A cross-center comparison of the relationship between matriline fragmentation, grooming cohesion, and agonistic behavior in captive rhesus macaque ( Macaca mulatta ) social groups

A major challenge in managing captive-bred rhesus macaque social groups is mitigating deleterious aggression before it escalates to social instability. Prior work at the California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC) showed that fragmentation of matrilineal structure—reflected in lower average kinship among female kin—is associated with weakened cohesion in grooming networks and higher rates of intense aggression. We tested the generality of these findings by analyzing data from 105 matrilines across 16 social groups at CNPRC and Emory NPRC (ENPRC), which differ in group size, natal male management, and housing. Using generalized linear models, we found that matrilines with lower mean kinship coefficients showed greater grooming fragmentation, even after accounting for network density. Threshold analyses identified a mean kinship of 0.16 as the point at which grooming cohesion declined most consistently across both centers, highlighting a biologically meaningful level of relatedness for maintaining kin-biased social bonds. Patterns of severe aggression differed by target and center: across both centers, matrilines with lower mean kinship directed proportionally more severe aggression toward kin. However, for aggression toward all group members, lower kinship predicted more severe aggression only at ENPRC; at CNPRC, this effect emerged only when natal male aggression was included. Our results demonstrate that mean matrilineal kinship is a robust indicator of family cohesion and latent social instability across management settings. Nepotistic threshold analysis provides a practical tool for managers to identify matrilines at risk for social fragmentation and implement interventions before intra-family aggression emerges.