The Social Behavior and Roles of Specific Primate Groups

Introduction

Most primates spend all their lives in social groups or communities. Social organization is dependent upon the ability of the animals to identify which animal belongs to their group and which animal does not and therefore act accordingly (Ward and Mike 10). They may assemble to protect their territories or form dominance hierarchies. Monkeys and apes have adapted to being social and are seen to be living in groups for the better part of their lives except for the orangutans (Thierry 93). The gibbons and owl monkeys choose to live in pairs, the blue monkeys and the howlers prefer to live in groups with only one male and the Cebus monkeys and the baboons are seen to be in groups with multiple males and females (Ward and Mike 10). Baboons prefer being in large groups for protection against predatory cats, dogs, and hyenas. However, the colobus monkeys and langurs being leaf eaters form smaller social groupings because they have little competition for their food sources. The orangutans lead mostly solitary lives except for mothers with their young ones before they are left alone to fend for themselves (Ward and Mike 10). The interaction between these communities is usually avoided, and when it happens, it usually leads to conflict. The contact between members of the same species but belonging to different communities always lead to hostility, which may be in the form of loud vocalization as seen in the howler monkeys, indris, siamangs and the gibbons (Kappeler, and Carel 707). This display of hostility is majorly intended to intimidate members of the opposing community. Thus, this paper investigates social behavior in living primates and explains the role they serve in specific primate groups.

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The Social Behavior of Primate Groups

Primates form dominance hierarchies were the animals that are at the top tend to displace the lower-ranking animals. Resources like food, mates, and shelter tend to go to the top ranking animals while the bottom-ranked animals settle for scraps (Ward and Mike 13). The more dominant animals mate with the majority of the females they have more children in the community. This dominance is not for life as it is dependent on some variables like age and level of aggression (Ward and Mike 13). The older one gets, the harder it becomes for them to be able to defend their position against the younger and more energetic members of the group leading to them being displaced and a new hierarchy being formed.

Grooming is a social behavior among primates that can be used to ascertain dominance where the lower-ranking animals groom the high ranking animals (Ward and Mike 13). Grooming can also be used as a form of seduction where males groom females for sexual access. Mothers also groom their children to keep their fur clean and avoid infections from parasites (Ward & Webster 13).

Communication among primates is observed in the form of body postures, gestures, and vocalizations (Ward & Webster 16). They can be used to demonstrate fear, excitement, and anger or to show confidence. Other primates such as the indri, howler and the gibbons produce loud calls to keep the group together; fear calls to signal the loss of a young one and also to warn everybody of the presence of a predator (Ward & Webster 16). Primates also use gestures like mounting to lower tensions in a potentially aggressive situation while yawns, exposing teeth and direct eye contact are seen as a sign of aggression.

Reproduction in primates is preceded by signs like perennial swelling in females to indicate readiness for mating. Pairing is rarely seen in the primate world except in gibbons which mate with one mate for life and the marmosets which have only one reproductive pair in a social group (Ward & Webster 22). It has been observed in the chimpanzee communities where they participate in frequent copulation and the father of the infants not caring that much for them.

The interaction between mother and infant has been observed in the primate social setting as a way of teaching the infant interaction skills to be used when they are mature, and if they are female, they also learn how to best cope with their offspring (Thierry 93). At other times, the bond between the mother and the female offspring continues even after the offspring is all grown up.

Kinship ties are also observable relationship among primates based on common family ties (Kappeler, and Carel 723). Among the non-human primates, these ties are created out of descent, and most primates always recognize their mother and not their fathers. The strongest bond is the bond between a mother and her offspring and paternal allegiances are often not recognized in the primate world. It has been observed that chimpanzees maintain a special bond with their mothers even when they are all grown up and often run to their mothers for consolation usually in the form of grooming when they feel threatened (Kappeler, and Carel 723). Juvenile rhesus macaques are ranked in their respective groups based on their mothers and their positions in the dominance hierarchy. A significant indication of this recognition of kinship among primates is the fact that mother and son rarely mate in the primate world.

