Skip to main content
WCS
Menu
Library
Library Catalog
eJournals & eBooks
WCS Research
Archives
Research Use
Finding Aids
Digital Collections
WCS History
WCS Research
Research Publications
Science Data
Services for WCS Researchers
Archives Shop
Bronx Zoo
Department of Tropical Research
Browse By Product
About Us
FAQs
Intern or Volunteer
Staff
Donate
Search WCS.org
Search
search
Popular Search Terms
WCS History
Library and Archives
Library and Archives Menu
Library
Archives
WCS Research
Archives Shop
About Us
Donate
en
fr
Title
Vervet (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) Intragroup Spatial Positioning: Dominants Trade-Off Predation Risk for Increased Food Acquisition
Author(s)
Teichroeb, J.A.;White, M.M.J.;Chapman, C.A.
Published
2015
Publisher
International Journal of Primatology
Published Version DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-015-9818-4
Abstract
The costs and benefits of group-living are not distributed evenly among group members. Individuals that maintain positions on the front, outside edge of the group encounter most predators first, but are more likely to access food patches before others. Therefore a trade-off exists in which a strategy maximizing safety, by staying in the group’s center, may lower foraging success, whereas a strategy maximizing food acquisition may increase predation risk. We examined intragroup spatial positions for vervets (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) at Lake Nabugabo, Uganda relative to sex, age, dominance rank, and activity when the group was moving and when it was stationary. We used artificial food patches of varied richness to examine which individuals found new food sources and what share they obtained. When the group was stationary, high-ranking females tended to be at the group’s center, while males and subordinates were at the group’s edge. Moving and feeding occurred more than expected at the edge, while social behavior took place in the center. When the group was moving, most females stayed in the center of the group, but dominant males and the alpha female foraged at the front, outside edge of the group. These dominants also found more artificial food patches and foraged at greater interindividual distances than those in the center. Whether they found patches or scrounged at the patches found by others, high-ranking individuals obtained more food than subordinates, but their overall share was greatest when they acted as producers rather than scroungers. This likely explains why dominant individuals traded off predation risk for food acquisition by consistently foraging on the front, outside edge of the group farther from conspecifics.
Keywords
Chlorocebus pygerythrus;Finder’s share;Group living;Producer-scrounger strategies;Spatial position
Access Full Text
A full-text copy of this article may be available. Please email the
WCS Library
to request.
Back
PUB15741