Mother-infant relationship of non-human primates is the first social experience in their lifetime, which is very important to infants. This relationship is of great significance to the growth and development, normal social behavior and mental health of infants. Therefore, it respresents one of the hotspots in primatology research. In order to understand the development of the mother-infant relationship of the white-headed langur (Trachypithecus leucocephalus) and it’s influencing factors, data on the mother-infant relationship were collected from a wild group of white-headed langurs in the Bapen area of the Chongzuo White-headed Langur National Nature Reserve, Guangxi, between September 2009 and August 2010. The duration and frequency of mother-infant behavior were recorded. Combining with the month age and sexes of infants, we explored the effects of different ages and sexes of infants on the mother-infant relationship of white-headed langurs. The results showed that the mother-infant relationship of white-headed langurs was influenced by the month age of infants. The duration of mother-infant behavior was not affected by the sex of infants, but mothers cared for female infants significantly more frequently than male infants. The sex of infants has no effect on grooming behavior and lactating behavior between mothers and infants, but it has a significant effect on embracing behavior between mothers and infants. These results indicate that the infant’s development is a process from dependence on the mother to gradually integrating into the community independently. White-headed langur mothers take different care modes for male and female infants, which may be related to the different social roles of male and female infants in the future.
LI Jiaxing
,
ZHOU Yingming
,
HUANG Chengming
,
FAN Penglai
,
ZHOU Qihai
. Effects of month age and sex on mother - infant relationship in whiteheaded langurs (Trachypithecus leucocephalus)[J]. ACTA THERIOLOGICA SINICA, 2024
, 44(1)
: 58
-64
.
DOI: 10.16829/j.slxb.150784
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