Social interactions following parturition in stumptail macaques.

The social behavior of six female stumptail macaques (Macaca arctoides) living in a social group of 23-29 individuals was monitored before and after parturition and was compared to the social interactions of six nonpregnant females. Pregnant and control females did not differ in terms of affiliative and most types of agonistic behavior performed or received. After parturition, new mothers interacted with more group members than did control females. New mothers received more grooming initiations but did not differ from control females in the duration of time spent grooming. New mothers also received more frequent contact aggression from adult males and increased frequency of contact aggression toward juveniles. Overall, new mothers received more submissive responses relative to control females. New mothers did not show elevations in overall dominance status, as measured by the direction of agonistic interactions, and still received aggression from dominant individuals at normative rates. These data indicate that new mothers may become focal points for group interactions, but they do not receive more affiliation overall or less aggression than nonmothers.