The Organization of Collective Group Movements in Wild Barbary Macaques (Macaca sylvanus): Social Structure Drives Processes of Group Coordination in Macaques.

ABSTRACT: Social animals have to coordinate activities and collective movements to benefit from the advantages of group living. Animals in large groups maintain cohesion by self-organization processes whereas in smaller groups consensus decisions can be reached. Where consensus decisions are relevant leadership may emerge. Variation in the organization of collective movements has been linked to variation in female social tolerance among macaque species ranging from despotic to egalitarian. Here we investigated the processes underlying group movements in a wild macaque species characterized by a degree of social tolerance intermediate to previously studied congeneric species. We focused on processes before, during and after the departure of the first individual. To this end, we observed one group of

SUBMITTER: Seltmann A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3689719 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature