Baby-transfer and other interactions between its mother and grandmother in a captive social group of lowland gorillas.
This report describes the responses of an experienced gorilla mother to inappropriate maternal behavior displayed by her young adult daughter toward a newborn baby and repeated acts of baby-transfer between these two females in a captive social group of lowland gorillas ( Gorilla g. gorilla). The quality of infant care by the young adult daughter clearly improved during the first 4 days after birth, and this improvement was at least partly based on her mother's encouragement. Thus, the mother's activities can be considered scaffolding for her daughter with regard to maternal infant care.
Laboratory of Ethological Studies, Faculty of Human Sciences, Osaka University, Suita 565-0871, Japan. naka@hus.osaka-u.ac.jp
Masayuki
M
Nakamichi
April
A
Silldorff
Crystal
C
Bringham
Peggy
P
Sexton
D000818:Animals; D000836:Animals, Zoo / Q000502:physiology*; D003259:Consummatory Behavior; D006071:Gorilla gorilla / Q000502:physiology*; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology