Do males bond? A study of male-male relationships in Nicobar long-tailed macaques Macaca fascicularis umbrosus

Mishra, Partha Sarathi and Pal, Arijit and Velankar, Avadhoot D. and Kumara, H. N. and Singh, Mewa (2020) Do males bond? A study of male-male relationships in Nicobar long-tailed macaques Macaca fascicularis umbrosus. Journal of Bioscience, 45 (1). ISSN 0973-7138

Text Mishra2020_Article_DoMalesBondAStudyOfMale-maleRe.pdf - Published Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (264kB) | Request a copy

Abstract

In primates, males compete for a mate, which is a non-sharable resource. This makes the conditions less conducive for males to have stable relationships. One such special kind of relationship is a bond where the interactions are reciprocated, equitable and differentiated. Bonds in macaque societies are based on the degree of within-group contest competition for mates which is dependent on the synchronization of female fertile phase and reliability of fertility signals. Species of the Fascicularis group, including Nicobar subspecies, show intermediate reliability in the signals with mild peaks, and studies have shown reciprocity but no differentiation. We conducted a study on a group of wild Nicobar long-tailed macaques Macaca fascicularis umbrosus to understand the existing patterns of male-male relationships. We examined whether there is reciprocity in affiliation among the individuals and whether the rate of affiliation is balanced. We also measured the dominance linearity and steepness in the group to understand the monopolizability of females. We used social network analysis to understand whether the relations are differentiated based on hierarchical position and whether the high-ranking individuals are the most central individuals in the distribution of grooming in the group. We found that there is reciprocity among the males although that is not equitable. There was no rank-related differentiation of affiliation among the males of the group. Instead, the identities of individuals influenced affiliation patterns. Our results correspond to the existent strong relationships but lack of social bond otherwise found in the Fascicularis group of macaques.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Great Nicobar Island; Macaca fascicularis umbrosus; male-male relationships; mate competition
Subjects:	G Commerce > Management Science
Divisions:	Department of > Institution of Excellence
Depositing User:	Mr Umendra uom
Date Deposited:	05 Feb 2021 09:24
Last Modified:	06 Jun 2023 06:55
URI:	http://eprints.uni-mysore.ac.in/id/eprint/15647

Actions (login required)

View Item