Animals

Diurnal; most active in early morning and late afternoon. Territorial, but generally avoid serious conflicts (defend with loud barking and displays). Mainly ground dwellers, but take shelter in the trees when alarmed and sleep in trees. Usually found in groups of 20-50. Social structure is similar to other Old World monkeys in that the stable core of any group consists of several families of closely related adult females and their dependent offspring. Females stay in the natal group; males transfer to a neighboring group at adolescence. To minimize aggression from the transferred-to group, many males transfer in the company of age mates or maternal brothers. Males transfer groups several times during their lives. Sub adult females reciprocate their mother's grooming, join her in the formation of alliances, and serve as temporary caretakers of their mother's subsequent offspring. As a result, bonds are formed not only between mother and offspring but also among maternal siblings. Adult males interact only rarely with infants and show no special preference for those infants that are likely to be their offspring. High-ranking males are unable to maintain exclusive access to females around the time of ovulation, so paternity is uncertain. Infants acquire the rank of their mother's family. Older females maintain and acquire their dominance rank not by size or aggressiveness, but by size of their family and/or alliances formed. Male dominance rank is acquired by size, strength, and other determinants of fighting ability and is much less stable than female dominance rank.