The Social Organization of a Semifree-Ranging Troop of Squirrel Monkeys (Saimiri sciureus)

Abstract

The social structure of a semifree-ranging troop of over 100 squirrel monkeys is described. The troop tended to travel as a single unit. There were no leaders or control animals in the troop, and social hierarchies were absent except among the troop’s 4 adult males during the mating season. The adult females functioned as the core of the social organization, since animals of all other age-sex classes showed greater attractions to them than vice versa . Although there was spacial structuring among individuals in local areas within the troop, the only consistent structuring of the troop as a whole resulted from the adult males’ traveling at the periphery of the troop and from several subadult males’ separating from the troop during nonmating season months.