Asymmetries in mother-infant behaviour in Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus).

ABSTRACT: Asymmetries in the maternal behaviour and anatomy might play an important role in the development of primate manual lateralization. In particular, early life asymmetries in mother's and infant's behaviour have been suggested to be associated with the development of the hand preference of the offspring. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of behavioural asymmetries in different behavioural categories of mother-infant dyads of zoo-living Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus). The study subjects were 14 Barbary macaques involved in seven mother-infant dyads housed in Parco Natura Viva, Italy. For the mothers, bouts of hand preference for maternal cradling and infant retrieval were collected. For the infants, we focused on nipple preference and hand preference for clingin

SUBMITTER: Regaiolli B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5947039 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature