Social relationships among captive female Himalayan tahr

We studied social relationships in a captive group of female Himalayan tahr (Hemitragus jemlahicus). Female tahr showed frequent aggression and a strictly linear age-graded dominance hierarchy. Coalitions, in contrast, were rare. Female tahr formed differentiated social relationships, as they interacted with different individuals at widely different rates. A principal component analysis revealed that social relationships were best described along three independent dimensions that we labelled as Affiliation, Agonism and Ambivalence. Both Affiliation and Agonism were directed preferentially down the hierarchy. Affiliation was also directed preferentially to kin, while Agonism showed the reverse pattern. Ambivalence was unrelated to both dominance and kinship. Overall, these results show that an ungulate species can form differentiated social relationships that vary in relation to dominance rank and kinship.