Social tolerance strongly influences the patterns of affiliation and aggression in animal societies. However, not much is known about the variation of social tolerance in species living in dispersed social systems that combine solitary foraging activities with the need of coordinating social interactions with conspecifics on a regular basis. This study aims to investigate the sources of variation in social tolerance within a Malagasy primate radiation with dispersed social systems, the mouse lemurs (Microcebus spp.). Six mouse lemur species were selected as model species that belong to three different taxonomic clades, live in two types of forest environments (dry and humid), and differed in this study with respect to their reproductive activity. Six male–female and six male–male dyads of each species were tested temporarily in a standardized social encounter paradigm in Madagascar to collect data on joint use of space, non-agonistic body contacts, aggression rates, the number of conflicts and the establishment of intra- and intersexual dominance. Male–female dyads of the six species differed significantly in the frequency of affiliative and agonistic behaviors. In contrast, the variations between male–male dyads could not be explained by one parameter only, but clade membership, forest type, reproductive state as well as species were all suggested to be partially influential. Only one species (Microcebus mamiratra) showed signals of unambiguous female dominance in all male–female dyads, whereas the others had no or only a few dyads with female dominance. Variations in social tolerance and its consequences are most likely influenced by two factors, ecology (via forest type) and physiology (via reproductive activity), and only to a lesser extent by clade membership. The study suggests that mouse lemur females have higher aggression rates and more agonistic conflicts with males when females in the population are reproducing, at least in resource-rich humid forests. The study confirms a high degree of social plasticity between species in these small solitary foragers that supports their taxonomic distinctiveness and requires further scientific attention.

中文翻译：

---

小鼠狐猴（Microcebus spp.）社会耐受性变异的来源

社会宽容强烈影响动物社会中的归属和攻击模式。然而，对于生活在分散的社会系统中的物种的社会耐受性的变化知之甚少，这些系统将单独的觅食活动与定期协调与同种的社会互动的需要结合起来。本研究旨在调查具有分散社会系统的马达加斯加灵长类动物——鼠狐猴（Microcebus spp.）的社会耐受性变异的来源。选择六种鼠狐猴作为模型物种，它们属于三个不同的分类分支，生活在两种类型的森林环境（干燥和潮湿）中，并且在本研究中其生殖活动有所不同。在马达加斯加的标准化社会遭遇范式中，对每个物种的六对男性和女性以及六对男性和男性进行了临时测试，以收集有关共同使用空间、非对抗性身体接触、攻击率、冲突数量和建立社会关系的数据。性内和两性之间的优势。这六个物种的雌雄二元组在亲和和竞争行为的频率上存在显着差异。相比之下，雄性-雄性二元体之间的差异不能仅用一个参数来解释，但分支成员、森林类型、繁殖状态以及物种都被认为具有部分影响。只有一种物种（Microcebus mamiratra）在所有雄性-雌性二人组中显示出明确的雌性优势信号，而其他物种则没有或只有少数二人组具有雌性优势。社会耐受性的变化及其后果很可能受到两个因素的影响，即生态（通过森林类型）和生理（通过生殖活动），并且仅在较小程度上受到进化枝成员的影响。研究表明，当种群中的雌性鼠狐猴繁殖时，雌性鼠狐猴具有更高的攻击率和更多的与雄性的竞争冲突，至少在资源丰富的潮湿森林中是这样。该研究证实了这些小型孤独觅食者的物种之间具有高度的社会可塑性，这支持了它们的分类学独特性，并需要进一步的科学关注。