Cognitive underpinnings of competition in chacma baboons (Papio hamadryas ursinus).

• Applicant: Dr. Roman Wittig
• Subject Area: Sensory and Behavioural Biology
• Term: from 2006 to 2008
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 17957174

Understanding social intelligence in different species is crucial to our understanding of the evolution of human intelligence. Complex social intelligence seems to have evolved several times, in birds, cetaceans and primates. The mechanisms underlying such intelligence may, however, be qualitatively different across taxa. Comparative data on a variety of species are needed to test this hypothesis. Some of the most sophisticated tests of social intelligence have used experimental paradigms that simulate competitive encounters. The cognitive demands placed on competitors increase markedly when a previously uninvolved ¿third party¿ forms an alliance with one competitor against another, and when such alliances are transient and change over short periods of time. I aim to extend current knowledge of complex social intelligence and third party relations in primates, using field playback experiments and behavioural observations of free-ranging baboons, Papio hamadryas ursinus, in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. My experiments will test, first, whether third party involvement in conflicts affects the subsequent behaviour of conflict partners in ways that suggest they understand the third party¿s involvement; and second, how quickly baboons monitor changes in third-party relationships. My results should yield new insights into the complexity of primate social relations and will form the basis for research that compares primates with other complex, socially living species.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Professorin Dr. Dorothy L. Cheney