Play Behavior Varies with Age, Sex, and Socioecological Context in Wild, Immature Orangutans (Pongo spp.).

ABSTRACT: Play is thought to serve different purposes at different times during ontogeny. The nature and frequency of play are expected to change accordingly over the developmental trajectory and with socio-ecological context. Orangutans offer the opportunity to disentangle the ontogenetic trajectories of solitary and social play with their extended immature phase, and socio-ecological variation among populations and species. We evaluated the frequency of play in 39 immature individuals across two populations (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii, at Tuanan, Borneo, and P. abelii at Suaq, Sumatra), age (0-11 years), sex, and social context, using more than 11 500 h of full-day focal observation data. We found independent age trajectories of different play types, with solitary object and solitary loc

SUBMITTER: Kunz JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11339113 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature