Doctoral Dissertation Research: Social Dynamics of Male Chimpanzees and the Significance of Male Bonding

这项研究将调查在群体内和群体间的竞争中形成联盟的需要如何在雄性黑猩猩之间形成社会纽带。这个问题将通过测试毛发模型的预测来解决，该模型最初是为了研究灵长类动物的联盟形成和雌性纽带之间的联系而提出的。由于雄性黑猩猩与许多雌性灵长类动物在利用联盟进行群体内和群体之间的竞争以及共享有限资源方面相似，因此应用毛发模型将阐明这两种形式的竞争在塑造雄性纽带方面的作用。这项研究很重要，因为它将增进关于竞争压力如何塑造雄性黑猩猩和一般雄性灵长类动物之间社会关系的知识。此外，由于黑猩猩与人类的亲缘关系如此密切，它们是重建原始人行为的重要参考模型。这项研究的结果将为人类联盟和竞争的演变及其对男性纽带的影响提供洞察力。将对乌干达基巴莱森林国家公园习惯性的坎亚瓦拉黑猩猩群落进行研究。为了确定雄性纽带的分布，在对3只亚成体和10只成年雄性进行30分钟的焦点动物跟踪期间，将收集连续的社会数据。所有涉及成年或亚成年男性的修饰事件的即席数据将补充重点数据。如果发生重要但相对罕见的事件，如联盟和集团间相遇，将放弃重点样本，以便收集关于这些事件的详细临时数据。

This study will investigate how the need for coalition formation during within-group and between-group competition shapes social bonds among male chimpanzees. The question will be addressed by testing predictions of grooming models originally proposed to study the connection between coalition formation and female bonds in primates. Because male chimpanzees are similar to many female primates in using coalitions for competition within and between groups and in sharing access to limited resources, application of the grooming models will illuminate the role of the two forms of competition in shaping male bonds. This study is important because it will enhance knowledge about how competitive pressures shape social relationships among male chimpanzees and among male primates in general. Furthermore, because chimpanzees are so closely related to humans, they are an important referential model for reconstructing hominid behavior. Results of this study will provide insight into the evolution of coalitions and competition and their influence on male bonding in humans. The habituated Kanyawara community of chimpanzees at the Kibale Forest National Park, Uganda will be studied. In order to determine the distribution of male bonds, continuous social data will be collected during 30-minute focal animal follows of the 3 sub-adult and 10 adult males. Ad libitum data on all occurrences of grooming involving adult or sub-adult males will supplement the focal data. In the event of important, but relatively rare events, such as coalitions and intergroup encounters, focal samples will be abandoned in order to collect detailed ad libitum data on these events.