The Monkeys of Mysore

A troop of bonnet macaque monkeys (Macaca radiata) are observed in their natural environment in South India. Illustrates their stable, flexible, and delicately balanced social system and their daily activity, showing that their authoritarian, strictly enforced dominance hierarchy is tempered by close social interaction. Dominance and other social relations are communicated by means of subtle and complex signals, both gestures and sounds, used to maintain troop unity and reduce conflict.