Mutual medication in capuchin monkeys - Social anointing improves coverage of topically applied anti-parasite medicines.
Mutual medication in capuchin monkeys - Social anointing improves coverage of topically applied anti-parasite medicines.
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DOI：
10.1038/srep15030
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发表时间：
2015-10-12
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Whiten A
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bowler M;Messer EJ;Claidière N;Whiten A
野生和圈养的卷尾猴会用一系列有强烈气味的物质来涂抹自己，包括千足虫、蚂蚁、酸橙和洋葱。对这种行为的功能的假设从医学到社会都有。然而，卷尾猴可以在与其他个体接触时涂抹，也可以单独涂抹。社会恩膏的功能也被解释为医疗或加强社会联系。通过操纵两组卷尾猴的恩膏资源的丰富程度，我们测试了恩膏功能的主要假设，特别是社会恩膏功能的预测。当资源稀少或常见时，猴子参与个人和社会恩膏的比例相似，拥有资源的猴子继续加入恩膏团体，表明社会恩膏的功能超出了获得资源的功能。猴子身体上的个人和社会涂油行为的分布支持了个人和社会涂油的医学功能，这不需要额外的社会联系假设。个人恩膏的目标是很难看到的身体部位，而社会恩膏的目标是很难到达的身体部位。卷尾猴的社会涂油是一种相互用药的形式，可以提高局部应用抗寄生虫药物的覆盖率。
Wild and captive capuchin monkeys will anoint themselves with a range of strong smelling substances including millipedes, ants, limes and onions. Hypotheses for the function of the behaviour range from medicinal to social. However, capuchin monkeys may anoint in contact with other individuals, as well as individually. The function of social anointing has also been explained as either medicinal or to enhance social bonding. By manipulating the abundance of an anointing resource given to two groups of tufted capuchins, we tested predictions derived from the main hypotheses for the functions of anointing and in particular, social anointing. Monkeys engaged in individual and social anointing in similar proportions when resources were rare or common, and monkeys holding resources continued to join anointing groups, indicating that social anointing has functions beyond that of gaining access to resources. The distribution of individual and social anointing actions on the monkeys’ bodies supports a medicinal function for both individual and social anointing, that requires no additional social bonding hypotheses. Individual anointing targets hard-to-see body parts that are harder to groom, whilst social anointing targets hard-to-reach body parts. Social anointing in capuchins is a form of mutual medication that improves coverage of topically applied anti-parasite medicines.