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Japanese Macaques: Habitat-Driven Divergence in Social Dynamics

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Book cover Primates and Cetaceans

Part of the book series: Primatology Monographs ((PrimMono))

Abstract

Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata), among the most intensively studied nonhuman primates in the world, live in a wide range of habitats in the Japanese archipelago. They offer us interesting examples on how habitat affects the social and population dynamics of long-lived animals. Studies of provisioned groups up to the 1970s revealed the basic social structure of Japanese macaques, characterized by a female-philopatric matrilineal society. Subsequently, two long-term study sites were established to study the nonprovisioned wild population in warm-temperate evergreen and cool-temperate deciduous forests in lowland Yakushima and Kinkazan, respectively. In both sites, a population increase was observed during the first decade of the long-term study, which was accompanied by group fission. An abrupt population decline resulting from external and environmental changes was then observed in both sites. The biggest difference between lowland Yakushima and Kinkazan is the inequality among groups and the stability of groups, which results from differences in the intensity of intergroup competition. In lowland Yakushima, macaques are under intense intergroup competition, and small groups suffer from low birthrate; finally, they may become extinct. In Kinkazan, intergroup competition is not intense, and there are no group size-dependent population fluctuations. This difference is believed to be a result of the more clumped distribution of high-quality foods in Yakushima compared to Kinkazan. In Yakushima, another long-term study site has been established recently in the high-altitude coniferous forest. In the future, Yakushima may offer us a rare opportunity to study the long-term social and population dynamics and within-population interchange of groups in a heterogeneous habitat.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 41-2 Kanrin, Inuyama, 484-8506, Japan

    Goro Hanya

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  1. Goro Hanya
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Correspondence to Goro Hanya .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Science Laboratory of Human Evolution Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Juichi Yamagiwa

  2. The Swire Institute of Marine Science School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Shek O, Hong Kong SAR

    Leszek Karczmarski

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Hanya, G. (2014). Japanese Macaques: Habitat-Driven Divergence in Social Dynamics. In: Yamagiwa, J., Karczmarski, L. (eds) Primates and Cetaceans. Primatology Monographs. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54523-1_5

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