Group size, infant development and social networks in free-ranging rhesus monkeys

摘要

The hypothesis that demographic processes are important in determining social structure among non-human primates through their effects on the development of individual social relationships was tested. Changes in maternal behaviour, infants' social milieux and infants' social networks were examined as a function of changes in group size and composition among free-ranging rhesus monkeys, Macaca mulatta, on Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico. Data were analysed for 10 group-years collected Between 1974 and 1990 representing a single social group during periods of rapid expansion and Fissioning, two daught4er groups following fissioning and an unrelated group the did not undergo Fissioning.