Distribution of grooming among adult females in a large, free-ranging group of Japanese macaques

• Published in: International journal of primatology Vol. 24; no. 3; pp. 607 - 625
• Main Authors: NAKAMICHI, Masayuki, SHIZAWA, Yasuhiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Kluwer Academic/Plenum 01.06.2003; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal ethology; Biological and medical sciences; Bonding; Females; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Japan; Macaca fuscata; Mammalia; Old World monkeys; Physical anthropology; Primate behaviour; Primates; Primatology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Vertebrata; Asia; Japan; Grooming behavior; Social group; Macaca fuscata; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Social behavior; Social dominance; Social interaction; Primates; Simioidea; Female; Social hierarchy; Field study
• ISSN: 0164-0291; 1573-8604
• DOI: 10.1023/a:1023744515134

We analyzed grooming episodes recorded among adult females in a large, provisioned, free-ranging group of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) at an individual level. Each female groomed on average 10 of the other 84 females, and 54% of them devoted ≥50% of their grooming to a single female grooming partner, which indicates that most females had grooming interactions with a relatively small subset of available females. Although 65% of the total grooming bouts were between related females, 25% of females disproportionately groomed unrelated females, 22% groomed related and unrelated females equally, and grooming was kin-biased for the remaining 53%. Moreover, 11 of 16 kin-groups included at least one female that groomed unrelated females significantly more often than related females. In 18% of unrelated dyads, grooming was directed down the hierarchy, in 58%, grooming was well-balanced between the two females, and in the remaining 25%, grooming was directed up the hierarchy. The results indicate that although Japanese macaques are considered a despotic species based on their dominance style, this group included some females that showed egalitarian tendencies, i.e., grooming was directed down the hierarchy or was well-balanced, and was directed toward unrelated females as often as or more often than toward related females. The presence of egalitarian individuals might be important to maintain a well-organized, female-bonded group.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]