductive success of males and females. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 23: 187–197.
Robinson, J. G., and Janson, C. H. (1987). Capuchins, squirrel monkeys and atelines: socioecological convergence with Old World primates. In Smuts, B. B., Cheney, D. L., Seyfarth, R. M., Wrangham, R. W., and Struhsaker, T. T. (eds.), Primate Societies, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 69–82.
Rose, L. M. (1988). Behavioral ecology of white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus) in Costa Rica, Ph.D. dissertation, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.
Rose, L. M. (1994). Benefits and costs of resident males to females in white-faced capuchins, Cebus capucinus. Am. J. Primatol. 32: 235–248.
Rose, L. M. (1997). Vertebrate predation and food sharing in Cebus and Pan. Int. J. Primatol. 18: 727–767.
Rose, L. M. (n.d.). Behavioral sampling methods in the field: continuous focal versus focal interval sampling. Submitted.
Rowell, T. E. (1968). Grooming by adult baboons in relation to reproductive cycles. Anim. Behav. 16: 585–588.
Sade, D. S. (1965). Some aspects of parent-3-offspring and sibling relations in a group of rhesus monkeys, with a discussion of grooming. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 23: 1–18.
Saito, C. (1997). Dominance and feeding success in female Japanese macaques, Macaca fuscata: effects of food patch size and interpatch distance. Anim. Behav. 51: 967–980.
Sambrook, T. D., Whiten, A., and Strum, S. C. (1995). Priority of access and grooming patterns of females in a large and a small group of olive baboons. Anim. Behav. 50: 1667–1682.
Samuels, A., and Henrickson, R. V. (1983). Outbreak of severe aggression in captive Macaca mulatta. Am. J. Primatol. 5: 277–281.
Samuels, A., Silk, J. B., and Altmann, J. (1987). Continuity and change in dominance relations among female baboons. Anim. Behav. 35: 785–793.
Seyfarth, R. M. (1976). Social relationships among adult female baboons. Anim. Behav. 24: 917–938.
Seyfarth, R. M. (1977). A model of social grooming among adult female monkeys. J. Theor. Biol. 65: 671–698.
Seyfarth, R. M. (1980). The distribution of grooming and related behaviours among adult female vervet monkeys. Anim. Behav. 28: 798–813.
Silk, J. B. (1982). Altruism among female Macaca radiata: explanations and analysis of patterns of grooming and coalition formation. Behaviour 79: 162–188.
Silk, J. B. (1993). The evolution of social conflict among female primates. In Mason, W. A., and Mendoza, S. P. (eds.), Primate Social Conflict, State University of New York Press, Albany, New York, pp. 49–83.
Silk, J. B., Seyfarth, R. M., and Cheney, D. L. (in press). The structure of social relationships among female savannah baboons in Moremi Reserve, Botswana. Behaviour.
Sterck, E. H. M., and Steenbeek, R. (1997). Female dominance relationships and food competition in the sympatric Thomas langur and long-tailed macaque. Behaviour 134: 749–774.
Sterck, E. H. M., Watts, D. P., and van Schaik, C. P. (1997). The evolution of female social relationships in nonhuman primates. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol 41: 291–309.
van Schaik, C. P. (1989). The ecology of social relationships amongst female primates. In Standen, V., and Foley, R. (eds.), Comparative Socioecology: The Behavioural Ecology of Humans and Other Animals, Blackwell Scientific, Oxford, pp. 195–218.
Walters, J. (1980). Interventions and development of dominance relationships in female baboons. Folia Primatol. 34: 61–89.
Wrangham, R. W. (1980). An ecological model of female-bonded primate groups. Behaviour 75: 262–300.
Yamada, M. (1963). A study of blood-relationship in the natural society of the Japanese macaque: an analysis of co-feeding, grooming, and playmate relationships in Minoo-B troop. Primates 4: 43–65.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Manson, J.H., Rose, L.M., Perry, S. et al. Dynamics of Female–Female Relationships in Wild Cebus capucinus: Data from Two Costa Rican Sites. International Journal of Primatology 20, 679–706 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020700718458
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020700718458