Social network shrinking is explained by active and passive effects but not increasing selectivity with age in wild macaques.

Evidence of social disengagement, network narrowing and social selectivity with advancing age in several non-human animals challenges our understanding of the causes of social ageing. Natural animal populations are needed to test whether social ageing and selectivity occur under natural predation and extrinsic mortality pressures, and longitudinal studies are particularly valuable to disentangle the contribution of within-individual ageing from the demographic processes that shape social ageing at the population level. Data on wild Assamese macaques (Macaca assamensis) were collected between 2013 and 2020 at the Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand. We investigated the social behaviour of 61 adult females observed for 13 270 h to test several mechanistic hypotheses of social ageing and evaluated the consistency between patterns from mixed-longitudinal and within-individual analyses. With advancing age, females reduced the size of their social network, which could not be explained by an overall increase in the time spent alone, but by an age-related decline in mostly active, but also passive, behaviour, best demonstrated by within-individual analyses. A selective tendency to approach preferred partners was maintained into old age but did not increase. Our results contribute to our understanding of the driver of social ageing in natural animal populations and suggest that social disengagement and selectivity follow independent trajectories during ageing.

The dynamics of sociality and glucocorticoids in wild male Assamese macaques.

For males of gregarious species, dominance status and the strength of affiliative relationships can have major fitness consequences. Social dynamics also impose costs by affecting glucocorticoids, mediators of homeostasis and indicators of the physiological response to challenges and within-group competition. We investigated the relationships between dominance, social bonds, seasonal challenges, and faecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGC) measures in wild Assamese macaques (Macaca assamensis) at Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand, combining behavioural data with 4129 samples from 62 adult males over 15 years. Our previous work on this population suggested that increased competition during the mating season was associated with elevated fGC levels and that, unusually for male primates, lower rank position correlated with higher fGC levels. With a much larger dataset and dynamic measures of sociality, we re-examined these relationships and additionally tested the potentially fGC-attenuating effect of social support. Contrary to our previous study, yet consistent with the majority of work on male primates, dominance rank had a positive relationship with fGC levels, as high status correlated with elevated glucocorticoid measures. fGC levels were increased at the onset of the mating season. We demonstrated an fGC-reducing effect of supportive relationships in males and showed that dynamics in affiliation can correlate with dynamics in physiological responses. Our results suggest that in a system with intermediate contest potential, high dominance status can impose physiological costs on males that may potentially be moderated by social relationships. We highlight the need to consider the dynamics of sociality and competition that influence hormonal processes.

Developmental and environmental modulation of fecal thyroid hormone levels in wild Assamese macaques (Macaca assamensis).

Thyroid hormones are key modulators of development, as well as mediators of environmental conditions, by regulating developmental processes and metabolism in primates. Hormone measurement in noninvasively collected samples, that is, feces and urine, is a valuable tool for studying the endocrine function of wildlife, and recent studies have demonstrated the feasibility of measuring thyroid hormones in fecal samples of zoo-housed and wild nonhuman primates. Our study aimed to (i) validate the measurement of immunoreactive fecal total triiodothyronine (IF-T3) in wild Assamese macaques (Macaca assamensis) and (ii) to investigate its developmental changes and its response to environmental changes, including stress responses, in immature individuals. Fecal samples and environmental parameters were collected from individuals of three social groups of wild Assamese macaques living at Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary, Northeastern Thailand. Our study confirmed the methodological feasibility and biological validity of measuring IF-T3 in this population. Specifically, the biological validation demonstrated higher IF-T3 levels in immatures compared to adults, and higher levels in females during late gestation compared to the preconception stage. Our analysis of IF-T3 levels in developing immature macaques revealed a significant increase with age. Furthermore, we found a positive association between IF-T3 and immunoreactive fecal glucocorticoid levels, an indicator of the physiological stress response. Neither minimum temperature nor fruit abundance predicted variation in IF-T3 levels in the immatures. Our findings indicate the possibility for differing effects of climatic factors and food availability on thyroid hormone level changes in immature versus adult animals and in wild compared to experimental conditions. Overall, our study provides the basis for further investigations into the role of thyroid hormones in shaping species-specific traits, growth, and overall primate development.

Triiodothyronine and cortisol levels in the face of energetic challenges from reproduction, thermoregulation and food intake in female macaques.

