Bystanders intervene to impede grooming in Western chimpanzees and sooty mangabeys.

ABSTRACT: Grooming interactions benefit groomers, but may have negative consequences for bystanders. Grooming limits bystanders' grooming access and ensuing alliances could threaten the bystander's hierarchy rank or their previous investment in the groomers. To gain a competitive advantage, bystanders could intervene into a grooming bout to increase their own grooming access or to prevent the negative impact of others' grooming. We tested the impact of dominance rank and social relationships on grooming intervention likelihood and outcome in two sympatric primate species, Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) and sooty mangabeys (Cercocebus atys atys). In both species, rather than increasing their own access to preferred partners, bystanders intervened mainly when an alliance bet

SUBMITTER: Mielke A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5717689 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature