Intolerant baboons avoid observer proximity, creating biased inter-individual association patterns.

ABSTRACT: Social network analysis is an increasingly popular tool for behavioural ecologists exploring the social organisation of animal populations. Such analyses require data on inter-individual association patterns, which in wild populations are often collected using direct observations of habituated animals. This assumes observers have no influence on animal behaviour; however, our previous work showed that individuals in a habituated group of chacma baboons (Papio ursinus griseipes) displayed consistent and individually distinct responses to observer approaches. We explored the implications of our previous findings by measuring the inter-individual association patterns of the same group of chacma baboons at different observer distances. We found a strong positive association between individual

SUBMITTER: Allan ATL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9110335 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature