Summary: Schino & Marini (2011)

Group-living animals experience numerous conflicts of interests during social life and can minimize the costs of overt aggression through reconciliation. Patterns of reconciliation and their differential use vary and have rarely bee studied. Schino & Marini (2011) studied the postconflict behaviour of captive mandrills Mandrillus sphinx and found that animals use contact and noncontact postconflict affiliation differently depending on their former opponent. Manrills used contact affiliation to reconcile with relatives and the original aggressor (if it was of a lower rank), but were more likely to use noncontact affiliation when reconciling with "repeat-aggressor" opponents. The use of both types of affiliation reduced the likelihood of renewed aggression. Schino & Marini (2011) suggest that accessibility to individuals and danger (likelihood of receiving aggression) modulated the use of conciliatory patterns. They suggest that more studies of flexible conciliatory strategies are needed.