Energy availability drives an individual's fitness and can be affected by diverse energetic challenges. The assessment of hormones involved in metabolic activity and energy mobilization provides a gateway to the study of physiological adaptations in response to changes in energy availability. Here, we investigated immunoreactive urinary total triiodothyronine (uTT3, thyroid hormone secreted through the hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid axis and regulating the basal metabolic rate) alongside glucocorticoids (i.e. urinary cortisol, uCort, secreted through the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis and mediating energy mobilization) in wild female Assamese macaques (Macaca assamensis). Combining more than 2900; of behavioral data from 42 adult females with physiological data from 382 urine samples, we evaluated both uTT3 and uCort in relation to potential energetic challenges encountered by a female, namely fluctuations in energy intake, travel distance, reproductive state and minimum ambient temperature. As predicted, levels of both hormones changed in response to variation in energy intake with a tendency toward a positive effect on uTT3 and a significant negative effect on uCort levels. Unexpectedly, neither hormone was influenced by variation in travel distance. Reproductive state affected both hormones with higher levels of uTT3 and uCort in the second half of gestation. Finally, a decrease of minimum temperature triggered an increase in uCort but unexpectedly not in uTT3. Collectively, our results highlight the respective contribution of two endocrine axes when facing energetic challenges and the underlying metabolic strategies to cope with them. Overall, assessing thyroid hormones together with glucocorticoids provides an integrative picture in the evaluation of an individual's energy status.

Fermented food consumption in wild nonhuman primates and its ecological drivers.

OBJECTIVES: Although fermented food use is ubiquitous in humans, the ecological and evolutionary factors contributing to its emergence are unclear. Here we investigated the ecological contexts surrounding the consumption of fruits in the late stages of fermentation by wild primates to provide insight into its adaptive function. We hypothesized that climate, socioecological traits, and habitat patch size would influence the occurrence of this behavior due to effects on the environmental prevalence of late-stage fermented foods, the ability of primates to detect them, and potential nutritional benefits. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We compiled data from field studies lasting at least 9 months to describe the contexts in which primates were observed consuming fruits in the late stages of fermentation. Using generalized linear mixed-effects models, we assessed the effects of 18 predictor variables on the occurrence of fermented food use in primates. RESULTS: Late-stage fermented foods were consumed by a wide taxonomic breadth of primates. However, they generally made up 0.01%-3% of the annual diet and were limited to a subset of fruit species, many of which are reported to have mechanical and chemical defenses against herbivores when not fermented. Additionally, late-stage fermented food consumption was best predicted by climate and habitat patch size. It was more likely to occur in larger habitat patches with lower annual mean rainfall and higher annual mean maximum temperatures. DISCUSSION: We posit that primates capitalize on the natural fermentation of some fruits as part of a nutritional strategy to maximize periods of fruit exploitation and/or access a wider range of plant species. We speculate that these factors contributed to the evolutionary emergence of the human propensity for fermented foods.

Responsiveness of fecal immunoglobulin A to HPA-axis activation limits its use for mucosal immunity assessment.

The assessment of mucosal immunity as a component of animal health is an important aspect for the understanding of variation in host immunity, and its tradeoff against other life-history traits. We investigated immunoglobulin A (IgA), the major type of antibody associated with mucosal immunity, in relation to changes in parasitic burden following anthelminthic treatment in noninvasively collected fecal samples in a semi-free ranging group of Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus). We measured IgA in 340 fecal samples of fourteen females and nine males. As IgA has been found to be responsive to stressors, we also related fecal IgA (fIgA) levels to fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCM) measured in the same samples as part of a previous study. We found a high variability within and between individual fIgA levels over time. Running generalized additive mixed models, we found that fIgA levels were higher in males than in females, but did not change in response to the anthelmintic treatment and the resulting reduction in worm burden. Instead, fIgA level changes were significantly correlated to changes in fGCM levels. Our findings indicate that due to the strong responsiveness of fIgA to HPA-axis activity, the measurement of fIgA may have certain limitations with respect to reflecting gastrointestinal parasitic burden. Moreover, the responsiveness of fIgA to stressors interferes with the interpretation of IgA levels in fecal samples as a measure of mucosal immunity, at least in our study population of the Barbary macaques.

