[Babase] Re: inter-group agonism examples

Susan Alberts alberts at duke.edu
Mon Apr 19 18:00:39 EDT 2010


Thanks Niki. I am copying this to the listserve for archiving.

I've given my comments below each of the records you pulled out.

1. REX  A  NAT on 9 Mar 2001.  The agonism written in the notebook is  
very clearly REX OS NAT.  Rex was in Nyayo’s group.  Nature is listed  
as group 9 but was apparently in Proton’s group for quite some time  
around this period and there is an “other groups” note in the Nyayo’s  
notebook (not currently in babase) listing Nature present with  
Proton’s on 3 Mar when Nyayo’s and Proton’s were close together.  It  
sounds like this is quite possibly a real agonistic interaction.  Yet  
there are no demog notes or other notes to indicate Nature’s presence  
with Nyayo’s nor even Proton’s nearness on 9 Mar.  If they were close  
to each other on the 3rd though, odds are reasonable that they were on  
the 9th.  This one certainly could have happened, though we have no  
particular evidence to show that he was or was not with/near Nyayo’s  
at any point during that day.



SCA says: Count it as an error. Seems like we have to conclude it was  
an error. We just don't have any basis on which to think this really  
happened. One isolated agonism between two adult males not living in  
the same group, with no other agonisms involving that individual or  
others and no demog or other groups notes about it is just too slim  
evidence.


2. REX  A  HIB on 25 Oct 2002.  Again the written record does look  
like REX OS HIB in Nyayo’s group.  Rex was censused in Nyayo’s but  
Hibiscus is supposed to be in Linda’s (and was censused there on the  
23rd and 26th).  Hibiscus had previously been in Nyayo’s group but  
moved to Linda’s in the spring of 2002 and was never censused anywhere  
but Linda’s from then until his death in 2008.  There are no relevant  
demog or other groups notes in either notebook.  This one seems to me  
like it is probably a recording error.

  SCA: Agreed, error.

3. EBA  A  LIB on 21 April 2005.  Again the written record matches  
babase – EBA OS LIB (that’s the first one I found anyway – there are  
three REX A LIB interactions + EBA A LIB and GAS A LIB on this date,  
all in Nyayo’s).  This was one of Liberty’s wandering months.  He was  
absent a lot from Viola’s and was censused in Nyayo’s on 27 April (and  
was ranked in both groups that month).  He then stayed with Nyayo’s  
(for the most part anyway) until Nov 2006.  Liberty is present in  
Viola’s on the 19th and 22nd but was absent for three censuses before  
the 19th and for all censuses after the 22nd so he could easily have  
been in Nyayo’s for part of the 21st.  These seem like they probably  
are real agonisms and that Liberty either wasn’t noticed during the  
census or wandered in after it.  Liberty is already ranked in the  
group that month, which makes it a relatively easy record to fix.

SCA: The multiple interactions with LIB that day and his wandering  
nature at the time, and he was in the group that month, all point to  
this being real.
4. AZI  A  ARS on 9 May 2006.  ARS is normally in Nyayo’s but was  
marked absent this day (and on the 15th) but was present on  
surrounding days.  The written record matches babase – AZI AS ARS.   
Also on this date ARS OS NIN (another adult male to adult male), as  
well as ARS OSing and DSing females and a younger male in three other  
interactions (all seen by SNS, no ARS interactions seen by JKW).  It  
seems like he was either missed during the census or really was absent  
and then rejoined the group.  That seems more likely than Serah  
misidentifying him repeatedly?

SCA: Again the multiple interactions with ARS and other group members  
and his usual presence in the group suggest that these really happened  
and they didn't make a demog note.



Agreed that the two female examples you pulled out probably did not  
really happen.



Some thoughts/conclusions: 1. Interactions between two individuals  
known to be living in two separate groups, with no demog or OG notes  
to support it, should be considered as errors. 2. Interactions  
involving males that are in group 9 on a given day should always be  
considered as possible, and if multiple interactions with the male  
occur, in both directions, then that increases the chance that they  
really happened. These should probably be considered as real. 3. Two  
of the four you picked out were likely to be real. If it's really this  
high, then I can imagine that JA and LG would want to go through them  
all. But I'd guess they're not that frequent. Maybe go through 10 more  
of the male-male? What does JA think?



Susan



On Apr 19, 2010, at 4:59 PM, Niki Learn wrote:

> See attached!  So far I have not found any with relevant notes  
> though I’m sure there are some.  Only the ones from about 2004  
> onward would have them entered into babase.
> <Intergroup Agonisms.doc>

--------------------------------------------------------
Susan Alberts, Dept of Biology, Duke University, Box 90338, Durham NC  
27708, 919-660-7272 (Ph), 919-660-7293 (Fax)







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