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Summary: ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Social relationships among adult female baboons
(Papio cynocephalus) II. Variation in the quality and stability
of social bonds
Joan B. Silk & Susan C. Alberts & Jeanne Altmann
Received: 21 September 2005 /Revised: 3 July 2006 /Accepted: 5 July 2006 / Published online: 13 September 2006
# Springer-Verlag 2006
Abstract A growing body of evidence suggests that social
bonds have adaptive value for animals that live in social
groups. Although these findings suggest that natural
selection may favor the ability to cultivate and sustain
social bonds, we know very little about the factors that
influence the quality or stability of social bonds. Here, we
draw on data derived from a 16-year study of baboons
living in seven different social groups in the Amboseli
basin of Kenya to evaluate the quality and stability of social
bonds among females. Our results extend previous analy-
ses, which demonstrate that females form the strongest
bonds with close maternal and paternal kin, age mates (who
may be paternal kin), and females who occupy similar
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