Maestripieri Dario, Ross Stephen R
Institute for Mind and Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
Am J Phys Anthropol. 2004 Jan;123(1):52-61. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.10295.
Mammalian play is believed to improve motor skills as well as facilitate the development of social relationships. Given the marked sexual dimorphism in gorilla body size and the role assumed by the male in protecting the group from conspecifics and predators, the motor-training hypothesis of play predicts that male infants should exhibit higher frequencies of social play than female infants, and that males should prefer to play with other males. Given that adult female gorillas are strongly attracted to adult breeding males and form only weak social bonds with unrelated adult females, the social-relationship hypothesis of play predicts that female infants should prefer to play with males. These hypotheses were tested in a 22-month study of 12 gorilla infants, aged between 0-5 years, living in three zoological parks in Chicago and Atlanta. Consistent with the hypotheses, male infants played more than female infants did, and both male and female infants preferred to play with males rather than with females. These findings suggest that sex differences in play in the great apes and other primates can be predicted by the characteristics of adult behavior and social structure above and beyond the patterns of sex-biased dispersal or coalition formation with same-sex kin.
哺乳动物的玩耍被认为可以提高运动技能，并促进社会关系的发展。鉴于大猩猩体型存在明显的性别二态性，且雄性在保护群体免受同种动物和捕食者侵害方面发挥着作用，玩耍的运动训练假说预测，雄性幼崽的社会玩耍频率应高于雌性幼崽，且雄性应更喜欢与其他雄性玩耍。鉴于成年雌性大猩猩会被成年繁殖雄性强烈吸引，且与无关成年雌性仅形成较弱的社会联系，玩耍的社会关系假说预测，雌性幼崽应更喜欢与雄性玩耍。在一项对12只年龄在0至5岁之间、生活在芝加哥和亚特兰大三个动物园的大猩猩幼崽进行的为期22个月的研究中，对这些假说进行了检验。与假说一致，雄性幼崽比雌性幼崽玩耍得更多，并且雄性和雌性幼崽都更喜欢与雄性而不是雌性玩耍。这些发现表明，除了性别偏向扩散或与同性亲属结成联盟的模式之外，成年行为和社会结构的特征可以预测大猩猩和其他灵长类动物玩耍中的性别差异。
