Leca, Jean-Baptistehttps://hdl.handle.net/10133/49722024-03-29T02:17:23Z2024-03-29T02:17:23Z101Do monkeys use sex toys? Evidence of stone tool-assisted masturbation in free-ranging long-tailed macaquesCenni, CamillaChristie, Jessica B. A.Van der Pant, YanniGunst, NoëlleVasey, Paul L.Wandia, NengahLeca, Jean-Baptistehttps://hdl.handle.net/10133/63152022-08-17T06:04:54Z2022-01-01T00:00:00Zdc.title: Do monkeys use sex toys? Evidence of stone tool-assisted masturbation in free-ranging long-tailed macaques
dc.contributor.author: Cenni, Camilla; Christie, Jessica B. A.; Van der Pant, Yanni; Gunst, Noëlle; Vasey, Paul L.; Wandia, Nengah; Leca, Jean-Baptiste
dc.description.abstract: Recent reports on tool use in nonforaging contexts have led researchers to reconsider
the proximate drivers of instrumental object manipulation. In this study, we explore
the physiological and behavioral correlates of two stone-directed and seemingly playful
actions, the repetitive tapping and rubbing of stones onto the genital and inguinal
area, respectively, that may have been co-opted into self-directed tool-assisted
masturbation in long-tailed macaques (i.e., “Sex Toy” hypothesis). We predicted that
genital and inguinal stone-tapping and rubbing would be more closely temporally associated
with physiological responses (e.g., estrus in females, penile erection in males)
and behavior patterns (e.g., sexual mounts and other mating interactions) that are
sexually motivated than other stone-directed play. We also predicted that the stones
selected to perform genital and inguinal stone-tapping and rubbing actions would be
less variable in number, size, and texture than the stones typically used during other
stone-directed playful actions. Overall, our data partly supported the “Sex Toy” hypothesis
indicating that stone-directed tapping and rubbing onto the genital and inguinal
area are sexually motivated behaviors. Our research suggests that instrumental
behaviors of questionably adaptive value may be maintained over evolutionary time
through pleasurable/self-rewarding mechanisms, such as those underlying playful and
sexual activities.
dc.description: Accepted author manuscript
2022-01-01T00:00:00ZSexual adaptation: is female-male mounting a supernormal courtship display in Japanese macaques?Gunst, NoëlleLeca, Jean-BaptisteVasey, Paul L.https://hdl.handle.net/10133/62682022-07-22T06:04:37Z2022-01-01T00:00:00Zdc.title: Sexual adaptation: is female-male mounting a supernormal courtship display in Japanese macaques?
dc.contributor.author: Gunst, Noëlle; Leca, Jean-Baptiste; Vasey, Paul L.
dc.description.abstract: We analysed heterosexual consortships in a free-ranging group of Japanese macaques in which adult
females routinely perform female-to-male mounting (FMM). We tested whether FMM is more efficient
(i.e., a “supernormal courtship” behavioral pattern) than species-typical female-to-male sexual
solicitations (FMSS) at prompting subsequent male-to-female mounts (MFM). In a context of high femalefemale
competition for male mates, we found that (1) FMM functioned to focus the male consort
partner’s attention as efficiently as FMSS and prevented him from moving away, and (2) FMM was more
efficient than species-typical FMSS at expediting MFM (i.e., the most fitness-enhancing sexual behavior
of a mating sequence). We concluded that FMM could be considered a supernormal courtship behavioral
pattern in adult female Japanese macaques. This population-specific sexual adaptation may result from a
combination of favorable socio-demographic conditions. This study has implications for the evolutionary
history of non-conceptive mounting patterns in Japanese macaques and non-conceptive sexuality in
humans.
dc.description: Accepted author manuscript
2022-01-01T00:00:00ZAnimal culture: how a birdsong went viralLogue, David M.Leca, Jean-Baptistehttps://hdl.handle.net/10133/62642022-07-21T06:04:49Z2020-01-01T00:00:00Zdc.title: Animal culture: how a birdsong went viral
dc.contributor.author: Logue, David M.; Leca, Jean-Baptiste
dc.description.abstract: A new white-throated sparrow song has overtaken most of Canada in less than 20 years. The explanation for
this remarkably fast spread may lie in the southern migratory grounds, where populations from across
Canada converge each winter.
dc.description: Accepted author manuscript.
