Research on primates, both human and non-human, indicates that social systems are structured by a hierarchal model. This means that the members of each system are assigned a social rank that determines their level of opportunity in terms of benefits such as food and mating for non-human primates and education and housing for human primates. Focusing on the Barbados green monkey, studies suggest that due to factors such as its matriarchal system, the social rank of the mothers in a troop can influence their infant’s social behavior. This study sought to analyze the differences among infant behaviors such as independent, interactive, agonistic and stress behaviors in relation to their mother’s rank. A naturalistic observation was conducted, followed by a Pearson’s correlation test to analyze trends. Results showed that there was a significant relationship between maternal rank and sitting alone, an independent behavior, as higher ranked infants appeared to sit alone more frequently. There were also trends towards significance for solitary play and agonistic behavior. Higher ranked infants were observed to participate in solitary play more frequently, as well as display agonistic behavior. The results of this study indicate that maternal rank can influence subsequent behaviors in green monkey infants.
