Golden snub-nosed monkeys in China form multilevel societies characterized by one-male units embedded within a larger bands. The functional significance of band formation is not yet fully understood, but it could offer individuals better protection from takeover attempts by bachelor males through safety-in-numbers or collective defence. The social dynamics of bachelor groups and reproductive groups are being explored in collaboration with researchers in China. Collaborator: I

Mountain gorillas in Rwanda inhabit an area where there is high overlap among groups’ home ranges and encounters between different groups are relatively frequent. We study them with the aim of determining the factors that prevent escalation of intergroup conflict, e.g. familiarity and relatedness among members of different groups or resource abundance in their home ranges. Site: Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda Collaborating institution: Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International