Aggression and the composition of conflicting pairs in green monkeys.

Aggressive behavior was studied in green monkeys kept in two groups in corrals in the Adler Primate Center. Studies addressed the effects of the composition of conflicting pairs, the nature of the relationship, relatedness, and hierarchical relationships between antagonists on the intensity and structure of their aggressive interactions. The frequency of contact aggression was found to be essentially independent of the composition of the conflicting pairs. At the same time, the frequency of non-contact aggressive events was sensitive to such factors of the conflicting pairs as the gender assignments of antagonists, membership of one or another maternal line, quality of relationships, and social ranking.