Data from: The dynamics of dominance in a ‘despotic’ society

Dominance hierarchies are a key feature in the dynamics of animal social
groups, playing a crucial role in fostering group stability. Despite often
being viewed as static, persistent linear structures, hierarchies are
fundamentally dynamic and can change over time due to ecological
conditions, demographic changes and ontogenetic development. There are
numerous methods used to construct hierarchies and quantify individual
dominance rank, however, methods to capture the dynamics of a hierarchy
across time have only recently been developed. As such, relatively little
is known about the longitudinal hierarchy dynamics in many social species,
including non-human primates and the timescale at which these hierarchy
dynamics play out. Here we consider the longitudinal hierarchy dynamics
across a four-year period in a large group of rhesus macaques. We
investigated group- and individual-level predictors of active rank
dynamics, or dynamics that arise from rank reversals. We found that,
despite rhesus macaques being considered to have relatively stable
hierarchies, there was significant active rank mobility in both males and
females, even in the face of limited resource competition. Female rank
change was not solely driven by matrilineal structure or demographic
processes and females may also opportunistically ascend in rank. Further,
we found strong links between rank certainty and hierarchy dynamics with
periods of high hierarchy instability associated with low mean dominance
certainty. Lastly, we found limited evidence of associations between
periods of high active rank dynamics and social global network structure.
This suggests more localised dynamics during hierarchy instability are at
play rather than widescale network reorganisation. Together, these results
stress the importance of considering social context in rank dynamics,
illustrate the dynamic nature of macaque dominance rank and further
highlight the opportunistic nature of the species.