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UMD BIOL 608W - Grooming and Infant Handling Interchange in Macaca fascicularis

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Grooming and Infant Handling Interchange in Macaca fascicularis: The Relationship Between Infant Supply and Grooming PaymentAbstractMethodsSubjectsData CollectionInfant Handling After GroomingEffect of Supply on Grooming Bout DurationEffect of Infant Age and Handling Time on Grooming DurationReciprocal vs. Unidirectional GroomingEffect of Rank and KinResultsDiscussionReferencesGrooming and Infant Handling Interchangein Macaca fascicularis: The RelationshipBetween Infant Supply and Grooming PaymentMichael D. GumertReceived: 24 October 2005 / Revised: 4 April 2006 / Accepted: 7 August 2006 /Published online: 26 October 2007#Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2007Abstract Female long-tailed macaques are attracted to infants and frequently groommothers bearing them. Such grooming often involves the groomer contacting theinfant and may be a trade of grooming for infant handling. To identify if groomingand infant handling are directly traded, I collected samples on times after female-to-mother grooming and on interactions in which a female groomed a mother andcontacted her infant. I determin ed that grooming tended to promote an exchangewith infant handling and that the supply of available infants was related to how longa female groomed a mother. Grooming interactions were longer when infants werescarce in the surrounding social environment than when they wer e abundant, indi-cating a possible supply-and-demand effect. This supports that grooming may bepayment for infant handling. Grooming-infant handling interchanges tended to beunidirectional as mothers usually did not reciprocate grooming. Instead, infant contactoccurred. A larger proportion of grooming-infant handling interchanges involvedyounger infants, but infant age did not seem to influence grooming durations. Thelength of female-to-mother grooming had no observable effect on handling time.Lower-ranked females groomed higher-ranked mothers and their infants longer thanvice versa. Moreover, it was possible to predict up-ran k grooming via supply anddemand better than down-rank grooming. There was no observable influence ofkinship on grooming-infant handling interchange. These results support theconclusion that grooming and infant handling may be traded. Grooming promotedinfant handling, while supply and rank predicted the grooming payment a femalewould offer to access an infant.Keywords biological markets.grooming.infant handling.interchange.Macaca fascicularisInt J Primatol (2007) 28:1059–1074DOI 10.1007/s10764-007-9202-0M. D. Gumert (*)Division of Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences,Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singaporee-mail: [email protected] with infants are very attractive as social partners. In long-tailed macaquesand other monkey and ape species, females tend to group around and to groommothers bearing newborns more frequently than other females (Lancaster 1971;Maestripieri 1994; Manson 1999; Nicolson 1987; Silk 1999; Wheatley 1999). Insuch interactions in Macaca fascicularis, a female generally approaches a motherthat is holding her infant. She then grooms the mother and grooms, touches, grabs,and/or on occasion picks up and holds the mother’s infant. The interactions are alwaysassociated with an apparent interest in the infant by the groomer expressed throughrepeated looking, lip-smacking, and vocalization. Often the interactions are rigid andthe groomer appears fearful or cautious in contacting the infant.The increased grooming may result from females attempting to ease interaction witha mother’s infant and thus they may be interchanging grooming with infant handling(Henzi and Barrett 2002). It is possible that social animals may exchange valuableacts to gain access to social partners or commodities to which they have limitedaccess and demand to obtain (Noë 2001; Noë and Hammerstein 1994, 1995). Thebiological market premise predicts that females are seeking out infants and are payingfor access to them with grooming (Barrett and Henzi 2001; Henzi and Barrett 2002).Female macaques are selected to be strongly attracted to infants, which makesbetter mothers because they will offer more care to their offspring, leading to betteroffspring survival (Silk 1999). The innate attraction that females have for infantsmakes them a valuable commodity and can drive their attempts to touch and tointeract with them. Having many females attracted to infants creates a demand forinfants, resulting in an infant market wherein many females attempt to access infants.Females engage in activities, such as grooming, that increase their probability ofaccessing and obtaining an infant. Consequently, grooming could be traded withinfant handling in a manner that resembles payment for a commodity in a market.Grooming seems to promote immediate reciprocation of other social acts in long-tailed macaques, e.g., grooming, tolerance, coalition support, and sexual activity(Gumert in press; Gumert 2005; Hemelrijk 1994). Therefore, groom ing may alsopromote an exchange with infant handling. Grooming may promote infan t handlingby appeasing the mother. Appeasement would make her less likely to move away,more likely to release the infant, and/or more likely to allow access to it withoutresistance or aggression. If grooming is immediately traded with infant handling,females will increase contact with a mother’s infant after grooming her. Anotherindicator of a grooming-infant handling interchange is that the bouts should mainlyconsist of unidirectional and not reciprocal grooming. This is because mothers shouldonly offer infant handling in return for the grooming, not infant handling and grooming.Market theory predicts when social acts are traded, economic forces, such assupply, demand, and advertisement, will influence social exchange by altering thevalue of the commodities traded (Noë 2001). Because grooming may be a paymentto the mother for accessing her infant, the supply of infants available for infanthandling at the time of a grooming-infant handling interchange will influence theamount of grooming a female will give to the mother. Scarcity will increase the priceof the demanded commodity and overabundance will decrease the price.I measured grooming payment using the duration of grooming directed toward themother. Longer grooming duration indicated more time and energy expended, andthus more payment. I measured infant supply for each grooming- infant handling1060 M.D. Gumertinterchange


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UMD BIOL 608W - Grooming and Infant Handling Interchange in Macaca fascicularis

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