Social play among immature black and gold howler monkey (Alouatta caraya) during intergroup encounters

MARIA SOL GENNUSO; MELINA BRIVIDORO; PAVÉ, ROMINA; MARIANA RAÑO; MARTIN KOWALEWSKI

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY

WILEY-LISS, DIV JOHN WILEY & SONS INC

Lugar: New York; Año: 2018

0275-2565

We studied intergroup social play (IGSP), in wild black and gold howler monkeys (Alouatta caraya) in northeastern Argentina. IGSP events take place during intergroup encounters as one of the affiliative interactions that can develop during encounters. The main goal of this study was to analyze IGSP in A. caraya immatures and the intrinsic (age and sex) and extrinsic (seasonality) factors that may influence the development of this social behavior. We followed 12 groups between 2008 and 2014 and we registered 182 encounters and 61 events of IGSP. Considering the composition of play partners, most IGSP occurred among juveniles of both sexes (33%), followed by juveniles? males IGSP (31%), and finally among mixed-sex juveniles and infants (20%) interactions. Additionally, most IGSP events occurred mainly in summer (56%), followed by spring (29%), some in autumn (15%) and no IGSP events were registered in winter. Our results suggest that IGSP constitutes a relevant activity promoting behavioral flexibility and where immatures acquire social skills such as tolerance by interacting with unknown individuals. Moreover, the higher participation of young males in IGSP is consistent with the fact that adult black and gold howler males tend to be more actively involved in group encounters than females, supporting the hypothesis that social play provides benefits in the development of motor and social skills. Finally, seasonality in the frequencies of IGSP may be related to the higher energetic food available in summer and spring.