Contagious yawning and scratching in captive lemurs
Abstract Behavioral contagion is thought to play a significant role in social synchronization and coordination across animal taxa. While there is extensive evidence of behavioral contagion in Haplorrhines (i.e. monkeys and apes), limited research exists in Strepsirrhines (i.e. lemurs). Here, we aime...
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Nature Portfolio
2024-11-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-77805-9 |
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| author | William Padilha Lemes Federica Amici |
| author_facet | William Padilha Lemes Federica Amici |
| author_sort | William Padilha Lemes |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Behavioral contagion is thought to play a significant role in social synchronization and coordination across animal taxa. While there is extensive evidence of behavioral contagion in Haplorrhines (i.e. monkeys and apes), limited research exists in Strepsirrhines (i.e. lemurs). Here, we aimed to investigate the presence of contagious yawning and scratching in two captive groups of black-and-white ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata) (N = 4) and red ruffed lemurs (Varecia rubra) (N = 4), and further test whether behavioral contagion is modulated by the model’s social integration in the group. We conducted all occurrence sampling to examine whether individuals observing a yawning or scratching event (i.e. trigger event) were more likely to yawn or scratch in the following 2 min, as compared to individuals who did not observe it. We ran generalized linear mixed models and found that the likelihood of yawning and scratching was higher for subjects observing the trigger event than for subjects who did not observe the event, although the model’s social integration had no modulating effect on the probability of showing behavioral contagion. Our findings represent the first evidence of behavioral contagion in this genus and contribute to shed light on the distribution and the possible adaptive function of this phenomenon in primates. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-39e3b0e8a79d484db7b2990e9d3b338b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
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| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-39e3b0e8a79d484db7b2990e9d3b338b2024-11-10T12:16:19ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222024-11-011411910.1038/s41598-024-77805-9Contagious yawning and scratching in captive lemursWilliam Padilha Lemes0Federica Amici1Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of DebrecenFaculty of Life Sciences, Institute of Biology, Human Biology & Primate Cognition, Leipzig UniversityAbstract Behavioral contagion is thought to play a significant role in social synchronization and coordination across animal taxa. While there is extensive evidence of behavioral contagion in Haplorrhines (i.e. monkeys and apes), limited research exists in Strepsirrhines (i.e. lemurs). Here, we aimed to investigate the presence of contagious yawning and scratching in two captive groups of black-and-white ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata) (N = 4) and red ruffed lemurs (Varecia rubra) (N = 4), and further test whether behavioral contagion is modulated by the model’s social integration in the group. We conducted all occurrence sampling to examine whether individuals observing a yawning or scratching event (i.e. trigger event) were more likely to yawn or scratch in the following 2 min, as compared to individuals who did not observe it. We ran generalized linear mixed models and found that the likelihood of yawning and scratching was higher for subjects observing the trigger event than for subjects who did not observe the event, although the model’s social integration had no modulating effect on the probability of showing behavioral contagion. Our findings represent the first evidence of behavioral contagion in this genus and contribute to shed light on the distribution and the possible adaptive function of this phenomenon in primates.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-77805-9Ruffed lemursStrepsirrhinesEmotionPrimatesAttentional bias hypothesis |
| spellingShingle | William Padilha Lemes Federica Amici Contagious yawning and scratching in captive lemurs Scientific Reports Ruffed lemurs Strepsirrhines Emotion Primates Attentional bias hypothesis |
| title | Contagious yawning and scratching in captive lemurs |
| title_full | Contagious yawning and scratching in captive lemurs |
| title_fullStr | Contagious yawning and scratching in captive lemurs |
| title_full_unstemmed | Contagious yawning and scratching in captive lemurs |
| title_short | Contagious yawning and scratching in captive lemurs |
| title_sort | contagious yawning and scratching in captive lemurs |
| topic | Ruffed lemurs Strepsirrhines Emotion Primates Attentional bias hypothesis |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-77805-9 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT williampadilhalemes contagiousyawningandscratchingincaptivelemurs AT federicaamici contagiousyawningandscratchingincaptivelemurs |