[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-125570-en":3,"doc-seo-125570-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":27,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},125570,1099513958762,"Logic","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/1000023916a998db790?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1784791008015729253",8,"Research & Report","Quantifying allogrooming in wild chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) using tri-axial acceleration data and machine learning","Quantification of activity budgets is pivotal for understanding how animals respond to environmental change. Social grooming is a key activity underpinning social processes with consequences for health and fitness. Traditional focal observations provide systematic but sparse grooming rates, while tri-axial accelerometers enable continuous activity measurement but had not been used to quantify social grooming. This study tests machine-learning identification of giving and receiving grooming in wild chacma baboons and finds high precision and recall, then validates accelerometer-derived grooming rates against direct observations.","Downloaded from [https://royalsocietypublishing.org/ on 14 April 2023](https://royalsocietypublishing.org/ on 14 April 2023)  \n[royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsos](royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsos)  \nResearch  \nCite this article: Christensen C, Bracken AM, O’Riain MJ, Fehlmann G, Holton M, Hopkins P, King AJ, Fürtbauer I. 2023 Quantifying allogrooming in wild chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) using tri-axial acceleration data and machine learning. R. Soc. Open Sci. 10: 221103 .  \n[https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.221103](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.221103)  \nReceived: 22 September 2022  \nAccepted: 15 March 2023  \nSubject Category:  \nOrganismal and Evolutionary Biology  \nSubject Areas: biomechanics/behaviour  \nKeywords:  \nmachine learning, tri-axial accelerometers, random forest models, allo-grooming, activity budgets, primates  \nAuthor for correspondence: Charlotte Christensen  \ne-mail: charlotte.christensen@uzh.ch  \nElectronic supplementary material is available online at [https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c). 6495471.  \nQuantifying allo-grooming in wild chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) using tri-axial acceleration data and machine learning  \n\n| Charlotte Christensen1,2, Anna M. Bracken1,3,\u003Cbr>M. Justin O’Riain4, Gaëlle Fehlmann5, Mark Holton 1, Phillip Hopkins1, Andrew J. King 1 and Ines Fürtbauer 1 |\n| --- |\n| 1Faculty of Science and Engineering, Swansea University, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK |\n| 2Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Science, University of Zurich, |\n| Zurich 8057, Switzerland\u003Cbr>3School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow, |\n| Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK\u003Cbr>4Institute for Communities and Wildlife in Africa, Department of Biological Science, |\n| University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa\u003Cbr>5Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78315 Radolfzell, Germany\u003Cbr> CC, 0000-0001-7697-9903; AMB, 0000-0002-5183-3139; MJO'R, 0000-0001-5233-8327; GF, 0000-0001-7981-5728; MH, 0000-0001-8834-3283; PH, 0009-0005-6570-6236;\u003Cbr>AJK, 0000-0002-6870-9767; IF, 0000-0003-1404-6280 |\n| Quantification of activity budgets is pivotal for understanding how animals respond to changes in their environment. Social grooming is a key activity that underpins various social processes with consequences for health and fitness. Traditional methods use direct (focal) observations to calculate grooming rates, providing systematic but sparse data. Accelerometers, in contrast, can quantify activity budgets continuously but have not been used to quantify social grooming. We test whether grooming can be accurately identified using machine learning (random forest model) trained on labelled acceleration data from wild chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) . We successfully identified giving and receiving grooming with high precision (81% and 91%) and recall (87% and 79%). Giving grooming was associated with a distinct rhythmical signal along the surge axis. Receiving grooming had similar acceleration signals to resting, and thus was more difficult to assign. We applied our machine learning model to n = 680 collar data days from n = 12 baboons and found that grooming rates obtained from accelerometers were significantly and positively correlated with |\n| \u003Cbr>© 2023 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. |\n\nDownloaded from [https://royalsocietypublishing.org/ on 14 April 2023](https://royalsocietypublishing.org/ on 14 April 2023)  \ndirect observation rates for giving but not receiving grooming. The ability to collect continuous grooming data in wild populations will allow researchers to re-examine and expand upon long-standing questions regarding the formation and function of grooming bonds.  \n1 . Introduction  \nHow anima","cbCaipou8B8mGbsz","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaipou8B8mGbsz","pdf",1115082,1,18,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Activity budgets and fitness consequences\n## Allo-grooming: functions and importance\n## Limitations of traditional observation methods","[{\"question\":\"Why is accurate quantification of allo-grooming important in this research?\",\"answer\":\"Allo-grooming underpins social bonds and is linked to health and fitness benefits such as longer lifespans and increased infant survival. Accurate measurement is needed to study these roles reliably in wild populations.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the study aim to identify grooming behaviors?\",\"answer\":\"It trains a machine-learning model, specifically a random forest, on labelled tri-axial acceleration data from wild chacma baboons to detect giving and receiving grooming.\"},{\"question\":\"What challenge exists when detecting receiving grooming from acceleration data?\",\"answer\":\"Receiving grooming has acceleration signals more similar to resting, making it harder to assign compared with giving grooming, which shows a distinct rhythmic signal along the surge axis.\"}]","Quantifying allogrooming in wild chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) using tri-axial acceleration data and machine learning | PDF",1785899937,45,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":28},"quantifying-allogrooming-in-wild-chacma-baboons-papio-ursinus-using-tri-axial-acceleration-data-and-machine-learning","",{"@graph":36,"@context":85},[37,54,68],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,51],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/quantifying-allogrooming-in-wild-chacma-baboons-papio-ursinus-using-tri-axial-acceleration-data-and-machine-learning/125570/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":41,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-08-05",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"Why is accurate quantification of allo-grooming important in this research?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"Allo-grooming underpins social bonds and is linked to health and fitness benefits such as longer lifespans and increased infant survival. Accurate measurement is needed to study these roles reliably in wild populations.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"How does the study aim to identify grooming behaviors?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"It trains a machine-learning model, specifically a random forest, on labelled tri-axial acceleration data from wild chacma baboons to detect giving and receiving grooming.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"What challenge exists when detecting receiving grooming from acceleration data?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"Receiving grooming has acceleration signals more similar to resting, making it harder to assign compared with giving grooming, which shows a distinct rhythmic signal along the surge axis.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":87,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":59,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":89,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":92},[93,97,101,105,110,115,120,123,128,131,135],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":47,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":53,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},30,"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":134},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":136,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":137,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":138},19,"General","general"]