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Vol. 49 No. 1, 2010
Social Behavior of a Captive Group of Golden Snub-Nosed
Langur Rhinopithecus roxellana
Ren-Mei
Ren1, Kang-Hui Yan1, Yan-Jie Su1, Shu-Zhong Xia2, Hui-Yu Jin2, Jin-Jun
Qiu2, and Teresa Romero3,*
1Psychology
Department, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
2Shanghai Wild Animal Park, 178 South Rd., Nan Hui,
San Zao Zhen, Shanghai 201300, China
3Department of Evolutionary Studies of Biosystems,
Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Hayama 240-0193, Japan
Ren-Mei
Ren, Kang-Hui Yan, Yan-Jie Su, Shu-Zhong Xia, Hui-Yu Jin, Jin-Jun Qiu,
and Teresa Romero (2010) Detailed accounts of social relationships
in the golden snub-nosed langur Rhinopithecus roxellana are rare, and
little is know about its social structure. The aim of this study
was to contribute to the understanding of social relationships by
analyzing patterns of affiliative and aggressive interactions in a
captive group of this poorly known species. The 11 focal
individuals were organized into a one-male unit, or OMU (i.e., a single
adult male that associates with multiple adult females and their
offspring), and an all-male unit, or AMU (i.e., a social unit formed
only by males). One-minute instantaneous scans and ad libitum
sampling techniques were used to record affiliative and agonistic
behaviors, respectively. In general, OMU and AMU individuals
displayed similar amounts of affiliative behaviors. However,
affiliative interactions were more frequent within than between
subunits. On the other hand, AMU members displayed more
aggression towards members of their own subunit, and more often
counterattacked any group member than did individuals of the OMU.
Although OMU and AMU individuals did not interchange more agonistic
behaviors with members of their own subunit than with members of the
other subunit, they intervened more often on behalf of members of their
own subunit, and against individuals of the other subunit. We
discuss our results in the context of what is known regarding social
behavior in captive and wild populations of this species and other
primates with a multilevel social system.
Key words: Rhinopithecus
roxellana, One-male unit, All-male unit, Social interactions.
*Correspondence: Tel: 81-46-8581617.
E-mail:t.romero@soken.ac.jp
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