| Most non-human primate species are social animals,and rich and diverse social behaviors are the basis for establishing and maintaining complex social relationships.Among mountainous studies on social behaviors,the study of the characteristics and functions of play behavior is one of the research hotspots of primate behavioral ecology and social ecology.The study of non-human primate social play behavior not only helps to understand the function and significance of non-human primate play behavior,but also explores the origin and evolution of play behavior,and also helps to understand the function and significance of human play behavior.From September 2017 to September 2018,the studies on activity budget,ecological factors of play behavior,the characteristics of social play behavior,and the relationship between social play behavior and aggression behavior of Taihangshan macaques(Macaca mulatta tcheliensis)were conducted at Wulongkou area of the Taihang Mountain National Nature Reserve in Henan Province(N 35° 12'49";E 112°41'25'').The data of individual sex and age,behavioral state,and play and aggression behavior types of Taihangshan macaques were collectted through scan-sampling method and focus animal sampling method.The main research contents and results are as follows: 1.The activity time budget of Taihangshan macaquesFrom October 2017 to September 2018,to analyze the activity time budget of Taihangshan macaques in four seasons and different sex-age groups,the behavioral state data of the individuals of the Taihangshan macaques from the WLK-1A,WLK-2 and WLK-3 groups at Wulongkou area of Jiyuan were collected using scan-sampling method and instantaneous recording method.The results showed that: 1)in the four seasons,the Taihangshan macaques from three groups had the highest proportion of resting and the lowest proportion of playing in their activity time budget;2)the proportion of resting in summer was slightly higher than that of the other seasons,and the proportion of grooming in autumn was slightly higher than that of the other seasons,and the proportion of feeding in winter was slightly higher than other seasons;3)the proportion of grooming of adult females was higher than that of other sex-age groups,the proportion of resting of adult males was slightly higher than that of the other sex-age groups,and the proportion of playing of the immature Taihangshan macaques(infant group,juvenile group and sub-adult group)was significantly higher than that of the adult group(P < 0.05).2.The activity rhythm of play behavior of immature Taihangshan macaquesBased on the data obtained in the previous section,this study analyzed and focused on the daily activity patterns of play behavior in four seasons,and explored the effect of ecological factors on play behavior.The results of the study showed that: 1)the activity rhythm differed among various groups of immature Taihangshan macaques.From 08:00(WLK-1A: 7.72 ± 8.98 %;WLK-3: 9.18 ± 15.75 %)to 11:00(WLK-1A: 1.86 ± 4.93 %;WLK-3: 3.33 ± 6.67 %)in summer,the social play behaviors of immature macaques of WLK-1A group and WLK-3 group showed a decreasing tendency,while from 13:00(WLK-1A: 1.88 ± 3.77%;WLK-3: 0.00%)to 16:00(WLK-1A: 7.53 ± 9.90%;WLK-3: 7.06 ± 13.12%)the social play behaviors showed an increasing tendency.The findings suggested that the social play behaviors of immature macaques of WLK-1A and WLK-3 groups mainly occured in the morning and evening during summer;2)the climatic factors had a weak effect on the play behavior of the immature Taihangshan macaques,and only the non-social play behavior of immature macaques of the WLK-1A group weakly correlated postively with monthly precipitation(r = 0.56,P = 0.058).3.The social play behavior of Taihangshan macaquesFrom September 2017 to September 2018,in Jiyuan Wulongkou area,using focal sampling method and the continuous recording method,the data of Taihangshan macaques' play behavior initiators' and recipients' age information and behavior types of the WLK-1A group were collectted.The characteristics of social play behaviors of Taihangshan macaques and the choice of playing partners were analyzed.The results showed that: 1)the frequency of play behavior(r = - 0.97,P < 0.05)and its types of social play(r = - 0.97,P < 0.05),and non-social play(r = - 0.94,P < 0.05)significantly correlated negatively with age;2)the standardized frequency(frequency per 10 hrs)of five types of social play from highest to lowest were chasing play(61 times,31.32%),slapping play(50 times,25.71%),biting play(38 times,19.96%),wrestling play(32 times,16.59%)and mounting play(12 times,6.43%)respectively,and the standardized frequency of chasing play was significantly greater than that of the other types of play behaviors except for slapping play(P < 0.05).These findings showed that the social play behavior of Taihangshan macaques was mainly chasing play,and there was a special play behavior--mounting play;3)in the social play behaviors initiated by individuals in each age group,the overall performance was that the frequency of social play behavior with individuals of the same age group was the highest,and the frequency of social play behavior between individuals of 0 to 2 years of the same age group was significantly higher than that of individuals of other age groups(P < 0.05);4)in the wrestling play behavior initiated by all age groups,the overall performance was that the duration of the same age individual wrestling play relatively long.In summary,the findings of this study support the ‘motor training hypothesis' of which explaining function of play.4.The relationship between social play and agonistic behavior of immature Taihangshan macaquesFrom September 2017 to September 2018,using focus sampling method and continuous recording method,the data of the initiators' and recipients' age information and behavior types of the social play behavior and agonistic behavior of WLK-1A group macaques were collected to analyze the behavioral characteristics of the social play behavior and agonistic behavior of macaques.The results showed that: 1)the frequency of chasing play behavior of 1 to 3 years old macaques was significantly higher than that of biting play(P < 0.05),although there was no significant difference in the frequency of agonistic behavior among different age groups(P > 0.05);the frequency of slapping and chasing at 3 years old and 4-5 years old was significant higher than that of biting,indicating that with the increase of age,the types of social play behaviors of immature Taihangshan macaques mainly adopt chasing play.The agonistic behavior gradually changed to the type with weaker aggression intensity.2)within immature Taihangshan macaques,social play(r = - 0.95,P < 0.05)and its chasing play(r = 0.88,P < 0.05),slapping play(r = 0.96,P < 0.05)and the biting play(r = 0.94,P < 0.05)significantly correlated negatively with age,while the agonistic behavior(r = 0.94,P < 0.05)and its chasing(r = 0.93,P < 0.05),slapping(r = 0.88,P = 0.05)were positively correlated with age,and the frequency of biting(r = 0.81,P < 0.10)tended to increase with age;3)standardized frequency of social play tended to increase with the standardized frequency of aggression behavior(? = 0.80,P = 0.10);in specific regarding the counterpart play and aggression behaviors,standardized frequency of slapping play decreased with the increase of standardized frequency of slapping(? = 0.90,P = 0.04),while standardized frequency of chasing play increased with standardized frequency of chasing(? = 0.80,P = 0.10);these findings suggested that during individual development the type of social play behavior and the corresponding type of aggression behavior demonstrated an ‘antagonistic effect'—one increasing and the counterpart decreasing,which indirectly supported the ‘motor training hypothesis'.At the population level,this study investigated the activity time budget,activitiy rhythm,effect of climatic factors on play behavior,characteristics of play behavior and its relation with aggression behavior.The findings demonstrated that the size and composition of the population could affect the activity time budget of Taihangshan macaques.The climatic factors showed a weak effect on the occurrence of play behavior.Play behavior mainly occured in the immature Taihangshan macaques,and showed that social play behavior dominated by chasing play was traded-off with aggression behavior.Moreover,immature Taihangshan macaques tended to chose the same age individuals as play partner.The findings of this study generally supported the ‘motor training hypothesis' of which explaining the function of play. |
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