Arizona State University researchers announced on May 4 new findings about the complexity of social networks among baboons and African monkeys. The study, led by primatologist Jacob Feder, analyzed over a century of data to better understand how these primate societies are structured.
The research matters because it challenges the traditional view that papionin monkeys live in either single-level or multilevel societies. Instead, the study reveals more nuanced variations within these groups, providing insights into primate—and potentially human—social evolution.
“Single-level societies are kind of like soccer leagues,” said Feder. “Everyone is an exclusive member of their unambiguous team, competing against other teams to ‘win’ (access to good food, defend their territory). In general, people have positive feelings and relationships with those who are a part of their team, and are averse to those who aren’t.”
“Multilevel societies are more like schools,” Feder said. “Everyone’s divided up into their respective classrooms, but they regularly pass by each other in the hallways, cross paths during lunch breaks and mingle during recess. While relationships within classes are generally stronger, there’s no ill will — and sometimes even friendships — between classes and plenty of social glue keeping everyone together.”
Feder compiled data from 11 species across 13 field sites for the Comparative Analysis of Papionin Societies database. He used social network analysis based on grooming behavior to map out interactions among individuals. Joan Silk, a research scientist at Arizona State University’s Institute of Human Origins and Regents Professor at the School of Human Evolution and Social Change said: “One thing that we discovered in the data, which we had not previously suspected — it turns out that not all of these single-level societies are actually the same. In some ways, they are very similar, strong kin biases, etc. However, some are more cliquish and some are more cohesive.”
Silk also noted: “Females don’t necessarily have more coercive power, but they are creating social structures. The ecological reasons of how and why you have these multilevel societies are still a big question. And now that we’ve done this work, we can go after that.”
This collaborative project incorporated new statistical methods to examine how different species form subgroups within larger communities.
Arizona State University has received recognition for its innovative approaches in higher education; it was named number one in innovation for eight consecutive years by U.S. News & World Report according to Arizona State University.
The article describing these findings was published in Proceedings for the National Academy of Sciences.
