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Communal roosting and formation of sleeping clusters in barbary macaques ( Macaca sylvanus )
Author(s) -
Ansorge Viveka,
Hammerschmidt Kurt,
Todt Dietmar
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
american journal of primatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.988
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1098-2345
pISSN - 0275-2565
DOI - 10.1002/ajp.1350280405
Subject(s) - geography , captivity , zoology , demography , biology , ecology , sociology
Sleeping cluster composition and distribution were studied in a semi‐free‐ranging population of 174 Barbary macaques ( Macaca sylvanus ) in Rocamadour/France. Over a period of 2 months 341 sleeping clusters comprising 754 animals were recorded as animals left the sleeping trees. To control for nocturnal activities five observation periods were conducted, each of which covered a complete night. Sleeping partners were selected from a particular set of individuals. From night to night there was considerable fluctuation among the individuals, which finally formed a sleeping cluster. Preferred size of sleeping clusters was two and three individuals per cluster. The majority of females spent the nights in body contact to infants or female juveniles; whereas males either slept alone or with older male juveniles. Adult males and females never shared a sleeping cluster. During the night the animals showed hardly any locomotive and vocal activity. Sleeping clusters remained stable until dissociation the next morning. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.