Cardiac and Behavioral Responses to Humans in an Adult Female Japanese Monkey (Macaca Fuscata)

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe effects of the appearance of a human on the mean arterial blood pressure (BP) and behavior of an adult female Japanese monkey were examined to clarify whether or not the monkey discriminated between men and women, and between caretakers and strangers. Each human (5 male and 6 female caretakers; 5 male and 6 female strangers) sat facing the monkey whose BP was recorded with an unrestrained telemetry system. Behavior of the monkey was recorded on videotape and BP was measured for 10 minutes prior to the appearance of the human (pre-appearance stage) and for 10 minutes during which the human appeared and faced the monkey (appearance stage). The BP and the frequency of alert behavior increased immediately after the appearance of a human. The increase in the BP and the duration during which the BP was high were significantly greater with men than with women. The duration of alert behavior in the beginning of the appearance stage was longer with men than with women and its duration at the beginning of the appearance stage was longer with strangers than with caretakers. These results indicate that presence of a human influenced the monkey physiologically and behaviorally and that she discriminated between men and women, and between caretakers and strangers.