Socioecological Effects of Long-Term Grooming Symmetry and Asymmetry in Eastern Female Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii)
Open Access DepositedThis thesis aims to characterize the socioecological correlates of long-term grooming symmetry in eastern female chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) at Gombe National Park, Tanzania. Although previous research has investigated long-term reciprocation in western female chimpanzees, less is known about long-term reciprocation and grooming symmetry among eastern female chimpanzees. Using 39 years of grooming, rank, and kinship data on lactating females (1976-2015), six-month grooming symmetry scores were calculated based on the number of minutes a female gave, received, and mutually groomed with conspecifics of different socio-ecological categories. Scores were separated based on intrasexual and intersexual relationships. Generalized linear mixed effects models (GLMM) showed that females received grooming from unrelated female conspecifics and gave more grooming to male relatives. Based on these results, an additional GLMM model revealed sex-based differences in grooming symmetry
females gave more grooming to males compared to females. In addition, both intrasexually and intersexually, females received more grooming from non-relatives than they gave. This thesis holds important implications for how female eastern chimpanzees—who are less gregarious than their western counterparts—maintain relationships in their fission-fusion social structure.
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McCallister_gwu_0075M_17918.pdf | 2026-06-24 | Open Access |
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