Bonds of bros and brothers: Kinship and social bonding in postdispersal male macaques.

Group-living animals often maintain a few very close affiliative relationships-social bonds-that can buffer them against many of the inevitable costs of gregariousness. Kinship plays a central role in the development of such social bonds. The bulk of research on kin biases in sociality has focused on philopatric females, who typically live in deeply kin-structured systems, with matrilineal dominance rank inheritance and life-long familiarity between kin. Closely related males, in contrast, are usually not close in rank or familiar, which offers the opportunity to test the importance of kinship per se in the formation of social bonds. So far, however, kin biases in male social bonding have only been tested in philopatric males, where familiarity remains a confounding factor. Here, we studied bonds between male Assamese macaques, a species in which males disperse from their natal groups and in which male bonds are known to affect fitness. Combining extensive behavioural data on 43 adult males over a 10-year period with DNA microsatellite relatedness analyses, we find that postdispersal males form stronger relationships with the few close kin available in the group than with the average nonkin. However, males form the majority of their bonds with nonkin and may choose nonkin over available close kin to bond with. Our results show that kinship facilitates bond formation, but is not a prerequisite for it, which suggests that strong bonds are not restricted to kin in male mammals and that animals cooperate for both direct and indirect fitness benefits.

Oxytocin increases after affiliative interactions in male Barbary macaques.

Mammals living in stable social groups often mitigate the costs of group living through the formation of social bonds and cooperative relationships. The neuropeptide hormone oxytocin (OT) is proposed to promote both bonding and cooperation although only a limited number of studies have investigated this under natural conditions. Our aim was to assess the role of OT in bonding and cooperation in male Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus). First, we tested for an effect of affiliation - grooming and triadic male-infant-male interactions - with bond and non-bond partners on urinary OT levels. Second, we tested whether grooming interactions (and thus increased OT levels) increase a male's general propensity to cooperate in polyadic conflicts. We collected >4000 h of behavioral data on 14 adult males and measured OT levels from 139 urine samples collected after affiliation and non-social control periods. Urinary OT levels were higher after grooming with any partner. By contrast, OT levels after male-infant-male interactions with any partner or with bond partners were not different from controls but were higher after interactions with non-bond partners. Previous grooming did not increase the likelihood of males to support others in conflicts. Collectively, our results support research indicating that OT is involved in the regulation of adult affiliative relationships. However, our male-infant-male interaction results contradict previous studies suggesting that it is affiliation with bond rather than non-bond partners that trigger the release of OT. Alternatively, OT levels were elevated prior to male-infant-male interactions thus facilitating interaction between non-bond partners. The lack of an association of grooming and subsequent support speaks against an OT linked increase in the general propensity to cooperate.

The evolution of social philopatry in female primates.

The transition from solitary life to sociality is considered one of the major transitions in evolution. In primates, this transition is currently not well understood. Traditional verbal models appear insufficient to unravel the complex interplay of environmental and demographic factors involved in the evolution of primate sociality, and recent phylogenetic reconstructions have produced conflicting results. We therefore analyze a theoretical model for the evolution of female social philopatry that sheds new light on the question why most primates live in groups. In individual-based simulations, we study the evolution of dispersal strategies of both resident females and their offspring. The model reveals that social philopatry can evolve through kin selection, even if retention of offspring is costly in terms of within-group resource competition and provides no direct benefits. Our model supports the role of predator avoidance as a selective pressure for group-living in primates, but it also suggests that a second benefit of group-living, communal resource defense, might be required to trigger the evolution of sizable groups. Lastly, our model reveals that seemingly small differences in demographic parameters can have profound effects on primate social evolution.

Prenatal stress accelerates offspring growth to compensate for reduced maternal investment across mammals.

