One Good Turn Deserves Another: Combat versus Other Functions of Acrobatic Maneuvers in the Play Fighting of Vervet Monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops)

摘要

D uring play fighting, animals make a variety of mo vemen ts, some of which seem unrelated to the ongoing actions of the partner. Among such movements are the jumps and rotations reported in many species of O ld World monkeys. In the present study, videotaped sequences of jumps and rotations performed by juvenile vervet monkeys were analyzed. U sing the Eshkol -Wachman Movement Notatio n (EWMN) the sequences were described frame-by-frame revealing that about 82% of the jumps and rotations were correlated with the movements performed by the partner, consistent with the view that these movements are used as tactics of attack and defense. The majority of the remaining 18% occurred in contexts in which the performer solicited playful attacks fro m the partner. A small number of the rest were performed in a manner consistent with the mo vements being imposed by the performer to increase the difficulty in contacting the partner. The same distribution was present in both captive and free-living monkeys. Thus the analyses show that while most jumps were combat-related, these movements can occur in a variety of functional contexts.