Katherine Andrews

Influences on Female Social Networks in Old-World Primates

Ecological and Cognitive Influences on Female Clan Size, Structure and Connectivity in Old World Primate Groups

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Primates are for the most part intensely social, and
dedicate large proportions of their time budgets to
servicing social relationships through grooming.
Conflicting arguments have been proposed to explain
the limits shown in group size; is it a restriction
in the brain capacity of females to keep track of
all their relationships, or could it be an
ecologicaly imposed limit in the time available to
socially interact and build relationships? Using
methods taken from social network analysis, this
study attempts to uncouple these two explanations by
examining how each affects aspects of group
structure and network coherence. A cross species
examination suggests that group size is determined
by a combination of ecological factors and cognitive
ability. Most network measures were influenced only
by group size or the size of grooming clans implying
that the causal pathways determining group size do
not originate with the ability of individual females
to groom each other, but that female grooming
decisions are a consequence of the size of the clans
formed and therefore ultimately a consequence of
group size.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller
• Seitenzahl: 104
• Englisch
• Gewicht: 154g
• ISBN-13: 9783639130928
• ISBN-10: 3639130928
• Artikelnr.: 26129174

Autorenporträt

After graduating with a first class honours degree in Zoology
from the University of Dundee, Katherine studied social
behaviour of feral goats before commencing a postgraduate degree
at the University of Liverpool. This research was supervised by
Professor Dunbar as a part of the British Academy Centenary
Research Project - Lucy to Language.