The primary objective of the proposed project is to locate study sites at which alternative models for the evolution of primate social systems may be tested. One theoretical model postulates that the transformation of one social system to another involves a discrete and predictable sequence of changes in association patterns among males and females. According to this model, the transformation from social systems based upon female kin groups to groups of unrelated females, involves an intermediate step in which females do not associate with other females. An alternate model postulates the direct transformation of the typical female-bonded, multi-male groups of savannah baboons into the non-female-bonded, one male units of hamadryas baboons. In the latter ecological factors are identified that alter the nature of asociations among females and the nature of relationships among females and males. The investigator ultimately will test divergent predictions derived from these models by studying the relationship between environmental conditions and social orgnization in two populations of chacma baboons that vary in their habitat and group structure. The investigator will survey sites in Namibia, Botswana and the Republic of South Africa for feasibility and desirability.