Across mammals, prenatal maternal stress (PREMS) affects many aspects of offspring development, including offspring growth. However, how PREMS translates to offspring growth is inconsistent, even within species. To explain the full range of reported effects of prenatal adversity on offspring growth, we propose an integrative hypothesis: developmental constraints and a counteracting adaptive growth plasticity work in opposition to drive PREMS effects on growth. Mothers experiencing adversity reduce maternal investment leading to stunted growth (developmental constraints). Concomitantly, the pace of offspring life history is recalibrated to partly compensate for these developmental constraints (adaptive growth plasticity). Moreover, the relative importance of each process changes across ontogeny with increasing offspring independence. Thus, offspring exposed to PREMS may grow at the same rate as controls during gestation and lactation, but faster after weaning when direct maternal investment has ceased. We tested these predictions with a comparative analysis on the outcomes of 719 studies across 21 mammal species. First, the observed growth changes in response to PREMS varied across offspring developmental periods as predicted. We argue that the observed growth acceleration after weaning is not "catch-up growth," because offspring that were small for age grew slower. Second, only PREMS exposure early during gestation produced adaptive growth plasticity. Our results suggest that PREMS effects benefit the mother's future reproduction and at the same time accelerate offspring growth and possibly maturation and reproductive rate. In this sense, PREMS effects on offspring growth allow mother and offspring to make the best of a bad start.

Subtypes of aggression and their relation to anxiety in Barbary macaques.

Human aggression can be differentiated into reactive aggression (RA), displayed in face of a real or perceived threat and associated with high levels of anxiety, and proactive aggression (PA), displayed to achieve a certain goal and linked to lower anxiety levels. To study the origins of these aggression subtypes and their relation to anxiety, we tested if both subtypes can be distinguished in a nonhuman primate species, characterized their occurrence within the study group, and examined the link between aggression subtype and anxiety. Data were collected on 29 individuals of a semi-free ranging group of Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) at Affenberg Salem, Germany, via focal animal (303 hr) and event sampling (1,222 agonistic events). Using a priori definitions, each aggressive event was classified as either reactive or proactive. We found both aggression types in our study population as well as individual differences in the proportion at which they occurred. The predominant use of one subtype of aggression was linked to the individual's dominance rank, age and sex, but not related to standard behavioral and physiological measures of anxiety. Our results suggest that reactive and proactive subtypes of aggression also exist in Barbary macaques, indicating a deeper evolutionary history of these aggression types observed in humans.

Reproductive tolerance in male primates: Old paradigms and new evidence.

Within social groups of primates, males commonly compete over reproduction, but they may also rely on cooperation with other males. Theory suggests that it may be adaptive for male primates to tolerate some reproduction by other males if reproductive tolerance fosters cooperation, particularly that dominant males yield so-called reproductive concessions to subordinates to entice their cooperation. We review four recent studies that claimed to have found evidence for reproductive concessions or similar forms of reproductive tolerance. However, upon critical reevaluation of their results, no study provides conclusive support for reproductive concessions as predicted by theoretical models. Yet two studies demonstrated a form of reproductive tolerance that cannot be explained by any of the existing models, and that seems to have evolved only in multi-male, multi-female societies with diverse strategic options for males. Our article provides guidance how to study this form of reproductive tolerance in the absence of a unifying model.

From Individual to Group Territoriality: Competitive Environments Promote the Evolution of Sociality.

In many animal species individuals compete for the sole possession of a breeding territory, whereas in other species communal territories are shared among same-sex conspecifics. Under what conditions does natural selection favor the evolution of individual territoriality, and under what conditions does it favor the evolution of sociality? We develop a self-consistent game-theoretic model that allows for feedbacks between evolutionary and population dynamics. In this model, nonresident floaters can chose between three strategies: they can wait for a territory vacancy to arise, they can try to forcefully take over an already-occupied territory, or they can share a territory with an established resident. We show that competitive environments initially favor the evolution of an aggressive (territorial) strategy. Yet as competition increases further, a shift occurs from aggressive to social strategies. Moreover, territory owners (residents) respond to the behavior of floaters, such that a feedback occurs in which residents adjust their degree of tolerance to the level of floater aggression and vice versa. This feedback resembles the dynamics of a biological market and eventually leads to the coexistence of aggressive and social floater strategies in the population. Such mixed equilibria commonly occur in nature.

Triadic awareness predicts partner choice in male-infant-male interactions in Barbary macaques.

