Laszlo, K., Morin, L., Veeder, C. L. 2018. Predictors of pair housing success vary in captive St. Kitts African green monkeys (Chlorocebus sabaeus) versus captive Tanzanian African green monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus). American Journal of Primatology 80(S1), 45 (40th Meeting of the American Society of Primatologists Scientific Program, Abstract #143).

Though African Green Monkeys (AGMs), or vervets, are widely used in research, little is known in regards to their successful pair housing. Due to difficulties with long‐term successful social housing of same‐sex pairs, we attempted to form mixed‐sex pairs with vasectomized St. Kitts AGMs (Chlorocebus sabaeus) and mixed‐sex pairs of reproductively intact Tanzanian AGMs (Chlorocebus pygerythrus). To assess whether predictors of successful pair housing vary in St. Kitts versus Tanzanian AGMs, we collected focal data on 10 pairs of St. Kitts AGMs and 22 pairs of Tanzanian AGMs (September 2009‐ November 2016). We found that initial approaches in successful socializations are by females in St. Kitts AGMs, and by males in Tanzanian AGMs (Fisher's Exact Test, p <0.0001). In initial stages of socialization, St. Kitts AGMs spent significantly less time in physical proximity to their social partners than Tanzanian AGMs (Mann‐Whitney test: U = 112.0, nSt. Kitts = 7, nTanzanian = 16, p = 0.002). Qualitatively, we found that any noted mounting behavior in St. Kitts AGMs resulted in unsuccessful pairs; while there was no difference in number of mounts in successful versus unsuccessful Tanzanian AGM pairs (Mann‐Whitney test: U = 59.500, nsuccessful = 10, nunsuccessful = 6, p = 0.3621). These results suggest that certain species specific behaviors may help determine pair housing success in various Chlorocebus species perhaps leading to more widespread social housing of Chlorocebus.

Year
2018