Group movement decisions in capuchin monkeys: The utility of an experimental study and a mathematical model to explore the relationship between individual and collective behaviours

By H. Meunier, J. Leca, Jean-Louis Deneubourg, Odile Petit. 2007

89 citations recorded by the source corpus.

In primate groups, collective movements are typically described as processes dependent on leadership mechanisms. However, in some species, decision-making includes negotiations and distributed leadership. These facts suggest that simple underlying processes may explain certain decision mechanisms during collective movements. To study such processes, we have designed experiments on white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus) during which we provoked collective movements involving a binary choice. These experiments enabled us to analyse the spatial decisions of individuals in the group. We found that the underlying process includes anonymous mimetism, which means that each individual may influence all members of the group. To support this result, we created a mathematical model issued from our experimental data. A totally anonymous model does not fit perfectly with our experimental distribution. A more individualised model, which takes into account the specific behaviour of social peripheral individuals, revealed the validity of the mimetism hypothesis. Even though white-faced capuchins have complex cognitive abilities, a coexistence of anonymous and social mechanisms appears to influence their choice of direction during collective movements. The present approach may offer vital insights into the relationships between individual behaviours and their emergent collective acts.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Sensory Systems, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/27dee64c6d7f5b9d2f83a93c0062280de866f104

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In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

In Sensory Systems

Cédric Sueur

In Social Psychology

Citations in the corpus

Where Next? Group Coordination and Collective Decision Making by Primates (2011, background): “Here, the probability of a randomly chosen individual displaying a particular behavior increases with the number of individuals already performing this behavior, whatever their identity (Meunier et al. 2006; Sueur and Deneubourg 2011, this issue; Fig.”
A rule-of-thumb based on social affiliation explains collective movements in desert baboons (2011, background): “Recent studies on captive primates have found that mechanisms for coordination can be self-organized (Meunier et al. 2006; Petit et al. 2009), albeit with interindividual relationships mediating local interaction rules (Sueur et al.”
Selective mimetism at departure in collective movements of Macaca tonkeana: an experimental and theoretical approach (2009, methodology): “Similarly, in semifree-ranging white-faced capuchin monkeys, the choice of a direction seems to depend on ‘anonymous mimetism’ (Camazine et al. 2001) when collective movements involving binary choice are artificially induced (Meunier et al. 2006).”
Female white-handed gibbons (Hylobates lar) lead group movements and have priority of access to food resources (2008, background): “For many animals, forming groups is an advantageous strategy that allows individual members to gain better protection against predators, to out-compete groups of conspecifics over food resources and to improve breeding opportunities or information exchange (Wrangham, 1980; van Schaik, 1983; Tella et”
To follow or not to follow: decision making and leadership during the morning departure in chacma baboons (2008, background): “Therefore, if individuals have different needs and motivations, the group may lose cohesion and split up, so group members may lose the advantages of group living (Krause & Ruxton 2002; Leca et al. 2003; Meunier et al. 2006).”