Biological Market examples
grooming in primates: trading grooming for tolerance
two juveniles of the chacma baboon group 'Eburru Cliffs' (Gilgil, Kenya) groom an adult male (Photo: R. Noë)
Peter Henzi and Louise Barrett pointed out that 'tolerance' is another important commodity that can be traded. This explains why the asymmetry in grooming between a dominant and a subordinate is strongest when resources are scarce and can be monopolized by a single animal. Rebecca Chancellor and Lynne Isbell (2008) point out that market effects also influence grooming patterns under scramble competition.
Markus Port and colleagues (2009) showed how important tolerance is for our understanding of grooming in primates. Their analysis reveals the effect of market forces in grooming patterns that superficially seem to adhere to the reciprocal altruism model.
Barbara Tiddi and colleagues (2011) provided an important contribution to the discussion by testing the relative predictive power of dyadic reciprocity driven exchanges (as predicted by the reciprocal altruism paradigm) against partner choice driven exchanges (as predicted by the biological markets paradigm) in capuchins foraging on baited platforms. Their results confirm a number of convictions I have had for years: partner choice is much more important than partner control; tolerance is an important commodity traded on monkey markets and primate cooperation among unrelated individuals is driven by "attitudinal partner choice" (Fruteau et al 2009; the partner choice based form of de Waal's (2000) "attitudinal reciprocity").
Sick and colleagues (2014) found that grooming for tolerance in chacma baboons occurs mainly in the morning and ebbs off later in the day when bellies fill up.
Together these results confirm a number of convictions I have had for years: partner choice is much more important than partner control; tolerance is an important commodity traded on monkey markets and primate cooperation among unrelated individuals is driven by "attitudinal partner choice" (Fruteau et al 2009; the partner choice based form of de Waal's (2000) "attitudinal reciprocity").
Barrett, L., Henzi, S. P., Weingrill, T. & Hill, R. A. 1999. Market forces predict grooming reciprocity in female baboons. Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 266, 665-670.
Barrett, L., Gaynor, D. & Henzi, S. P. 2002. A dynamic interaction between aggression and grooming reciprocity among female chacma baboons. Animal Behaviour, 63, 1047-1053.
Chancellor, R. L. & Isbell, L. A. 2009. Female grooming markets in a population of gray-cheeked mangabeys (Lophocebus albigena). Behavioral Ecology, 20, 79-86.
Fruteau, C., Voelkl, B., van Damme, E. & Noë, R. 2009. Supply and demand determine the market value of food providers in wild vervet monkeys. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106, 12007-12012. pdf
Henzi, S. P. & Barrett, L. 1999. The value of grooming to female primates. Primates, 40, 47-59.
Leinfelder, I., de Vries, H., Deleu, R. & Nelissen, M. 2001. Rank and grooming reciprocity among females in a mixed-sex group of captive hamadryas baboons. American Journal of Primatology, 55, 25-42.
Newton-Fisher, N. E. & Lee, P. C. 2011. Grooming reciprocity in wild male chimpanzees. Animal Behaviour 81, 439-446.
Payne, H. F. P., Lawes, M. J. & Henzi , S. P. 2003. Competition and the exchange of grooming among female samango monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis erythrarchus). Behaviour, 140, 453-471.
Port, M., Clough, D. & Kappeler, P. M. (2009). Market effects offset the reciprocation of grooming in free-ranging redfronted lemurs, Eulemur fulvus rufus. Animal Behaviour 77, 29-36.
Sick, C., Carter, A. J., Marshall, H. H., Knapp, L. A., Dabelsteen, T., & Cowlishaw, G. (2014). Evidence for varying social strategies across the day in chacma baboons. Biology Letters, 10(7).
Tiddi, B., Aureli, F., Polizzi di Sorrentino, E., Janson, C. H. & Schino, G. 2011. Grooming for tolerance? Two mechanisms of exchange in wild tufted capuchin monkeys. Behavioral Ecology, 22, 663-669.
de Waal, F. B. M. 2000. Attitudinal reciprocity in food sharing among brown capuchin monkeys. Animal Behaviour, 60, 253-261.
Wei, W., Qi, X.-G., Guo, S.-T., Zhao, D.-P., Zhang, P., Huang, K. & Li, B.-G. 2012. Market powers predict reciprocal grooming in golden snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana). PLoS ONE, 7, e36802.
Xia, D., Li, J., Garber, P. A., Sun, L., Zhu, Y. & Sun, B. 2012. Grooming reciprocity in female Tibetan macaques Macaca thibetana. American Journal of Primatology, 74, 569-579.
Xia, D.-P., Li, J.-H., Garber, P. A., Matheson, M. D., Sun, B.-H. & Zhu, Y. 2013. Grooming reciprocity in male Tibetan macaques. American Journal of Primatology.
last update: 29 SEP 2021