Provider: Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic TY - JOUR JO - Anthropologie (Brno) TI - Social Factors and Mother-Infant Relationships in Cynomolgus Macaques AU - Meishvili NV AU - Chalyan VG Y1 - 2000 VL - 38 IS - 2 PB - Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic SN - 0323-1119 SP - 181 EP - 185 KW - Maternal behaviour KW - Aggression KW - Inter-group differences KW - Mother's rank KW - Cynomolgus macaques N2 - N2 - It is established that in females primates mother-infant relationships are dependent on such factors as age and sex of the infant, as well as on the maternal style. The role of social factors in the development of mother-infant relationships in 3 corral groups of cynomolgus macaques is discussed in this paper. The observations showed that in all three groups the relations of group members to mothers depended on the age of the infants. The frequency of aggression towards the mothers was minimal for females with newborns of 0-8 weeks, attained its maximal level for the females with infants of 9-16 weeks and subsequently lowered to medium level. The higher frequency of grooming of the mothers has been noted when the infants were not older than 8 weeks and the mothers significantly were more often subjected to grooming than groomed. Social rank of mothers influenced on the relationships between mothers and other members of the groups. It has been established that high-ranking females were subjected to attacks less often than medium- or low-ranking ones, and they were less often groomed. Inter-group differences in the character of relationships between mothers and other group members have been noted. These differences correlated with the extent of maternal care in mothers. The highest level of maternal care has been noted in the group with the highest level of aggression towards the mothers. In such groups mothers spend more time with their infants. In another group with relatively smooth microclimate mothers have been more confident than in the first one. ER -