A baboon’s social life can have a powerful impact on how successful he or she is in life. We know from previous studies in Amboseli, for instance, that social status, social bonds, and social competition can be important in predicting health, survival, and reproductive success. Now, recent work by Dan Runcie and ABRP investigators has found that a baboon’s social environment can also influence how genetic differences affect gene expression, suggesting that gene regulation in Amboseli may often be subject to so-called gene-environment interactions. Read More

Grooming in non-human primates is mostly known to serve social functions like maintaining social bonds and reducing tension. However, researchers have long suspected that grooming can also reduce parasite loads. We recently published a paper Read More

Finding a mate can be complicated, especially when the process is colored by differences in social status, preferences, and relationship histories. Such is life, though, for baboons living together on the East African savannah—and, in a recent American Naturalist publication, ABRP researchers Jenny Tung, Susan Alberts, Jeanne Altmann, and colleagues have now shown that genetic make-up also contributes to the mix. Read More