| Play behavior is prevalent in most species, especially in primates. It comes from its adaption to the environment during the long process of evolution. Play is beautiful and complicated behavior, has its own structure, characters and functions in certain species. To do research on play behavior will help us know better of the origin and evolution of animal behavior.Our research was conducted in Wild Monkey Village, Huangshan, Anhui Province. The study time is from November2010to May2011.The data were collected by the Focal sampling and Instantaneous sampling. We observed the social play behavior among14immature individuals in YA1(Yulinkeng Troop A1) group. During our study period,1291bouts of social play and695bouts of mounting behavior were recorded. By comparing the information in every play bout, such as the gender composition, age composition, duration and numbers of playmates, we want to tell the differences in sexes and ages. At the same time we will be focus on the different types and frequency of play signals. We also take the numbers of playmates of each bout into consideration. The main research results are as follows:1. Social play behavior in Tibetan macaques(1) Sex difference in social play:The average percentage of juvenile male individuals for each bout per day(68.45%±0.0807) are more than juvenile females(31.56%±0.077),the differences is significant (Z=—11.259,P<0.05).This result shows that more male individuals join in social play and spend more time in social play.(2) Age difference in social play:The one-age individuals take part in social play bouts per day is0.5757±0.1097,the two-age group is0.3343±0.0949,and the three-age group is0.0768±0.04375. By analysis of variance,the differences among three age group are significant (X2=207.69,P=0.00<0.05).As age grows up, the individuals take fewer times in social play.(3) Playmate selection:1) selection in age:among all the1291bouts, the numbers of bouts which happen among different ages is32.06%of all the bouts, the numbers of the same ages is65.37%. So individuals prefer to play with the same age playmates.2) Selection in the sexes:the social play bouts which happened between two sexes occupy68.78%of all social play bouts, correspondingly the bouts happened between different ages occupy31.22%.Individuals like to play with the same-age playmate.3)Selection in numbers of playmates:In our study,a play bout can certain at least two members and up to six at most.The two-member social play happen9.68±0.39bouts per day, three-member4.17±0.11,four-member1.04±0.23,five-member0.18±0.05,six-member0.12±0.04.As the members grows up, the frequency decreases. The difference among different members is significant(F=362.129,P<0.05).(4)The duration of social:According to the analysis of all social play bouts, the results show that the average duration of each bout is34.02±0.04seconds, the duration of each individual is13.74±0.38seconds.(5)The affection of article management:By comparing the distribution of social play in the day, we can see that social play happened most frequently (70%) in the period of frequent human activities.(6) The types and frequency of social play signals:There are six basic patterns of behaviors happen at the beginning of each play bout. They are Chase, Groom, Grab, Bite, Suck and Embrace. The probability of occurrence per day is different:Chase (36.89%±1%), Grab (19.14%±1%), Suck (8.01%±0.8%), Groom (5.68%±0.6%), Bite (24.43%±1.2%) and Embrace (5.86%±0.7%). The differences among all the play signals are significant(F=118.935,P<0.05).We can know that Chase, Bite and Grab are the most frequent behavior to arouse a social play behavior.2. Mounting behavior in Tibetan macaques(1)The duration of mounting behavior:among all the695bouts of mounting behavior, the duration is at least2seconds and can be up to16seconds at most. The average duration of each bout is5.08±0.07seconds.(2)The promoter of mounting behavior:1) Sex difference:in all mounting play bouts, the promoter of each bout can only be males, the females have never been seen as the promoter of any mounting behavior.2) Age difference:the one-age individuals arouse4.79±0.19bouts of mounting behavior per day, two-age individuals arouse2.05±0.13bouts, three-age group arouse1.34±0.11.The differences among three age group are significant(F=141.817,P=0.00<0.05).With age, individuals launch less mounting behavior.(3)The accepter of mounting behavior:1) Sex difference:the play bouts happened between the same sex is60.6%.Bouts happened between both sexes is,39.4%.Males prefer to play with males more than females.2) Age difference:the bouts in which the one-age individuals chosen as the accepter is51.8%,the two-age individuals is41.7%and the three-age individual is6.5%.With age, individuals participate fewer bouts of mounting behavior.(4) Grooming after mounting:It is a very interesting behavior after mounting behavior. During our study, we recorded101bouts with grooming, to14.53%.Generally speaking, we can conclude from the results that there are significant gender and age distribution of the characteristics of social play in immature Tibetan macaques, the males play the leader role in the social play. With age, the frequency of social play occurrence decreases significantly, the peak period is one-year age. Social play always begins with "behavioral signal" or "expression signal", especially with chasing, biting, and grabbing. The features of these play signals are relaxing, moderate and non-aggressive, and contain the invitation of social play. At the same time we look forward into the mounting behavior, most of the mounting behaviors happen between two males which aroused all by males. The mounting behavior in primates is one of the most basic behaviors which can promote the establishment of a union and the development of population. Mounting behavior among adult males plays an important role in the stability and development of population. The individuals in the group must learn, establish and develop mounting behavior. From this study, we know that most percentage of social happened during the feeding time, the reason may be that the high-calorie food from people reduces the time which used to search wild plants, on the contrary increase time spending social play. Our research supports the "motor-training theory" and the "energy consuming hypothesis". Meanwhile our study will help to provide an important reference for the reasonable protection and regulation of primate population with artificial management. |
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