Abstract
Variation in group spread can affect communication between individuals, synchrony of activity and collective decision-making. Most studies have measured this variation in large time scales, but the variables that influence group spread change as the social unit ranges over different areas throughout the day. Thus, our aim was to analyze the diurnal variation in group spread of a group of black capuchin monkeys (Sapajus nigritus) inhabiting an area within the southeastern Brazilian Atlantic Forest, the Carlos Botelho State Park. We measured group spread as the distance between the coordinates of the location of the two most distant group members every 5 min during entire days. Using time series analysis, we found that the group spread varied within short periods of time (15 min) throughout the day, revolving around the average group spread distance of 36 m. Group members tended to decrease the interindividual distance over time when they were more than 36 m apart, and to increase the distance when they were at a distance of less than 36 m. In addition, group spread was higher when monkeys were eating fruit than during other activities. We conclude that the variation in group spread may reflect competition for discrete food resources and that increasing cohesion several times throughout the day can be a way of resuming social contact between individuals.
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Acknowledgements
We thank our field assistant, Edipo Fernandes, as well as José Siqueira for help with statistical analyses. We thank the Instituto Florestal de São Paulo, especially the director of the PECB, José Maia, who granted us permission to conduct this research.
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The research was funded by Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo grant to P.I. (14/13237-1) and a Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico fellowship to V.R.L. (130156/2014-0).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by VL. The first draft of the manuscript was written by VL, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. Writing—review and editing: PI. Funding acquisition: VL. Resources: PI. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Luccas, V., Izar, P. Black capuchin monkeys dynamically adjust group spread throughout the day. Primates 62, 789–799 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-021-00926-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-021-00926-6