Play Between Adult Male and Infant Rhesus Monkeys

Play among four pairs of adult male and infant rhesus monkeysis described and compared to mother-infant and peer play. Datawere collected while the adult males reared the infants fora period of 7 months in the absence of mothers and peers. Typesof play were categorized as solitary, parallel, and interactive.Sex differences in play patterns are described, as are antecedentand consequent events. Adult male-infant play was found to beof much greater intensity and mean duration than mother-infantplay.     

Aggressive Play and Communication in Rhesus Monkeys (Macaca mulatta)

One adaptive function that has been suggested for social playin higher primates is the learning, refining, or practicingof communicative skills. Despite the absence of experimentaldata, a comparison of the structure of aggressive play and communicationmay shed light on this hypothesis. The great majority of rhesusmonkey agonistic interactions are mediated by stereotyped signals.Deprivation experiments have shown that appropriate interpretationand use of such signals requires early social experience. Suchexperience seemingly must have the following characteristics:(i) The relevant agonistic signals must occur, (ii) These signalsmust regularly be paired with other stimuli for appropriateresponses to signals to be learned. Signals must produce regularresponses in other monkeys for appropriate use to be learned.Aggressive play seems to be an unpromising context in whichto learn, refine, or practice agonistic signals. These signalsare not observed in play, and the signals that do occur arerestricted to play and are not regularly paired with unconditionedstimuli.     

南京红山森林动物园猕猴的社会玩耍行为

社会玩耍行为是灵长类动物的常见行为类型之一,作为种群数量最大的非人灵长类之一,猕猴(Macaca mulatta)的社会玩耍行为是它们日常生活的一部分。本研究利用红外摄像技术,对南京红山森林动物园猕猴冬季社会玩耍行为的基本特征进行了研究。研究记录了每一回合玩耍行为的发生时间、持续时间、参与对象年龄、参与个体数以及玩耍行为类型等行为参数。在持续10 d的视频中,共记录到猕猴的社会玩耍行为7 496次,其中触摸和抓打4 018次,追逐1 012次,撕咬和摔跤671次,其他53次,以及各种玩耍行为组合1 742次。利用单因素方差分析,发现猕猴的社会玩耍行为节律明显,两个玩耍高峰分别为08:30~09:30时和10:30~11:30时。利用Kruskal-Wallis检验及Mann-Whitney U两两比较法,发现参与个体数和玩耍行为类型对社会玩耍持续时间影响显著,在玩耍过程中,参与个体数越多,社会玩耍持续时间越长;组合类型的持续时间最长,其次是撕咬和摔跤,再次是触摸和抓打,最后是追逐。0~3岁的少年个体在玩耍行为中更常采用触摸和抓打类型,而亚成年及成年个体则倾向于选择追逐类型。该研究量化了猕猴社会玩耍行为的类别和影响因素,为动物园的猕猴管理和动物福利提供了数据支持。