Primate Social Organization

Joydeep Shil
RS, SACON, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
Email: joydshil@gmail.com
Phone: +91-9508084075
• Social organization refers to how primates group themselves
together.

• It describes the number of individuals of different age and

sex classes.

• And how individuals move between different social groups

from their natal group.

• Social organization varies in different primate species.

Solitary Foragers
• Also known as noyau group.
• They do not live in a group. Instead, males live alone and females live
either alone or with their dependent offspring.
• Examples of solitary foragers are the bushbabies and pottos of Africa,
most of the nocturnal lemurs of Madagascar, lorises and orangutans
of Asia.
• In India we find two species of lorises
• Loris lydekkerianus
• Nycticebus bengalensis
• Usually, one male's range overlaps multiple female's ranges. They
don't spend much time together, except when the female is fertile
and ready to mate.
One Male - One Female pair
group
• Commonly referred to as monogamy.
• Monogamy is when a mated pair and their immature offspring live
together in a small territory.
• Adults usually do not tolerate other same-sex adults, and defend their
mates and territories from them.
• A number of primate species are facultatively monogamous.
• Gibbons and siamangs are the examples of monogamous primates.
One male-Multi female
• Also called polygyny / harem.
• In this type of social organization, a single adult male lives with several
females and their immature offspring.
• The females are related and stable in the group.
• The male joins the group of females by pushing out the previous male.
• Male defends their territory against other males, until they themselves
are pushed out.
• Males may be part of a group for relatively short periods of time.
• It is found among a number of monkey species like colobines and also
the gorilla.
Multi male - Multi female
• Also called promiscuous hoard.
• In multi male - multi female groups, as the name implies, a number of
adult males and females live together, with offspring.
• Groups of this sort often have dominance hierarchies to determine
access to mates, food, sleeping areas, and other key resources.
• Often, they have relatively large territories, and they may aggressively
defend it.
• It is found in some prosimian, monkey, and ape species, including the
chimpanzee.
One-female Multi-male Groups
• Also known as polyandry.
• In those groups one adult female has two or more male mates living
with her and their offspring.
• This is a rare form of social organization that is best known in New
World monkeys.
• This type of social organization is seen only in the tamarins and
marmosets of Central and South America.
All male band
• This kind of groups formed with males only.
• Males may be of different ages.
• There must be at-least one dominant adult male.
Thank
you