A quantitative analysis of the organization of a group of captive talapoin monkeys (Miopithecus talapoin)

Grooming and avoiding scores were used as measures of the attractive and repulsive forces operatinc in a group of eight monkeys. The results revealed: (1) three unisexual grooming subgroups; (2) two focal monkeys (one female and one male) which were each avoided by five animals, one female avoided by three animals, the rest avoided by one or none; (3) that each monkey was 'friendly' with one to three others and was 'antagonistic' toward all the rest; (4) that males were socially inactive, ranked below most females, associated primarily with each other, and, in this study, were killed by females during the mating period. The social organization of talapoins seem to differ from that of other Old World monkeys and may be similar to that of the New World squirrel monkeys.