Does tourism have a market effect on the grooming for tolerance interchange in Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) at Mt. Huangshan, China?

Tolerance, defined as increased proximity, is an important commodity in primate societies, especially when resources are monopolizable. We examined the impact situational stressors have on the grooming for tolerance trade in a group of provisioned Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) subject to tourism. Our results provide evidence for increased rates of self- directed behaviors (Bonferroni corrected repeated measures ANOVA, N=12, p=0.042) and aggression (Bonferroni corrected repeated measures ANOVA, N=12, p=0.012) during tourist presence and provisioning, making tolerance a commodity. We therefore predicted a higher proportion of interchange trading would occur when tourists and corn provisioning were present. Rates of post grooming proximity for 120 grooming bouts were compared to matched controls when grooming was absent. Post grooming rates were significantly higher than matched controls, supporting the existence of a tolerance market (T test, T(46)=4.524; p