ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I examine contest competition and dominance among female patas and vervet monkeys as they use the same whistling-thorn woodland habitat. As described by the ecological and socioecological models, dominance relationships among adult females reflect the patterns of contest competition exhibited and will therefore be influenced by patterns of food availability. This expectation is based on the assumption that food-related contest competition will figure prominently in the patterns of agonism exhibited by adult females (Isbell 1991; van Schaik 1989; Wrangham 1980). Vervets and patas monkeys are expected to differ in contest rates and dominance styles based on their characterization in past studies, including published accounts of the groups studied here, but what variables are responsible for producing these differences? Additionally, in order to better understand the link between primate social organization and the foods available to females, we must first understand what specific properties of foods prompt female feeding competition and when. Here, I identify the characteristics of food items that promote contest competition among sympatric vervets and patas monkeys.
