DOI: 10.5061/dryad.6t1g1jx9k
title: Urine washing and urinary odor profiles in relation to dominance rank status in wild male capuchin monkeys (Cebus imitator)

description: Urine plays an essential role in mammalian olfactory communication, though
 its potential role in primates has long been overlooked due to focus on
 their visual adaptations for communication. Here we combined behavioral
 and chemical data to test the role of urine in signaling male dominance in
 white-faced capuchins (Cebus imitator). We predicted that: 1) urine
 washing (i.e., depositing urine onto hands/feet and rubbing them onto
 substrates) is more frequently performed by alpha than subordinate males,
 and 2) the chemical composition of alpha male urine is distinct from that
 of subordinates. We collected 457 hours of focal behavioral follows and
 153 urine samples from 24 males in five groups at Sector Santa Rosa, Área
 de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica. We extracted urinary volatile
 compounds into thermal desorption tubes and analyzed them by gas
 chromatography-mass spectrometry. We found that alphas urine wash more
 than subordinates, especially during the dry season when urinary odors can
 last longer and intergroup interactions are more frequent. Additionally,
 dominance rank predicted a modest fraction of overall sample chemical
 dissimilarity. Our results support the hypothesis that urine may be an
 olfactory signaling medium; future experimental research is needed to test
 the extent to which urinary odors may be cues vs. evolved signals.
description: # Urine washing and urinary odor profiles in relation to dominance rank
 status in wild male capuchin monkeys (Cebus imitator) [Access this dataset
 on Dryad](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.6t1g1jx9k) ## Description of the
 publication Title: Urine washing and urinary odor profiles in relation to
 dominance rank status in wild male capuchin monkeys (*Cebus imitator*)
 Authors: Alice C. Poirier(a,*), Nelle K. Kulick(a,b), Suheidy Romero
 Morales(c), Marlen Kücklich(d,e), Brigitte M. Weiß(d,e), Claudia
 Birkemeyer(f,g,1), Anja Widdig(d,e,g,2), Amanda D. Melin(a,h,i,2),
 Katharine M. Jack(b,2,*) a Department of Anthropology and Archaeology,
 University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada b Department of Anthropology,
 Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA c Área de Conservación
 Guanacaste, La Cruz, Costa Rica d Behavioural Ecology Research Group,
 Faculty of Life Sciences, Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig,
 Leipzig, Germany e Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max
 Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany f Mass
 Spectrometry Research Group, Institute of Analytical Chemistry, University
 of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany g German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity
 Research (iDiv) Halle-Leipzig-Jena, 04103 Leipzig, Germany h Department of
 Medical Genetics, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada i Alberta
 Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Calgary, Canada 1 Claudia Wiesner,
 prev. Birkemeyer 2 These authors contributed equally to this publication.
 ## Description of the data and file structure
 Poirier-et-al_RSOS_Dataset_FocalBehaviour_July2025.csv = Behavioral
 dataset Variables: * Date = focal data collection date; * Focal_uniqueID =
 focal follow unique ID; * Filename = focal data file per day and
 observer(sometimes including more than one follow); * Male = animal ID; *
 DOB = date of birth; * Rank = male rank; * Group = monkey group ID; *
 Observer = researcher who collected the data; * Focal_duration = duration
 of focal follow in H:MM:SS; * UW_behav = UW event recorded (there can be
 more than one recorded during a follow; NA means no UW was recorded during
 the follow); * Seasonality = daily rainfall averaged over the 30 days
 prior to each date of our study period, continuous in mm; * Age = male age
 at the time of data collection, continuous in years.
 Poirier-et-al_RSOS_Dataset_GCMS_SampleList_July2025.csv = sample list for
 chemical dataset Variables: * Filename = urine sample unique ID; * Date =
 collection date; * Group = monkey group ID; * Male = animal ID; * Rank =
 male rank; * Catch = catch type (direct or indirect); * Handler =
 researcher initials; * Batch = GC-MS batch; * Column = Column used on the
 instrument (old vs. new); * Age = male age at the time of data collection,
 continuous in years; * Volume = urine volume collected, continuous in mL;
 * SPG = urine mean specific gravity, continuous no unit; * Temp = ambient
 temperature at time of sample collection, continuous in C; * Seasonality =
 daily rainfall averaged over the 30 days prior to each date of our study
 period, continuous in mm.
 Poirier-et-al_RSOS_Dataset_GCMS_CompoundList_July2025.csv = compound list
 for chemical dataset Variables: * Comp = compound (peak) unique ID; *
 Filename = urine sample unique ID; * RT = peak retention time, continuous
 in min; * Area = peak area measured on the chemical profile, continuous,
 no unit. The sample list and compound list are combined by their common
 variable = Filename. Poirier-et-al_RSOS_Rcode_July2025.R = R code for
 statistical analyses All the steps taken are described as comments in the
 code. ## Sharing/Access information [Access this dataset on Dryad
 (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.6t1g1jx9k)](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.6t1g1jx9k) Link to other publicly accessible locations of the data: [Github: https://github.com/AlicePoirier/Poirier-et-al_Urine-washing-and-urinary-odor-profiles-in-relation-to-dominance-rank-in-capuchins](https://github.com/AlicePoirier/Poirier-et-al_Urine-washing-and-urinary-odor-profiles-in-relation-to-dominance-rank-in-capuchins)