Effect of parturition and group composition on competitive drinking order in stumptail macaques (Macaca arctoides).

Competitions for access to water were conducted weekly in a captive group of Macaca arctoides. After giving birth, parturient females that had been low in order of access showed elevation. Elevation was not due solely to increased motivation for water, since it depended on the presence of higher ranking animals. Presence of higher ranking animals did not influence agonistic behavior involving parturient females as greatly as it influenced order of access to water. Elevation of access order after parturition tended to be long lasting, and it was not an artifact of depression in access order preceding birth. Delivery of a dead fetus did not alter access order.