Play in Immature Tibetan Macaques (<i>Macaca thibetana</i>): Location, Use of Play Signals, and Play Bout Termination at Mt. Huangshan, China

<p>In this study, I examined the relationship between play behaviors, play location, the frequency of selected play signals, and play bout termination in Tibetan macaques (<em>Macaca thibetana</em>) during immature social play. I gathered video data at the Valley of the Wild Monkeys, Mt. Huangshan, China, and focused on 21 juvenile and infant macaques (zero to five years of age). I used an all occurrence sampling method to score play behaviors and play signals with an ethogram. I hypothesized that play groups would use play signals in functionally appropriate ways based on the location of the play bout, the number of audience members in proximity to the players, and play bout length. In the 283 playful interactions that I observed, immature macaques utilized multiple body and facial play signals in various constructs. These data show that immature Tibetan macaques use a versatile repertoire of play behaviors and play signals to sustain play in a tourism site.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Primate Behavior

Year dc:date.available

2016

Author dc:creator

• Wright, Kaitlin R.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Lori K Sheeran
• Jessica A. Mayhew
• Lixing Sun

• juvenile
• primate
• tourist impact
• play behavior
• Biological and Physical Anthropology
• Cognitive Psychology
• Zoology

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/etd/398

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.cwu.edu:etd-1400