Abstract
Among many species of primates, staring is perceived as a sign of aggression and averting the gaze usually serves to reduce such conflict. The current study conducted in southern India documented developmental differences among wild bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata) in their latency to gaze avert after establishing eye contact with other individuals. Feeding stations were used to gather macaques within a small area to facilitate the video recording of group dynamics and eye contact between subordinate and dominant individuals. Individuals were grouped into three age classes: juveniles, subadult males, and adult males. Comparisons were also made between urban and forest dwelling troops. In the forest, juveniles established eye contact with older males for significantly longer periods of time than did adults. A linear trend was observed in which the latency to gaze avert after establishing eye contact decreased with age. This trend was not evident in the urban troops, for which the latency to gaze avert did not change significantly with age. Urban juveniles were also more likely to be chased when they established eye contact with adults compared with their forest counterparts. These differences could be the result of increased predatory risk in the forest setting — the necessity for heightened predator vigilance in forests may reduce the frequency with which juveniles are monitored and chased or attacked as a result of their eye contact. Conversely, the rarity of predators in the city may engender more intense aggressive behavior between monkeys, accelerating the rate of learning to signal appeasement to dominant males.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Argyle, M.;Cook, M. 1976.Gaze and Mutual Gaze. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge.
Coss, R. G. 1978. Perceptual determinants of gaze aversion by the lesser mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus), the role of two facing eyes.Behaviour, 64: 248–270.
Coss, R. G.;Ramakrishnan, U. 2000. Perceptual aspects of leopard recognition by wild bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata).Behaviour, 137: 315–335.
Dixon, W. J.;Massey, F. J. Jr. 1969.Introduction to Statistical Analysis. McGraw-Hill, New York.
Emery, N. J. 2000. The eyes have it: the neuroethology, function and evolution of social gaze.Neurosci. Biobehav. Reviews, 24: 581–604.
Larsen, R. J.;Shackelford, T. K. 1996. Gaze avoidance: personality and social judgments of people who avoid direct face-to-face contact.Personality & Individual Differences, 21: 907–917.
Mendelson, M. J. 1982. Visual and social responses in infant rhesus monkeys.Amer. J. Primatol., 3: 333–340.
Mendelson, M. J.;Haith, M. M.;Goldman-Rakic, P. S. 1982. Face scanning and responsiveness to social cues in infant rhesus monkeys.Develop. Psychol., 18: 222–228.
Ramakrishnan, U.;Coss, R. G. 2000a. Age differences in the responses to adult and juvenile alarm calls by bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata).Ethology, 106: 131–144.
Ramakrishnan, U.;Coss, R. G. 2000b. Recognition of heterospecific alarm vocalizations by bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata).J. Comp. Psychol., 114: 3–12.
Silk, J. B. 1994. Social relationships of male bonnet macaques: male bonding in a matrilineal society.Behaviour, 130: 271–291.
Simonds, P. E. 1965. The bonnet macaque in South India. In:Primate Behavior,DeVore,I. (ed.), Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York, pp. 175–196.
Singh, S. D. 1966a. The effects of human environment upon the reactions to novel situations in the rhesus.Behaviour, 26: 243–250.
Singh, S. D. 1966b. The effects of human environment on the social behavior of rhesus monkeys.Primates, 7: 33–39.
Sugiyama, Y. 1971. Characteristics of the social life of bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata).Primates, 12: 247–266.
Thomsen, C. E. 1974. Eye contact by non-human primates toward a human observer.Anim. Behav., 22: 144–149.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
About this article
Cite this article
Coss, R.G., Marks, S. & Ramakrishnan, U. Early environment shapes the development of gaze aversion by wild bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata). Primates 43, 217–222 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02629649
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02629649