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Grooming in mandrills and the time frame of reciprocal partner choice
Author(s) -
Schino Gabriele,
Pellegrini Barbara
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
american journal of primatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.988
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1098-2345
pISSN - 0275-2565
DOI - 10.1002/ajp.20719
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology , reciprocal , philosophy , linguistics
In this study, we examined the time frame of reciprocal partner choice in the grooming interactions of captive mandrills ( Mandrillus sphinx ) in order to test the hypothesis that the cognitive limitations of primates constrain the occurrence of reciprocation to short time intervals. In contrast to this hypothesis, mandrills groomed preferentially those individuals that groomed them more even when cases of immediate reciprocation were excluded from the analysis. These results show that mandrills were not limited to reciprocating grooming over short time intervals. It is proposed that a system of emotional bookkeeping may support the ability of primates to reciprocate over long time frames. Am. J. Primatol. 71:884–888, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.