Social status as a developmental process: Beyond maternal inheritance in a group-living mammal

Among cercopithecine primates, female offspring often inherit maternal rank (i.e., achieve a rank adjacent to their mothers) due to either direct intervention or indirect influence by mothers with respect to offspring agonistic interactions. We investigated the developmental dynamics of juvenile agonism and rank acquisition in three large groups of wild vervet monkeys, Chlorocebus pygerythrus. Overall, we found that juvenile rank acquisition did not follow a simple maternal inheritance pattern. We found no evidence that mothers provided either direct or indirect support during agonistic episodes—mothers were rarely spatially proximate and never acted as coalition partners. While juveniles of high-ranking mothers tended to achieve ranks aligned with their maternal status, those of lower-ranking mothers often surpassed their mothers’ rank. Juvenile aggression increased with age and was influenced by sex and maternal rank. Males and females differed in aggression trajectories, particularly depending on maternal status. Our findings reveal that rank acquisition is not a passive inheritance process but occurs within a flexible, socially embedded developmental trajectory. Juveniles appeared to actively negotiate their status, shaped by both their social environment and maternal legacy. These results challenge assumptions about fixed dominance hierarchies and underscore the importance of social plasticity in shaping individual rank outcomes.