Elsevier

Animal Behaviour

Volume 45, Issue 3, March 1993, Pages 603-612
Animal Behaviour

Regular Article
Effects of reducing the mother's radius of action on the development of mother-infant relationships in longtailed macaques

https://doi.org/10.1006/anbe.1993.1070Get rights and content

Abstract

Abstract. Longtailed macaque, Macaca fascicularis, mothers, but not their infants, were limited in their radius of action to a small part of the harem-group cage. The behaviour of infants and the mother-infant relationship in these restrained dyads and in unrestrained dyads were compared during the first half year of life. Restraining the mother had no effect on the mother-infant relationship. Furthermore, there was only one effect on the infants' development, namely that infants of restrained mothers were on average 11 weeks older when they went beyond arm's reach of their mothers. This retardation in development of these infants' radius of action can be explained by infants being unwilling to enter the unfamiliar environment which could not be explored with the mother nearby.

References (0)

Cited by (12)

  • Identifying key features of early stressful experiences that produce stress vulnerability and resilience in primates

    2011, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
    Citation Excerpt :

    In contrast, infants reared by more protective mothers appear to be delayed in the acquisition of their independence and are relatively fearful and cautious when faced with challenging situations (Fairbanks and McGuire, 1988, 1993). Although these findings may be the result of inherited temperamental similarities between mothers and offspring, similar findings were also obtained in studies in which maternal protectiveness was experimentally enhanced through manipulations of the environment (Fairbanks and McGuire, 1987; Vochteloo et al., 1993). For example, Fairbanks and McGuire (1987) showed that following the introduction of new males, vervet monkey mothers became more protective of their infants, presumably because of the increased risk of infanticide, or male aggression, or simply the social instability resulting from this manipulation.

  • Mother-infant interactions in free-ranging rhesus macaques: Relationships between physiological and behavioral variables

    2009, Physiology and Behavior
    Citation Excerpt :

    For example, infants reared by highly rejecting (or less responsive) mothers generally develop independence at an earlier age (e.g. spend more time out of contact with their mothers, explore the environment more, and play more with their peers) than infants reared by mothers with low rejection levels [11–14]. In contrast, infants reared by more protective mothers tend to be delayed in the acquisition of their independence and are relatively fearful and cautious when faced with challenging situations [15–18]. Effects of mothering style on offspring behavior extend into adulthood [16,17,19–24].

View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text