Social knowledge beyond one's direct relationships is a key in successfully manoeuvring the social world. Individuals gather information on the quality of social relationships between their group companions, which has been termed triadic awareness. Evidence of the use of triadic awareness in natural contexts is limited mainly to conflict management. Here we investigated triadic awareness in wild Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) in the context of bridging interactions defined as male-infant-male interactions whereby a male (initiator, holder) presents an infant to another male (receiver, non-holder) in order to initiate an affiliative interaction with that male. Analyses based on 1263 h of focal observations on ten infants of one wild social group in Morocco supported the hypothesis that males use their knowledge of the relationship between infants and other adult males when choosing a male as a partner for bridging interactions. Specifically, (i) the number of bridging interactions among holder-infant-receiver triads was positively affected by the strength of the infant-receiver relationship and (ii) when two males were available as bridging partners, a male was more likely to be chosen as the receiver the stronger his social relationship with the infant relative to the other available male. This demonstrates that non-human primates establish triadic awareness of temporary infant-male relationships and use it in a naturally occurring affiliative context. Our results contribute to the discussion about the mechanism underlying the acquisition of triadic awareness and the benefits of its usage, and lend support to hypotheses linking social complexity to the evolution of complex cognition.

Responses to social and environmental stress are attenuated by strong male bonds in wild macaques.

In humans and obligatory social animals, individuals with weak social ties experience negative health and fitness consequences. The social buffering hypothesis conceptualizes one possible mediating mechanism: During stressful situations the presence of close social partners buffers against the adverse effects of increased physiological stress levels. We tested this hypothesis using data on social (rate of aggression received) and environmental (low temperatures) stressors in wild male Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) in Morocco. These males form strong, enduring, and equitable affiliative relationships similar to human friendships. We tested the effect of the strength of a male's top three social bonds on his fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGCM) levels as a function of the stressors' intensity. The attenuating effect of stronger social bonds on physiological stress increased both with increasing rates of aggression received and with decreasing minimum daily temperature. Ruling out thermoregulatory and immediate effects of social interactions on fGCM levels, our results indicate that male Barbary macaques employ a tend-and-befriend coping strategy in the face of increased environmental as well as social day-to-day stressors. This evidence of a stress-ameliorating effect of social bonding among males under natural conditions and beyond the mother-offspring, kin or pair bond broadens the generality of the social buffering hypothesis.

Prenatal stress effects in a wild, long-lived primate: predictive adaptive responses in an unpredictable environment.

Prenatal maternal stress affects offspring phenotype in numerous species including humans, but it is debated whether these effects are evolutionarily adaptive. Relating stress to adverse conditions, current explanations invoke either short-term developmental constraints on offspring phenotype resulting in decelerated growth to avoid starvation, or long-term predictive adaptive responses (PARs) resulting in accelerated growth and reproduction in response to reduced life expectancies. Two PAR subtypes were proposed, acting either on predicted internal somatic states or predicted external environmental conditions, but because both affect phenotypes similarly, they are largely indistinguishable. Only external (not internal) PARs rely on high environmental stability particularly in long-lived species. We report on a crucial test case in a wild long-lived mammal, the Assamese macaque (Macaca assamensis), which evolved and lives in an unpredictable environment where external PARs are probably not advantageous. We quantified food availability, growth, motor skills, maternal caretaking style and maternal physiological stress from faecal glucocorticoid measures. Prenatal maternal stress was negatively correlated to prenatal food availability and led to accelerated offspring growth accompanied by decelerated motor skill acquisition and reduced immune function. These results support the 'internal PAR' theory, which stresses the role of stable adverse internal somatic states rather than stable external environments.

Males matter: Increased home range size is associated with the number of resident males after controlling for ecological factors in wild Assamese macaques.

OBJECTIVES: There is increasing evidence of male resource defense during intergroup encounters in non-human primates. Only few studies showed a reproductive benefit of having more males in a group, and evidence only comes from territorial species, or from species with relatively small male group sizes where males are less prone to suffer from collective action problems. We investigated the effect of male group size on home range size and female reproductive success in a non-territorial species with male dispersal and large male group sizes. METHODS: We studied one wild group of Assamese macaques (Macaca assamensis) by following them almost daily (June 2006-September 2012) and collected spatial, behavioral, climate and spatiotemporal data on food plants. RESULTS: Among ecological factors, decreasing rainfall and a statistical interaction between food abundance and distribution were positively related to home range size. After controlling for ecological predictors, we found that male group size but not overall group size had a significant positive effect on full and core home range size. A simple correlation analysis suggests that such an increase in home range area, presumably increasing access to food resources, can be associated with increased female fecundity measured as the proportion or the number of females conceiving in a given year. DISCUSSION: Within the limitations of this study, the results suggest that male resource defense could be a strategy benefitting both sexes if male reproductive skew was low and many males benefited from increased female fertility.

