Research2 sources
Social monitoring predicts future rank and mating success in male macaques
Current Biology · By Sofia M. Pereira, Suthirote Meesawat, Suchinda Malaivijitnond, Oliver Schülke & Julia Ostner ·
The Brief · written from 2 sources
- A study of wild male Assamese macaques measured individual differences in social attention to interactions between other group members, using a designated social scene protocol.
- Attention to others' affiliation, more than to agonism, predicted future mating success, a fitness proxy.
- The study was published in Current Biology on 2026-11-09.
Why it matters
The findings link social monitoring to reproductive success in a wild primate, which supports the idea that the social and mental abilities for observing group mates were favored by evolution.
Who’s affected
- primatologists and behavioral ecologists
- researchers studying social cognition and evolution
- #primates
- #social-cognition
- #macaques
- #animal-behavior
- #evolution
Pereira et al. use a designated social scene protocol to measure individual differences in social attention to third-person interactions in wild male Assamese macaques. Attention to others’ affiliation, more than to agonism, predicts a fitness proxy—future mating success—via…
Timeline
Full coverage · 2 sources
- 3h ago ↗
Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology
Watching others pays off: Attentive macaques benefit from observing their group mates interacting - 19h ago ↗
cell.com
Social monitoring predicts future rank and mating success in male macaques