Cooperation and Conflict among Male Spider Monkeys

该项目建立在当前男性社会关系模型的基础上，并为非人类灵长类动物中多雄性群体的男性关系贡献了相对较少的文献。它提供了一个独特的机会来研究影响雄性合作和竞争的因素，使用来自人类-黑猩猩血统以外的灵长类动物，并与理解战争和联盟群体间暴力的出现有关。此外，该项目还扩展了研究员长期以来对来自美国、欧洲和多个灵长类动物栖息地国家的本科生、研究生和实地助理进行实地方法培训的记录，以进行行为、生态学和保护研究。该项目还促进了关于亚马逊西部最大、受干扰最少的国家公园（厄瓜多尔的Yasuní国家公园和生物圈保护区）和世界上最濒危的灵长类动物之一（哥伦比亚的棕色蜘蛛猴）的保护教育。在过去的几年里，对野生蜘蛛猴——一种与人类和黑猩猩只有远亲关系的新大陆灵长类动物——的研究揭示了它们在社会结构和行为的基本方面与这些类群惊人的趋同。在这些分类群中，雄性通常一生都呆在它们的出生群体中，而雌性在成年后离开它们的群体，而有亲缘关系的雄性群体可能会发展出彼此之间牢固的、亲密的社会关系。来自同一社会群体的雄性蜘蛛猴也会合作巡逻他们的领土边界，参与深入入侵或突袭邻近的领土，并参与对敌对群体成员的联合攻击。黑猩猩、蜘蛛猴和人类共有的这些行为模式在自然界中极为罕见。本研究综合考察了影响雄性蜘蛛猴社会互动的因素，重点关注这些关系的竞争和合作两个方面。这项研究将集中在两个热带森林中的两个蜘蛛猴社会群体，一个在哥伦比亚，另一个在厄瓜多尔，那里的野生蜘蛛猴已经研究了好几年。习惯群体的行为跟踪将用于评估雄性之间的合作和竞争模式，特别是在群体间互动的背景下。遗传数据将用于评估每一组中雄性的亲缘关系，并确定在这些组中出生的婴儿的父权。

This project builds upon current models of male social relationships and contributes to a relatively scant literature on male bonding in multi-male groups of nonhuman primates. It provides a unique opportunity to investigate the factors influencing male cooperation and competition using a primate from outside the human-chimpanzee lineage and has relevance for understanding the emergence of warfare and coalitionary intergroup violence. Additionally, this project expands the researcher's long record of training undergraduates, post-graduate students, and field assistants from the US, Europe, and multiple primate habitat countries in field methods for behavior, ecology, and conservation research. The project also promotes conservation education about the largest and least disturbed national park in the western Amazon (the Yasuní National Park and Biosphere Reserve, in Ecuador) and of one of the world's most critically-endangered primate taxa (the brown spider monkey, in Colombia).In the past few years, studies of wild spider monkeys -- a New World primate only distantly related to humans and chimpanzee -- have revealed striking convergences with these taxa in fundamental aspects of social structure and behavior. In these taxa, males typically remain in their natal groups throughout their lives while females leave their groups upon reaching adulthood, and groups of related males may develop strong, affiliative social bonds with one another. Male spider monkeys from the same social group also cooperate to patrol their territorial boundaries, participate in deep incursions or raids into neighboring territories, and engage in coalitionary attacks against members of rival groups. These behavioral patterns, shared by chimpanzees and spider monkeys as well as humans, are extremely rare in nature. This study takes an integrated look at factors influencing social interactions among male spider monkeys, focusing on both competitive and cooperative aspects of these relationships. The study will focus on two social groups of spider monkeys in each of two tropical forests, one in Colombia and another in Ecuador, where wild spider monkeys have been studied for several years. Behavioral follows of habituated groups will be used to assess patterns of cooperation and competition among males, particularly in the context of intergroup interactions. Genetic data will be used to evaluate the relatedness of males within each group and to determine paternities of infants born in these groups.