The importance of partner inclusion criteria for understanding drivers of social variation among individuals: Data from blue monkeys

Individuals in social species vary in their sociality, allowing inferences about how social ties influence fitness, but also raising questions about the drivers of observed variation in sociality. We examined how sociodemographic, social, and individual factors were associated with inter-individual variation in the sociality of wild blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis stuhlmanni), and how these associations are affected by the set of partners included in the analysis. Using data from focal follows of adult females in 12 groups over 13 years, we measured individual variation in five measures of sociality (number of ties, number of strong ties, number of weak ties, total tie strength, and evenness of tie strength), binned in annual periods. We used linear mixed models to assess the effects of sociodemographic, social, and individual factors on these five measures. We repeated this analysis while limiting observations to peer partners (other adult females) or to non-peer partners (juveniles ..., These data were collected as part of a long-term observation program, which began in 1979, focusing on individually identified arboreal blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis stuhlmanni) inhabiting the Kakamega Forest, a rain forest in western Kenya (0°19 N, 34°52 E, 1,580 m., ca. 2000 mm rainfall annually. The data represent a 13-year period (September 2006-August 2019 inclusive), during which the number of study groups increased from 4 to 8 via natural group fissions. We considered parent and daughter groups as distinct units in our analyses, which included 4-8 groups at any one time (N=12 total), ranging in size from 6-76 individuals. Members of all study groups were identifiable by sight using natural physical variation, and their life histories (date of birth, age at each offspring’s birth for females) were known from long-term near-daily monitoring.
Data on social behavior were collected during focal animal samples of adult (parous) females in all study groups. We first trained the obs..., , # Data from: The importance of partner inclusion criteria for understanding drivers of social variation among individuals: Data from blue monkeys

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.b2rbnzsns](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.b2rbnzsns)

## Description of the data and file structure

     There are three data files in this dataset. Each file summarizes the social ties and sociodemographic, demographic, and individual characteristics of adult female blue monkeys (*Cercopithecus mitis stuhlmanni*) living in multiple groups in the Kakamega Forest, western Kenya, collected over 13 years through focal follow behavioral observations (see Methods in accompanying manuscript). Two individuals are considered to have a social tie (and thus be social partners) if they lived in the same group for at least three-quarters of a year, and were observed to interact with friendly social contact (i.e., grooming each other in either direction or sitting in contact). The strength of ties is defined as the proportio...