Speaker
Description
Anthropogenic landscape change increasingly brings wildlife into close proximity to humans and human-associated infrastructure, yet little is known about how its effects early social development in non-human primates. Because infancy represents a key developmental stage during which social interactions shape behavioral competence, disturbance during this period may have important consequences for later life. Here, we investigated whether spatial proximity to human-associated infrastructure (HAI) influences infant social development in crested macaques (Macaca nigra), a critically endangered and highly social tolerant primate species endemic to Sulawesi, Indonesia. The study was conducted in three habituated groups at Tangkoko Nature Reserve that differed in their distance to HAI (roads and beaches) and in their group composition (e.g. group size, infant-adults ratio, etc.) which may provide a different degree of protection against HAI. Using behavioral and GPS data from 35 infants collected between 2008-2010, we quantified how the frequency of social interactions such as grooming, play, and agonistic interactions varied with distance to HAI across the first year of infant life. Overall, proximity to HAI did not significantly affect the frequency of infant social behavior. Affiliative interactions such as grooming showed only a weak tendency to increase with distance from infrastructure, while agonistic interactions did not vary across the study area. In contrast, playing differed significantly among the three groups rather than with distance to HAI. Specifically, infants from the group closest to HAI engaged in more play than infants of groups further away. These findings suggest that group-specific characteristics may play a stronger role in shaping infant social behavior than spatial proximity to HAI. The species’ tolerant social system may additionally buffer infants from potential effects of HAI. However, future studies incorporating direct measures of human presence, like human-wildlife encounters, may help clarify potential risks of human disturbance on infant social development.
| Status Group | Doctoral Researcher |
|---|---|
| FOR TALKS: Poster Presentation Option | No, I prefer to present only as a talk. |