2026 Data (Information)

Data underlying analyses linking social cohesion to intergroup encounters of blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis)

Procton, Alex M.; Roth, Allison M.; Cords, Marina

This dataset underlies the analyses reported in a study of how the frequency of aggressive intergroup encounters influences within-group social cohesion and how social cohesion influences the likelihood of winning intergroup contests in a population of blue monkeys (Cercopithicus mitis stuhlmanni) living in the Kakamega Forest, Kenya. The data are derived from behavioral observations from (1) systematic focal follows of adult females and (2) all-occurrence records of intergroup contests dating from September 2010 to August 2016. During this period, the study population included five distinct social groups under regular observation. Social cohesion was measured as social contact, including both grooming (both directions) and sitting-in-contact. Group-level social cohesion variables were derived both from measures of the duration of social contact between adult females, and from their unweighted and weighted social contact networks, computed over three-month periods. In these networks, social ties between pairs of adult females were quantified as the proportion of dyadic focal sampling time in which the two individuals groomed (either direction) or sat in contact.