Tibetan Macaques with Higher Social Centrality and More Relatives Emit More Frequent Visual Communication in Collective Decision-Making

• Main Authors: Zifei Tang, Xi Wang, Mingyang Wu, Shiwang Chen, Jinhua Li
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-03-01
• Series: Animals
• Subjects: Tibetan macaques (<i>Macaca thibetana</i>); collective decision-making; visual communication; social centrality; number of relatives
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/3/876

Animals on the move often communicate with each other through some specific postures. Previous studies have shown that social interaction plays a role in communication process. However, it is not clear whether the affinity of group members can affect visual communication. We studied a group of free-ranging Tibetan macaques (<i>Macaca thibetana</i>) at Huangshan Mountain, China, and answered whether and how social centrality or relatives matter in visual signals during group movement using Tobit regression modeling. All individuals emitted the signals of back-glances and pauses in collective movement. The emission of two signals decreased with the number of participants increased. The back-glance and pause signals emitted by the participating individuals were stronger as the position moved backward in the group. Sex, age, and rank had no significant influence on back-glance and pause signals. Individuals with higher social centrality would emit more pause signals, but social centrality had no effect on the back-glance signal. Individuals with more relatives in the group had more back-glance signals, but this had no effect on the pause signal. This study verifies that social centrality and the number of relatives have effects on visual signals in Tibetan macaques. We provide insights into the relationship between communication behaviors and group cooperation in social animals.