Market forces predict grooming reciprocity in female baboons

Citation
L. Barrett et al., Market forces predict grooming reciprocity in female baboons, P ROY SOC B, 266(1420), 1999, pp. 665-670
Citations number
29
Categorie Soggetti
Experimental Biology
Journal title
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON SERIES B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
ISSN journal
09628452 → ACNP
Volume
266
Issue
1420
Year of publication
1999
Pages
665 - 670
Database
ISI
SICI code
0962-8452(19990407)266:1420<665:MFPGRI>2.0.ZU;2-X
Abstract
We argue that grooming is a commodity that female primates can trade, eithe r for itself or in exchange for other services (sensu biological markets th eory) and that the decision to do either will depend on the degree of compe tition within a social group. We test this using data from four chacma babo on troops, living in two populations that differ markedly in the degree of contest competition. As predicted by the predominance of grooming dyads in which females are closely ranked there was, in all four troops, a positive correlation between the time invested by one partner and that by the other. In addition, as predicted, the allocation of time was more closely matched in troops where grooming could not be exchanged for anything else. In troo ps where resource competition was high, we found in one of two troops a pos itive relationship between rank distance and the discrepancy in time alloca tion, with the lower ranking of the partners contributing more grooming.