Rhythmic displays of female gibbons offer insight into the origin of dance.
Dance is a universal art form practiced by all human societies and has many functions including sexual attraction, social cohesion, and the therapeutic release of energy. Dance also has been reported in a small number of non-human primate species, in particular apes. However, its function has not been systematically evaluated. We observed 357 intentional, rhythmic, and nonverbal dance displays performed by four adult female cao vit gibbons (Nomascus nasutus) residing in four polygynous groups during 3000 h of observation in Bangliang, Guangxi, China. Females used dance to solicit copulations, as well as to promote a social bond with the group's lone adult male. In addition, this display appears to represent a form of non-aggressive competition among adult females living in the same group. We found that a female who had a weaker social relationship with the breeding male increased her social and sexual access to the male by an increase in dancing frequency. Given that gibbons dance in various behavioral contexts, and appears to serve several important social and sexual functions, a greater understanding of this form of gestural communication offers an instructive model for examining the origin and evolution of dance in humans and other apes.
School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, P.R. China.|Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Yunnan 671000, P. R. China.
Peng-Fei
PF
Fan
School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, P.R. China.|Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Yunnan 671000, P. R. China.
Chang-Yong
CY
Ma
Department of Anthropology Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States of America.
Paul A
PA
Garber
Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Yunnan 671000, P. R. China.
Wen
W
Zhang
Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Yunnan 671000, P. R. China.
Han-Lan
HL
Fei
Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Yunnan 671000, P. R. China.
Wen
W
Xiao
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