By combining behavioral observations with GPS data on the whereabouts and data on genetic relatedness of males of a Guinea baboon population, the study presented in this video provides new insights into their social structure: The species forms structured multi-level societies. Male Guinea baboons are found to be exceptional in terms of their spatial tolerance and their organizing principle, JULIA FISCHER explains. As opposed to other male non-humane primates, relatedness is not the sole determinant of association, allowing cooperation beyond kinship.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21036/LTPUB10153

Researcher

Julia Fischer is Professor of Cognitive Ethology at the German Primate Center and the University of Göttingen as well as an author and editor, with cognition and social behavior as one of her major research interests. She habilitated at Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and was awarded the Heisenberg fellowship from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).
Fischer is a member of the Göttingen as well as the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Science and Humanities and received the Grüter-Preis für Wissenschaftsvermittlung in 2013.

Institution

German Primate Center

The Deutsches Primatenzentrum GmbH (DPZ) – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Göttingen was founded in 1977. It is a non-university research institute and member of the Leibniz Association.The DPZ conducts biological and biomedical basic research with and about non-human primates in the fields of infectious diseases, neuroscience, and primate biology. As a center for expertise and reference in all issues related to primate research and husbandry, the DPZ breeds monkeys for its own research purposes and lends support to other publicly funded scientific institutes. The DPZ operates four field stations in the tropics. The DPZ is actively involved in numerous national and international research collaborations and is engaged in scientific communication and policy advice. (Source: DPZ)
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Original publication

Male Tolerance and Male-Male Bonds in a Multilevel Primate Society

Annika Patzelt, Gisela H. Kopp, Ibrahima Ndao, Urs Kalbitzer, Dietmar Zinner and Julia Fischer
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
Published in 2014

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