Competition, dominance and the acquisition of rank in juvenile yellow baboons (Papio cynocephalus)

Abstract

Juveniles in a natural troop of 70 yellow baboons were ranked in dominance hierarchies according to the direction of supplanting interactions. Relative rank between juvenile male was dependent on size/age, but relative rank between juvenile males and adult females was dependent on mother's rank. Juvenile females ranked according to their mother's rank both with same-sex peers and with adult females. Correlations between individual rank in these hierarchies and rates of supplanting interactions and proximity to others were examined to assess possible competitive advantage. Solicitations and supportive behaviour between kin were assessed as possible mechanisms for transmission of maternal rank. The functional consequences of these different hierarchies were discussed. © 1979.