The prospect of rising in rank is key to long-term stability in Tibetan macaque society

Abstract One of the most fundamental questions in behavioural biology is why societies can persist for a long period of time. While researchers in animal behaviour have been hindered by a lack of an aggregate measure (such as social mobility) to quantify the dynamics of animal societies, researchers...

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Autores principales:	Lixing Sun, Dong-Po Xia, Shine Sun, Lori K. Sheeran, Jin-Hua Li
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/47b03910b3044caa8559266c5cfa10f6
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:47b03910b3044caa8559266c5cfa10f62021-12-02T16:07:56ZThe prospect of rising in rank is key to long-term stability in Tibetan macaque society10.1038/s41598-017-07067-12045-2322https://doaj.org/article/47b03910b3044caa8559266c5cfa10f62017-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-07067-1https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract One of the most fundamental questions in behavioural biology is why societies can persist for a long period of time. While researchers in animal behaviour have been hindered by a lack of an aggregate measure (such as social mobility) to quantify the dynamics of animal societies, researchers in social sciences have been challenged by the complexity and diversity of human societies. As a result, direct empirical evidence is still lacking for the hypothesized causal relationship between social mobility and social stability. Here we attempt to fill the void by examining a much simpler society in the Tibetan macaque (Macaca thibetana), which we have tracked for 30 consecutive years. By testing two group-level hypotheses based on benefit-cost analysis and social stratification, we show the first quantitative evidence that an annual 2-to-1 stay/change ratio in the hierarchy with a 3-to-1 upward/downward ratio in intragenerational social mobility provides a substantive expected benefit for adult members to stay in the group and wait for their chances to advance. Furthermore, using a Markov transition matrix constructed from empirical data, we demonstrate that the 3-to-1 upward/downward ratio could lead to long-term structural stability in Tibetan macaque society.Lixing SunDong-Po XiaShine SunLori K. SheeranJin-Hua LiNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Lixing Sun Dong-Po Xia Shine Sun Lori K. Sheeran Jin-Hua Li The prospect of rising in rank is key to long-term stability in Tibetan macaque society
description	Abstract One of the most fundamental questions in behavioural biology is why societies can persist for a long period of time. While researchers in animal behaviour have been hindered by a lack of an aggregate measure (such as social mobility) to quantify the dynamics of animal societies, researchers in social sciences have been challenged by the complexity and diversity of human societies. As a result, direct empirical evidence is still lacking for the hypothesized causal relationship between social mobility and social stability. Here we attempt to fill the void by examining a much simpler society in the Tibetan macaque (Macaca thibetana), which we have tracked for 30 consecutive years. By testing two group-level hypotheses based on benefit-cost analysis and social stratification, we show the first quantitative evidence that an annual 2-to-1 stay/change ratio in the hierarchy with a 3-to-1 upward/downward ratio in intragenerational social mobility provides a substantive expected benefit for adult members to stay in the group and wait for their chances to advance. Furthermore, using a Markov transition matrix constructed from empirical data, we demonstrate that the 3-to-1 upward/downward ratio could lead to long-term structural stability in Tibetan macaque society.
format	article
author	Lixing Sun Dong-Po Xia Shine Sun Lori K. Sheeran Jin-Hua Li
author_facet	Lixing Sun Dong-Po Xia Shine Sun Lori K. Sheeran Jin-Hua Li
author_sort	Lixing Sun
title	The prospect of rising in rank is key to long-term stability in Tibetan macaque society
title_short	The prospect of rising in rank is key to long-term stability in Tibetan macaque society
title_full	The prospect of rising in rank is key to long-term stability in Tibetan macaque society
title_fullStr	The prospect of rising in rank is key to long-term stability in Tibetan macaque society
title_full_unstemmed	The prospect of rising in rank is key to long-term stability in Tibetan macaque society
title_sort	prospect of rising in rank is key to long-term stability in tibetan macaque society
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/47b03910b3044caa8559266c5cfa10f6
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The prospect of rising in rank is key to long-term stability in Tibetan macaque society

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