[Mechanisms in group formation and cohesion in Tupaia glis Diard, 1820. Results of long-term studies of a family group].
In long-term studies of a family group, all the partner-orientated interactions are quantitatively registered and analysed in connection with the usuage of space by the animals. From this, the connections between the interactions and respectively status forms of the group members are recognizable. During the growing-up period of the juveniles in the group, beginning with the first leaving of the nest box at the age of about 33 days, three phases can be differentiated. A phase of "integration" of about 5 to 8 days, in which the behavior patterns between adults and juveniles are polarized on licking mouth with the adults and scent marking the juveniles, is obviously the presupposition for including the rising generation in the relational system (including the space system) of the adults. This phase is followed by a "neutral phase", lasting about 30 days, during which the juveniles stand in connection with the adults by means of a space bonding, in which relatively few interactions occur. Through the joint use of parental resting places and through the resting in close spatial neighbourhood, a true retention of experience for the juveniles must be thought of. At the age of about 60 days an 'ambivalent phase" begins, in which the contacts between parents and the offspring increases again, with an alteration and a superposition of sexual and agonistic interactions. Besides, the sex-specific differences become recognizable: the male interacts with his daughters increasingly sexually, with the sons he is more and more aggressive; the relations of the mother with the female offspring are ambivalent, during which she shows male behaviour patterns and with her sons the female scarcely has contact. Lying in bodily contact has, beyond the importance for a pair bonding, significance for a group bonding. Licking the mouth as an element of the care system (infantile behavior) can be used as an appeasement gesture. The age of 90--100 days, in which the parents frequently have aggressive gesture with their offspring of the same sex, is regarded as the time of reaching sexual maturity. A longer lasting integration of a female offspring (and a male) is described. The social organization of Tupaia glis is based on a permanent pair bonding. Through the addition of the young, a parental family with a maximum of two generations of brothers and sisters can arise. Limiting factors of the group size are incest barriers, a density stress, and the possibilities of communication of the species themselves.
D000374:Aggression; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D006801:Humans; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D013037:Spatial Behavior; D011443:Strepsirhini; D014418:Tupaiidae
Mechanismen der Gruppenbildung und -bindung bei Tupaia glis DIARD, 1820.