Brown Gillian R, Dixson Alan F
Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour, University of Cambridge, Madingley, CB3 8AA, Cambridge, England.
Primates. 2000 Jan;41(1):63-77. doi: 10.1007/BF02557462.
Studies of infant rhesus macaques have generally reported sex differences in the frequency of expression of some behaviour patterns, such as rough-and-tumble play and socio-sexual mounting. In contrast, sex differences in other behaviour patterns, such as proximity to the mother, have been less consistantly reported. Using data on the behavioural development of infant rhesus macaques living in captive social groups, we have attempted to provide further evidence for, or against, sex differences in behaviour and to investigate the possible influence of maternal rank and parity on sex differences in infant behaviour and mother-infant interactions. The behaviour of 14 male and 20 female infants and their mothers was studied during the first six months of life, including measures of play behaviour socio-sexual mounting, and mother-infant interactions. Our data reveal that, on average, male infants exhibited more rough-and-tumble play and mounting than female infants, and also exhibited stationary play, chasing play, and initiated play more frequently than females. Such sex differences appear to be robust in macaques and have been reported in a variety of housing conditions. male and female infants did not differ in the amount of time spent at particular distances from their mothers, and mothers were not found to behave differently towards sons and daughters, using measures of restraint, rejection, and grooming. These results are in contrast to previous studies on singly-housed mother-infant pairs but similar to those on free-ranging populations. Mothers did behave differently towards their infants depending upon the mother's rank and previous number of offspring. These maternal characteristics may have significant consequences for the behavioural development of both male and female infant primates.
对幼年恒河猴的研究普遍报告称，在某些行为模式的表达频率上存在性别差异，比如打闹游戏和社会性行为骑跨。相比之下，在其他行为模式上，比如与母亲的亲近程度，性别差异的报告则不太一致。利用圈养社会群体中幼年恒河猴行为发展的数据，我们试图为行为中的性别差异提供进一步的支持或反对证据，并研究母亲的等级和胎次对幼年行为性别差异以及母婴互动可能产生的影响。在幼猴出生后的头六个月里，对14只雄性和20只雌性幼猴及其母亲的行为进行了研究，包括对游戏行为、社会性行为骑跨以及母婴互动的测量。我们的数据显示，平均而言，雄性幼猴比雌性幼猴表现出更多的打闹游戏和骑跨行为，并且在静止游戏、追逐游戏方面也比雌性更频繁地发起游戏。这种性别差异在猕猴中似乎很明显，并且在各种饲养条件下都有报告。雄性和雌性幼猴在与母亲保持特定距离所花费的时间上没有差异，而且在约束、拒绝和梳理等方面的测量中，没有发现母亲对儿子和女儿的行为有不同。这些结果与之前对单独饲养的母婴对的研究形成对比，但与对自由放养群体的研究结果相似。母亲对待幼猴的行为确实因母亲的等级和先前的后代数量而有所不同。这些母亲的特征可能对雄性和雌性幼年灵长类动物的行为发展产生重大影响。
