Play face in Japanese macaques reflects the sender's play motivation.

ABSTRACT: Animals often initiate social interactions by exchanging signals. Especially when initiating amicable interactions, signaling one's friendly stance toward others in advance may be important to avoid being misunderstood as having hostile intentions. We used data on dyadic play fighting in a group of Japanese macaques, Macaca fuscata, to examine the function of "play face" at the opening of a play session. We found no support for the previously proposed hypothesis that play face expression is likelier before entering risky situations (e.g., before gaining an undue advantage over the partner) to avoid being misunderstood. The results showed that play face expression was likelier in male juveniles before initiating play with other males than in females before initiating play with males or othe

SUBMITTER: Iki S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10066171 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature