Krishna N Balasubramaniam1, Pascal R Marty1, Małgorzata E Arlet2, Brianne A Beisner1,3, Stefano S K Kaburu4, Eliza Bliss-Moreau3,5, Ullasa Kodandaramaiah6, Brenda McCowan1,3. 1. Department of Population Health & Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, California. 2. Institute of Human Biology and Evolution, University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznań, Poland. 3. Neuroscience and Behavior Unit, California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, Davis, California. 4. Department of Biomedical Science and Physiology, Faculty of Science & Engineering, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, United Kingdom. 5. Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Davis, California. 6. IISER-TVM Centre for Research and Education in Ecology and Evolution (ICREEE), School of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram, Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: In primates, allogrooming and other affiliative behaviors confer many benefits and may be influenced by many socioecological factors. Of these, the impact of anthropogenic factors remain relatively understudied. Here we ask whether interactions with humans decreased macaques' affiliative behaviors by imposing time-constraints, or increased these behaviors on account of more free-/available-time due to macaques' consumption of high-energy human foods. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In Southern India, we collected data on human-macaque and macaque-macaque interactions using focal-animal sampling on two groups of semi-urban bonnet macaques for 11 months. For each macaque within each climatic season, we calculated frequencies of human-macaque interactions, rates of monitoring human activity and foraging on anthropogenic food, dominance ranks, grooming duration, number of unique grooming partners, and frequencies of other affiliative interactions. RESULTS: We found strong evidence for time-constraints on grooming. Macaques that monitored humans more groomed for shorter durations and groomed fewer partners, independent of their group membership, sex, dominance rank, and season. However, monitoring humans had no impact on other affiliative interactions. We found no evidence for the free-time hypothesis: foraging on anthropogenic food was unrelated to grooming and other affiliation. DISCUSSION: Our results are consistent with recent findings on other urban-dwelling species/populations. Macaques in such environments may be especially reliant on other forms of affiliation that are of short duration (e.g., coalitionary support, lip-smacking) and unaffected by time-constraints. We stress on the importance of evaluating human impact on inter-individual differences in primate/wildlife behavior for conservation efforts.
OBJECTIVES: In primates, allogrooming and other affiliative behaviors confer many benefits and may be influenced by many socioecological factors. Of these, the impact of anthropogenic factors remain relatively understudied. Here we ask whether interactions with humans decreased macaques' affiliative behaviors by imposing time-constraints, or increased these behaviors on account of more free-/available-time due to macaques' consumption of high-energy human foods. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In Southern India, we collected data on human-macaque and macaque-macaque interactions using focal-animal sampling on two groups of semi-urban bonnet macaques for 11 months. For each macaque within each climatic season, we calculated frequencies of human-macaque interactions, rates of monitoring human activity and foraging on anthropogenic food, dominance ranks, grooming duration, number of unique grooming partners, and frequencies of other affiliative interactions. RESULTS: We found strong evidence for time-constraints on grooming. Macaques that monitored humans more groomed for shorter durations and groomed fewer partners, independent of their group membership, sex, dominance rank, and season. However, monitoring humans had no impact on other affiliative interactions. We found no evidence for the free-time hypothesis: foraging on anthropogenic food was unrelated to grooming and other affiliation. DISCUSSION: Our results are consistent with recent findings on other urban-dwelling species/populations. Macaques in such environments may be especially reliant on other forms of affiliation that are of short duration (e.g., coalitionary support, lip-smacking) and unaffected by time-constraints. We stress on the importance of evaluating human impact on inter-individual differences in primate/wildlife behavior for conservation efforts.
Authors: Krishna N Balasubramaniam; Pascal R Marty; Shelby Samartino; Alvaro Sobrino; Taniya Gill; Mohammed Ismail; Rajarshi Saha; Brianne A Beisner; Stefano S K Kaburu; Eliza Bliss-Moreau; Malgorzata E Arlet; Nadine Ruppert; Ahmad Ismail; Shahrul Anuar Mohd Sah; Lalit Mohan; Sandeep K Rattan; Ullasa Kodandaramaiah; Brenda McCowan Journal: Sci Rep Date: 2020-12-15 Impact factor: 4.379