Relaxed dominance relations among female moor macaques (Macaca maurus) in their natural habitat, south Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Field observations were made of the social behaviour of moor macaques (Macaca maurus), one of several species of macaques that live in Sulawesi, Indonesia. The present study was designed to characterise the expression of their relaxed dominance style among females in their natural habitat and to examine the factors influencing the evolution of the dominance style. The dominance rank order among adult females in the study group was linear, and it was essentially stable during the study period of 4 years. Intense aggression, including biting, was rare. Few interventions in agonistic interactions by a third individual were observed. Social relationships among adult females appeared to be egalitarian but nepotistic. During moving or feeding, encounters within 1 m between adult females were frequently observed and approaches by subordinates were not infrequent. Intragroup spacing patterns during moving or feeding and those during resting were not correlated. In wild groups, differences of dominance styles seemed to be found most apparently in intragroup spacing during feeding. The ecological model of van Schaik does not provide an adequate explanation for the egalitarian relations among female moor macaques.