2020-01-01T00:00:00ZWhen males have females on their backs: male's tolerance, solicitation, and use of female-male mounting in Japanese macaquesGunst, NoëlleLeca, Jean-BaptisteVasey, Paul L.https://hdl.handle.net/10133/62572022-08-26T20:14:26Z2022-01-01T00:00:00Zdc.title: When males have females on their backs: male's tolerance, solicitation, and use of female-male mounting in Japanese macaques
dc.contributor.author: Gunst, Noëlle; Leca, Jean-Baptiste; Vasey, Paul L.
dc.description.abstract: Previous research on Japanese macaques has shown that female-to-male mounting (FMM) is performed by some females as an exaggerated form of sexual solicitation that may occur in the context of high female competition for male mates. This supernormal courtship behavior functions to prompt subsequent male-to-female mounting. In this report, we focused on the male consort partners’ responses to FMM. We studied a free-ranging population of Japanese macaques at Arashiyama, Japan, in which FMM is frequent and prevalent. We analyzed 240 consortships involving 31 females and 19 males.
We tested three hypotheses regarding male’s tolerance, solicitation, and use of FMM. First, we found that FMM was tolerated by male mountees who were no more likely to aggress their female partners during a short time window around a FMM, than they were during the rest of the consortship period. Second, we showed that FMM could be triggered by male recipients, via explicit male-to-female sexual solicitations. Third, we found that some males may utilize FMM in a quest for their own sexual stimulation, which sometimes culminated in masturbation by the male during FMM. Our findings indicate that male partners facilitate the expression of FMM both passively (via their tolerance) and actively (via their solicitation). In addition, FMM appears to enhance the sexual arousal of male partners during consortships. We argued that, for females to have expanded their repertoire of sexual solicitations by adopting FMM, male mates must have played a role in the evolutionary origins and maintenance of this non-conceptive, but intense and powerful female mating tactic.
dc.description: Accepted author manuscript. Embargo in effect until May 25, 2023
2022-01-01T00:00:00ZAre the roots of human economic systems shared with non-human primates?Addessi, ElsaBeran, Michael J.Bourgeois-Gironde, SachaBrosnan, Sarah F.Leca, Jean-Baptistehttps://hdl.handle.net/10133/62562022-07-01T06:05:11Z2020-01-01T00:00:00Zdc.title: Are the roots of human economic systems shared with non-human primates?
dc.contributor.author: Addessi, Elsa; Beran, Michael J.; Bourgeois-Gironde, Sacha; Brosnan, Sarah F.; Leca, Jean-Baptiste
dc.description.abstract: We review and analyze evidence for an evolutionary rooting of human economic behaviors and organization in non-human primates. Rather than focusing on the direct application of economic models that a priori account for animal decision behavior, we adopt an inductive definition of economic behavior in terms of the contribution of individual cognitive capacities to the provision of resources within an exchange structure. We spell out to what extent non-human primates’ individual and strategic decision behaviors are shared with humans. We focus on the ability to trade, through barter or token-mediated exchanges, as a landmark of an economic system among members of the same species. It is an open question why only humans have reached a high level of economic sophistication. While primates have many of the necessary cognitive abilities (symbolic and computational) in isolation, one plausible issue we identify is the limits in exerting cognitive control to combine several sources of information. The difference between human and non-human primates’ economies might well then be in degree rather than kind.
dc.description: Accepted author manuscript
2020-01-01T00:00:00ZAcquisition of object-robbing and object/food-bartering behaviours: a culturally maintained token economy in free-ranging long-tailed macaquesLeca, Jean-BaptisteGunst, NoëlleGardiner, MatthewWandia, I. Nengahhttps://hdl.handle.net/10133/62552022-07-01T06:05:07Z2021-01-01T00:00:00Zdc.title: Acquisition of object-robbing and object/food-bartering behaviours: a culturally maintained token economy in free-ranging long-tailed macaques
dc.contributor.author: Leca, Jean-Baptiste; Gunst, Noëlle; Gardiner, Matthew; Wandia, I. Nengah
dc.description.abstract: The token exchange paradigm shows that monkeys and great apes are able to use objects as symbolic tools to request specific food rewards. Such studies provide insights into the cognitive underpinnings of economic behaviour in non-human primates. However, the ecological validity of these laboratory-based experimental situations tends to be limited. Our field research aims to address the need for a more ecologically valid primate model of trading systems in humans. Around the Uluwatu Temple in Bali, Indonesia, a large free-ranging population of long-tailed macaques spontaneously and routinely engage in token-mediated bartering interactions with humans. These interactions occur in two phases: after stealing inedible and more or less valuable objects from humans, the macaques appear to use them as tokens, by returning them to humans in exchange for food. Our field observational and experimental data showed (i) age differences in robbing/bartering success, indicative of experiential learning, and (ii) clear behavioural associations between value-based token possession and quantity or quality of food rewards rejected and accepted by subadult and adult monkeys, suggestive of robbing/bartering payoff maximization and economic decision-making. This population-specific, prevalent, cross-generational, learned and socially influenced practice may be the first example of a culturally maintained token economy in free-ranging animals.
