Effect of Social Dominance and Reproductive State on Adrenal Steroids in Female Japanese Macaques (Macaca fuscata)
The relationship between stress and behavior can help us to understand how physiological adaptations shape primate societies. Most studies have focused on glucocorticoids (GC) as stress biomarkers, but other extrinsic and intrinsic factors can influence GC levels and confound the results. To overcome this issue, including analyses of dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEAS), a GC antagonist, can be […]
Costs and benefits of living in a vegetated, compared with non‐vegetated, enclosure in male Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata)
Improving captive environments for primates has been an important tool to enhance animal welfare. One method has been to provide primates with naturalistic vegetated enclosures to promote species-specific behaviors, enhancing interactions with their social and natural environment, such as an increase in feeding, foraging, and positive social behaviors such as play. To investigate the benefits […]
Female–Male Mounting in Japanese Macaques: The Proximate Role of Sexual Reward
Female Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata), in certain populations, routinely engage in female–male mounting. In this study, we documented patterns of vulvar, perineal and anal (VPA) stimulation during female–male mounting in Japanese macaques. During approximately 45% of the female–male mounts analyzed, two thirds of female mounters engaged in VPA stimulation. Given the VPA region’s primary role […]
Use of video system and its effects on abnormal behaviour in captive Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata)
Although nonhuman primates have highly developed visual cognitive abilities, they have few opportunities to exert such abilities in captivity. Video presentation can reproduce multiple features of the complex, real, visual world. Therefore, video presentation can be expected to act as environmental enrichment for captive primates. The present study evaluated the enriching effects of novelty and […]
Sound transmission in the habitats of Japanese macaques and its possible effect on population differences in coo calls
Recently, the acoustic features of coo calls were reported to differ between two populations of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata yakui), namely the Ohirayama and Yakushima populations. We hypothesized that this difference may arise through differences in the acoustic environments of the two habitats, and measured the degrees of transmission of pure tones (250-8000 Hz) and […]