Opposite-sex social bonding in wild Assamese macaques.

In large multimale-multifemale primate groups, individual adult males and females may form close social relationships that extend beyond the mating context, a surprising finding for polygynandrous mammals. The patterns of these associations can be relatively stable across time. Here we investigate whether dyadic social relationships between the sexes transcend mere association in wild Assamese macaques and may be characterized as strong, equitable, and stable affiliative relationships or social bonds. We collected >9,000 hr of focal animal data on adult males and females from two groups of wild Assamese macaques (Macaca assamensis) at Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand. Using dyadic composite sociality indices, we found male-female affiliative relationships to be highly differentiated. The stronger the relationships were, the more likely partners were to reciprocate grooming and the more stable were the relationships. In addition, the strongest dyadic relationships remained stable over multiple years as long as both partners remained in the group. These results indicate that in a polygynous species particular males and females form strong, equitable, and enduring affiliative relationships qualitatively similar to the same-sex bonds described for female baboons and male chimpanzees. Am. J. Primatol. 78:872-882, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Feeding behavior and aggression in wild Siberut macaques (Macaca siberu) living under low predation risk.

Investigating which factors influence feeding competition is crucial for our understanding of the diversity of social relationships. Socio-ecological models differ in their predictions whether predation risk directly influences feeding competition and which factors exactly predict contest competition. We investigated feeding competition in Siberut macaques (Macaca siberu), a species endemic to Siberut Island (West Sumatra, Indonesia). Siberut macaques experience low predation risk, as major predators (felids, raptors) are absent. They are therefore appropriate subjects to test the prediction that low predation risk reduces feeding competition. To estimate contest potential, we quantified size, spatial distribution and density of food plants, and the availability of alternative resources. We recorded behavior in food patches using a modified focal tree method. Food patches, sorted by decreasing average feeding group size, included large trees (40% of focal plant observations), lianas/strangler (16%), medium trees (9%), small (palm) trees (20%), and rattan (15%). Most food patches were clumped but occurred at low densities relative to the area of average group spread. Thus, availability of alternative food patches was low. Although food patch characteristics indicate high contest potential, the observed aggression rate (0.13 bouts between adults/h) was low relative to other primates. Average feeding group size was small relative to total group size, and feeding group size matched crown volume. Perceived predation risk was low, based on spatial and feeding behavior of juveniles. Together, these results suggest that predation risk may influence feeding competition. Social and temporal factors (patch feeding time), but not ecological factors (fruit abundance in patch and forest, alternative resources) predicted aggression frequency in food patches. Overall, comparative data are still relatively scarce, and researchers should collect more data on group spread, sub-grouping, perceived predation risk, and aggression in food patches before we can draw final conclusions about the role of predation risk for feeding competition.

Towards the non-invasive assessment of MHC genotype in wild primates: analysis of wild Assamese macaque MHC-DRB from fecal samples.

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) plays an important role in the immune response and may thus crucially affect an individual's fitness, relevant also for studies on evolutionary ecology and wildlife conservation. Detailed knowledge on the genomic organization, polymorphism and diversity of the MHC has a narrow taxonomic focus though and among macaques is only available for rhesus and long-tailed macaques-the species most commonly kept for biomedical research. The lack of data on wild populations is largely due to the difficulty of obtaining blood or tissue samples necessary for genotyping approaches. Here, we aimed at analyzing MHC-DRB from non-invasively collected fecal samples in wild Assamese macaques (Macaca assamensis), utilizing the MHC-DRB-STR (D6S2878) microsatellite marker. Due to the fecal DNA source incomplete genotypes occurred, which may be improved in the future by method refinement. We detected 28 distinct DRB-STR lengths in 43 individuals with individual genotypes containing 1-9 MHC-DRB-STRs and defined four haplotypes segregating between families in Mendelian fashion. Our results indicate that variability and diversity of MHC-DRB in Assamese macaques is comparable to that of other macaque species and importantly, that fecal samples can be used for non-invasive analysis of MHC genes after refinement of the applied methods, opening a number of opportunities for MHC research on natural populations.