Interações e relações sociais de macaco-prego (Sapajus apella) em cativeiro com isolamento do indivíduo durante a alimentação: um estudo descritivo

Abstract

The behavior of groups of Sapajus apella living in natural surroundings, captive and semi-captive are reasons of many scientific studies. The term refers to restrictive environmental conditions planned for the purpose of ensuring the health and quality of life of individuals, as individual boxes of food, escape routes in case of physical attacks, no females in some cages and even the withdrawal of puppies to ensure their survival. Whereas these restrictions eliminate or minimize relevant parameters involved in understanding the social structure of the monkeys, such as kinship, reproduction, foraging and pressure within and between groups, this project aims to identify and describe the interactions and relationships observed in these contexts, which leads even the questions about the role of the alpha male in these environments. For this, the interactions of twelve individuals residing in three cages of Experimental School of Primates (UFPA) were recorded and, according to the literature, categorized as non-interactive, affiliative and agonistic. The records of the categories were performed based on sampling by observational record of events, focal subject. This technique allowed detecting different interactions and relationships developed in this captivity, and the design matrix for the exchange of social favors. In short, there was a reduction of agonistic behavior among individuals from each cage when compared to specimens in natural habitats; in one cage, harboring four juveniles, the highest frequency of affiliative behavior, rough and social play; grooming, one of main affiliative interactions in primates, was in low frequency, mainly among adults; there was a high frequency of stereotyped behavior in adult cages, but not in the juveniles’; partial social hierarchies were shown in adult’s cages, which is normally observed only for large groups found in nature. In conclusion, relationships established through time in the cages highlight the well-fair of groups of individuals and are essential to be known when the aim is to study animals in captivity.