The Roles of Different Primate Groups

The single mother and her offspring group are rarely seen in the primate world but have been observed in the orangutans and other smaller nocturnal prosimians like the galagos (Kappeler, and Carel 725). The adult male is seen to live a solitary life and only comes together with the female for mating. When the offspring reach sexual maturity, they leave their mother to venture out on their own. After infancy, the males are socialized to play in groups based on their age (Kappeler, and Carel 726). Young male gorillas spend most of their time is rough play along territory boundaries while the female monkeys and apes are safely socialized and play in safer areas monitored by their mothers and older female relatives. Young females play less rough focusing more on developing parental skills and creating social ties among the females. When male primates reach maturity, they often leave their group and venture out in search of mates except for chimpanzees in which the female is the one who is most likely to leave (Kappeler, and Carel 726). Male chimpanzees often engage in scheming behavior to climb the dominance hierarchy while female chimps usually shy away from this kind of behavior. Male chimps also exhibit murderous characteristics where a group of them often attack a neighboring group and murder all the males by violently beating and biting them to death. They have been observed to eat the infants, but they usually leave the females alone. The reason for this murderous rampage is unclear, but it is believed they do so to increase their territory and food resources and also reduce competition for possible mates.

The monogamous family group consists of an adult male, a female, and their offspring. This group pattern is most common among Asian apes, New World monkeys and also the prosimians (Kappeler, and Carel 718). Gibbons, titi monkeys, tarsiers and pottos also experience monogamous family groups. When the offspring grow up, they leave their family unit to create their own families.

The marmosets and the tamarins form another group known as the polyandrous family unit. This is a unique type of group that begins as monogamous, but later on, another male joins the family and mates with the female creating a situation where two adult males mate with a single female. This type of setting may be ideal for the type of primates involved due to their high twin birth rates and since it is the fathers' responsibility to carry the babies on their backs (Kappeter & Schaik 714).

A polygynous family group forms a mating pattern observed in primates which involves one male and several females (Ward & Webster 67). The single male in the group mates with more than one female also in the same group and this forms a distinct child rearing group. This type of setting is found among hamadryas, baboons, geladas, langurs, howler monkeys, gorillas and also in several human societies (Ward & Webster 67). The females in the group select their potential mate from a group of males and ward off unwanted males from joining the group. This kind of setting may be a problem in situations where the group faces an attack from a predator seeing that there is only one male in the group. This has prompted the hamadryas baboon to form large communities comprising of more than one polygynous family where the males combine their strength and become dominant (Ward & Webster 67). When the male children reach maturity, they are usually driven off by the dominant male to go and form their own families. Even the females upon reaching sexual maturity, they leave and go and meet with the single males, and they too start their one-male-many-females type of family.

The most common group among all the family groups is the multi-male-multi-female type of setting. All the males and females in the group do not have any specific mate; they mate with anyone and everyone (Kappeler, and Carel 718). This type of mating pattern is seen in the savanna baboons, macaques, the colobus and the New World monkeys. Both males and females have dominant hierarchies, and each is ranked in their respective gender. Primatologists refer to the top ranking individuals as the alpha male and the alpha female (Kappeler, and Carel 719). The alpha female is a title for life while the alpha male might leave the group in search of other mates elsewhere as seen in the rhesus macaques. In the baboon communities, advancing up the dominance ranks for the males is more violent than seen in the macaques which subject the alpha males to a lot of physical and psychological stress as they have to defend their position at all times (Kappeler, and Carel 719). The upside to being an alpha male in the baboon community is that they have as many mates as they want.

The fission-fusion type of setting is one in which the composition and size of the group change throughout the year as seen in chimpanzees. Individuals enter and leave the group at any time while adult males often leave to find food on their own or join other males in hunting (Thierry 102). The females also shift from one group to another especially when they are seeking mates. Group dynamics in such a setup change every other time. Chimpanzees are friendlier than other monkeys as they have friendly interactions with other monkeys from different groups. They do not show aggression and instead seem to recognize relatives and friends (Thierry 102). It should not be mistaken that chimpanzees are always peaceful; the males connive and form alliances with other males to raise the dominance hierarchy. The rhesus macaque also exhibits this type of family setting as they often leave their birth groups and move to other groups in search of mates (Thierry 102).

In summary, most primates spend all their lives in social groups or communities. This is for protection or social dominance. Monkeys and apes have been known to live in pairs; the orangutans are usually solitary animals while the blue monkeys and howlers live in group settings. Primates also exhibit social behavior like dominance where one male rises above the social hierarchy and exerts his power over the weaker and less dominant males. Grooming is also observed as a social behavior whereby the lower ranking primates are forced to groom the higher ranking ones while mothers groom their infants as a way of maintaining physical hygiene. Communication as a form of social behavior is evident in the primate world, and it involves the use gestures, mounting, yawning, exposing of teeth and also direct eye contact to express different kinds of emotions. Reproduct...