Social monitoring predicts future rank and mating success in male macaques.

Across 46 adult male macaques, individual differences in visual attention to others’ affiliative interactions are linked to later social bond strength within the same year.

• Why it matters: Social monitoring may guide alliance and coalition choices, but the immediate and long-term behavioral consequences of visual attention in natural primate settings remain unclear.
• What they did: In the wild, the study used a social scene protocol to record visual attention to spontaneously unfolding interactions, then tested whether attention predicted later bond strength, dominance success, and mating success.
• The result: Stronger social bond strength predicted dominance success in the following year, which ultimately enhanced mating success, with post hoc results implicating friendly behavior as a possible mechanism.

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