EXPLORATION BEHAVIORS AND SEXUAL AND AGE VARIABLES IN STUMP-TAIL MONKEYS

Stumptailed macaques (Macaca arctoides) have a complex social organiza tion. Each individual in a group has a particular role that differs fr om others according to sex and age, as well as kinship and status. In a group context such a role enables them to play a strategic cognitive game in consecuence, individuals may display differential responses o r behavioral strategies in the learning processess, particularily if t hey are exposed to a social context. In this study we observed that th e exploratory behavior was indicative of a learning process in three g roups of stumptailed macaques (8, 8 and 10, respectively). These anima ls are in captivity in outdoor cages in the Departamento de Etologia y Bioterio, Division de investigaciones en Neurociencias of the Institu to Mexicano de Psiquiatria. Every sex-age category was represented in each group. During one hour per day, and for three days, we exposed ea ch group to a little cage: the novel stimulus. Sessions were recorded in a videotape and analyzed later, taking into account the following b ehaviors: approach, contact and contact latency with the cage, entranc e and average time of staying in side. We found that adult males initi ate the exploratory activity; infants tend to remain more time interac ting with tha stimulus; and adult females apper to be less afraid to e nter the novel object. The habilities requiered in exploratory process ess, like memory and atention, were discused, and the relation with th e ontogeny of the exploratory behavior, that is, infants play to aquir e important experience for their futures social roles is explained.