dc.description: Open access article. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) applies
2021-01-01T00:00:00ZTwo types of withdraw-to-eat movement related to food size in long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis): insights into the evolution of the visual control of hand shaping in anthropoid primatesHirsche, Laurie A.Cenni, CamillaLeca, Jean-BaptisteWhishaw, Ianhttps://hdl.handle.net/10133/62542022-07-01T06:05:05Z2022-01-01T00:00:00Zdc.title: Two types of withdraw-to-eat movement related to food size in long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis): insights into the evolution of the visual control of hand shaping in anthropoid primates
dc.contributor.author: Hirsche, Laurie A.; Cenni, Camilla; Leca, Jean-Baptiste; Whishaw, Ian
dc.description.abstract: The details of the evolutionary steps in the transition from nonvisual guidance of hand movements for
feeding, as displayed by many non-primate species, to visual guidance of hand movements in primates are sparse.
Contemporary theory holds that a small-bodied stem primate evolved visual control of the reach to guide a hand to
obtain small insects and fruit items from the terminal branches of trees. The subsequent evolution of the visual control
of hand and finger shaping movements of the grasp of anthropoids is uncertain. The present study finds that Balinese
long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), video recorded while spontaneously eating at the Sacred Monkey Forest
Sanctuary in Ubud in Indonesia, displayed two types of hand movements associated with two types of withdraw
movements to place food items in the mouth. Small food items were brought directly to the mouth with hand
supination, often with no visual monitoring after grasping. Large food items that protruded from the hand were visually
monitored to orient the food item on the initial part of the withdraw but visually disengaged with a head movement
and often a blink before the item was placed in the mouth. The results are discussed in relation to the idea that visual
information related to orientating food items of varying sizes to an appropriate position in the mouth contributed to
the evolution of the visual control of hand shaping skills in anthropoid primates.
dc.description: Open access article. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC BY 3.0) applies
2022-01-01T00:00:00ZBehavior systems approach to object play: stone handling repertoire as a measure of propensity for complex foraging and percussive tool use in the genus MacacaPelletier, Amanda N.Kaufmann, TatjanaMohak, SidheshMilan, RianeNahallage, Charmalie A. D.Huffman, Michael A.Gunst, NoëlleRompis, AidaWandia, I NengahArta Purta, I Gusti A.Pellis, Sergio M.Leca, Jean-Baptistehttps://hdl.handle.net/10133/62322022-06-03T06:05:32Z2017-01-01T00:00:00Zdc.title: Behavior systems approach to object play: stone handling repertoire as a measure of propensity for complex foraging and percussive tool use in the genus Macaca
dc.contributor.author: Pelletier, Amanda N.; Kaufmann, Tatjana; Mohak, Sidhesh; Milan, Riane; Nahallage, Charmalie A. D.; Huffman, Michael A.; Gunst, Noëlle; Rompis, Aida; Wandia, I Nengah; Arta Purta, I Gusti A.; Pellis, Sergio M.; Leca, Jean-Baptiste
dc.description.abstract: Stone handling (SH), has been identified in four closely related primate species of the Macaca genus. We provide the first ethogram of SH in long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), a primate species known to use stones for extractive foraging. A total of 62.7 hrs of video recorded data were scored from a population of Balinese long-tailed macaques living in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia, and a total of 36 stone handling patterns were identified. Behavior discovery curves were generated and showed that the minimum threshold of completeness was exceeded for the SH repertoire in this group. A “foraging substitute” hypothesis for the expression of SH was proposed, suggesting that SH consists of performing foraging-like actions on non-edible objects. We used a “behavior systems” framework to test this prediction, finding that all 36 stone handling patterns could be reliably categorized in a foraging behavior system, supporting the hypothesis that stone handling can be considered pseudo-foraging behavior. Our “behavior systems” approach will serve as a foundation for the future testing of the motivational basis of stone handling. Additionally, a comparison of 39 stone handling patterns performed by three macaque species (M. fascicularis, M. fuscata and M. mulatta) showed overlapping behavioral propensities to manipulate stones; however, the differences suggest that long-tailed macaques might be more prone to use stones as percussive tools in a foraging context. This work could offer insights into the development and evolution of complex activities such as percussive stone tool use in early humans.
