title: Novelty-seeking temperament in captive stumptail macaques (Macaca arctoides) and spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi).
abstract: Novelty-seeking temperament is defined as the reaction to novel or risk situations and objects, and by the global disposition to explore such stimuli. Our purpose was to describe and compare this trait in primates. For this purpose, a risk-taking Index, a curiosity index, and a novelty-seeking index were correlated to several biosocial variables using 22 captive stumptail macaques (Macaca arctoides) and 7 captive spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi). Spider monkeys scored higher than macaques, males of both species scored higher than females, and dominant macaques were evaluated as more novelty seekers. We suggest that these differences may be because of, among other reasons, the particular social system of each species.
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñíz, Mexico City, Mexico. santild@imp.edu.mx
authors.forename: Ana María
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Santillán-Doherty
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cortés-Sotres
authors.forename: Rita Virginia
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Arenas-Rosas
authors.forename: Alejandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Márquez-Arias
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cruz
authors.forename: Asunción
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Medellín
authors.forename: Ana Julia
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Aguirre
authors.forename: Jairo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Muñóz-Delgado
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Díaz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D053819:Atelinae / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D005260:Female; D008251:Macaca / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D012309:Risk-Taking