dc.description: Open access article. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC BY 3.0) applies
2017-01-01T00:00:00ZIs play a behavior system, and, if so, what kind?Pellis, Sergio M.Pellis, Vivien C.Pelletier, AmandaLeca, Jean-Baptistehttps://hdl.handle.net/10133/62312022-06-03T06:05:38Z2019-01-01T00:00:00Zdc.title: Is play a behavior system, and, if so, what kind?
dc.contributor.author: Pellis, Sergio M.; Pellis, Vivien C.; Pelletier, Amanda; Leca, Jean-Baptiste
dc.description.abstract: Given that many behavior patterns cluster together in sequences that are organized to solve specific problems (e.g., foraging), a fruitful perspective within which to study behaviors is as distinct ‘behavior systems’. Unlike many behavior systems that are widespread (e.g., anti-predator behavior, foraging, reproduction), behavior that can be relegated as playful is diverse, involving behavior patterns that are typically present in other behavior systems, sporadic in its phylogenetic distribution and relatively rare, suggesting that play is not a distinct behavior system. Yet the most striking and complex forms of play have the organizational integrity that suggests that it is a behavior system. One model that we develop in this paper, involves three stages of evolutionary transition to account for how the former can evolve into the latter. First, play-like behavior emerges from the incomplete development of other, functional behavior systems in some lineages. Second, in some of those lineages, the behavior patterns typical of particular behavior systems (e.g., foraging) are reorganized, leading to the evolution of specific ‘play behavior systems’. Third, some lineages that have independently evolved more than one such play behavior system, coalesce these into a ‘super system’, allowing some animals to combine behavior patterns from different behavior systems during play. Alternative models are considered, but irrespective of the model, the overall message from this paper is that the conceptual framework of the behavior system approach can provide some new insights into the organization and diversity of play present in the animal kingdom.
dc.description: Open access article. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) applies
2019-01-01T00:00:00ZInter-group variation in non-conceptive sexual activity in female Japanese macaques: could it be cultural?Leca, Jean-BaptisteGunst, NoelleCarrier, Lydia OttenheimerVasey, Paul L.https://hdl.handle.net/10133/51362018-06-27T17:25:20Z2014-01-01T00:00:00Zdc.title: Inter-group variation in non-conceptive sexual activity in female Japanese macaques: could it be cultural?
dc.contributor.author: Leca, Jean-Baptiste; Gunst, Noelle; Carrier, Lydia Ottenheimer; Vasey, Paul L.
dc.description.abstract: We compared two non-conceptive sexual behavioral patterns (female-male mounting – FMM – and female-female mounting – FFM) across four free-ranging groups of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) living at three different field sites in Japan (Arashiyama, Minoo, and Jigokudani). We found marked inter-group differences and covariation in the frequency and form of FMM and FFM. This result supports the view that FMM and FFM in Japanese macaques are developmentally and evolutionarily linked. The customary occurrence, high prevalence, and great diversity of FMM and FFM at Arashiyama may be the result of combined favorable socio-demographic conditions, namely few resident males, most of them being old, sexually under-motivated, and less aggressive and controlling than the average male Japanese macaques. We suggest that FMM and FFM may be cultural sexual practices in the Arashiyama-E group. In most other populations, all the aforementioned favorable sociodemographic conditions are not met, and although female mounting may occasionally be expressed by several group members, it does not reach the group-level tradition status. Our cultural interpretation of female mounting in Japanese macaques is consistent with evidence of the social transmission of courtship behaviors and mating preferences in various animal taxa, including nonhuman primates and humans. Our study may have implications for the evolution of non-conceptive sexuality in humans, including sexual fluidity in women.
dc.description: Open access distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
2014-01-01T00:00:00Z