Snake Avoidance in Feral and Laboratory Reared Squirrel Monkeys

Murray, Sarah G.; King, James E.

doi:10.1163/156853973x00120

Cited by 28 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This widely generalized response across a wide variety of test stimuli contrasts with fmdings in prior experiments (Murray & King, 1973;King & Huber, Note 1) showing a sharp discrimination by squirrel and capuchin monkeys between snakes and snake models as measured by food retrieval latencies in the presence of those stimuli. The shape of the stimuli was an important variable in these studies.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 64%

“…Behaviors of the monkeys were tested in the presence of the following five stimuli, which were identical to those previously used by Murray and King (1973) and by King and Huber (Note 1) in their studies of snake avoidance in squirrel monkeys and capuchin monkeys, respectively: (1) a live boa constrictor (Boa constrictor constrictor), approximately 61 cm long (because of the relatively low temperature of the test room, the snake evidenced virtually no movement during the test periods); (2) a coiled rubber snake, 61 cm long, painted to resemble the live snake's pattern of coloration; (3) a coiled rubber snake, 61 cm long, painted a uniform gray; (4) a gray coiled rubber tube, 61 cm long, painted with red spots; (5) a wooden block, 3.8 x 3.8 x 5 em, painted gray.…”

Section: Apparatusmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A useful technique for studying primates of avoidance of snakes and snake models in the laboratory is to measure the latency of the subject's food retrieval when the food is close to the snake stimulus. Research with this food retrieval technique has shown that feral squirrel monkeys (Murray & King, 1973), capuchin monkeys (King & Huber,Note 1), and rhesus monkeys (Joslin, Fletcher, & Emlen, 1964) manifest strong evidence of live snakes and discriminate among models of varying approximations to a live snake. Moreover, laboratory-born squirrel monkeys (Murray & King, 1973) and rhesus monkeys (Joslin et al, 1964) show no evidence of avoiding a live snake or any of the snake models.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Responses to snakes by surrogate- and mother-reared squirrel monkeys

Huebner

Lentz

Wooley

et al. 1979

Bull. Psychon. Soc.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 64%

Section: Apparatusmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Responses to snakes by surrogate- and mother-reared squirrel monkeys

Huebner

Lentz

Wooley

et al. 1979

Bull. Psychon. Soc.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

mentioning

confidence: 86%

“…The plausibility of this explanation was supported by Stephenson's (1967) experiment, which demonstrated that rhesus monkeys could learn by observation to fear relatively arbitrary objects. In a study similar to that of Joslin et al (1964), Murray and King (1973) showed that there were systematic differences in wildCopyright 1981 Psychonomic Society, Inc.and lab-reared squirrel monkeys' fear of snakes. Wildreared, but not lab-reared, squirrel monkeys displayed significantly longer food-reach latencies when presented with a live snake or a snake-like object than when presented with a neutral object.…”

mentioning

confidence: 91%

Fear of snakes in wild- and laboratory-reared rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta)

Mineka

Keir

Price

1980

Animal Learning & Behavior

134

102

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Experiment 1 compared the responses of 10 laboratory-reared and 10 wild-reared rhesus monkeys iMacaca mulattai to a real snake and to a range of snake-like objects. Most wildreared monkeys showed considerable fear of the real. toy, and model snakes, whereas most lab-reared monkeys showed only very mild responses. Fear was indexed by unwillingness to approach food on the far side of the snake and by behavioral disturbance. Experiment 2 examined the effectiveness of seven flooding sessions in reducing snake fear in 8 wild-reared rhesus monkeys. Mean latency to reach for food, trials to criterion (four consecutive short latency responses), and total exposure time to criterion declined significantly across flooding sessions. Behavioral disturbance declined within sessions but not across sessions. Results of a final behavioral test revealed that substantial long-lasting changes had occurred in only 3 of the 8 monkeys. The results are discussed in the context of dissociation between different indices of fear.It has long been known that many adult primate species exhibit a marked fear of snakes. Some investigators who have studied this fear have suggested, or assumed, that it was "innate" or "spontaneous" (e.g., Hebb, 1946;Masserman & Pechtel, 1953; Morris & Morris, 1965). These terms are only meant to imply that the fear does not appear to result from any specific experience, although obviously maturational and/or general life experience factors may playa role in its development. Other investigators, by contrast, have argued that some form of learning or social tradition is likely to be involved in the origins of this fear. Yerkes and Yerkes (1936), for example, argued that their data supplied "no evidence of specific avoidance (fear) response prior to or apart from individual experience with a given type of object [e.g., snake]" (p, 64). They reached their conclusions largely because adult chimpanzees exhibited greater fear in their reaction to snakes than did infant chimpanzees (see also Haselrud, 1938). Schiller (1952) reached a similar conclusion regarding fear of snakes when he wrote "there is no evidence in the ape of innate specific responses to specific perceptual configurations [e.g., snakes]" (p, 182). His argument was based on results that showed differences in the rate of formation of approach and avoidance reactions to snakes and to other, more arbitrary, neutral objects. A somewhat more direct strategy for getting at the origins of snake fear than that used by Yerkes, Haselrud, or Schiller involves comparing the responses of lab-reared primates with those of wildreared primates. Although both Hebb (1946) and Yerkes and Yerkes (1936) had a mixture of wildand captive-reared chimpanzees in their studies, no systematic comparisons were made between the responses of the two groups. Furthermore, Yerkes and Yerkes noted that all their subjects had probably had experience with snakes even in their captive environment and that there was a good possibility that they had learned the fear. More recently, Joslin,...

show abstract

Behavioral responses to species‐specific warning calls in infant squirrel monkeys reared in social isolation

Herzog¹,

Hopf²

1984

American J Primatol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Six infant squirrel monkeys were reared in social isolation. They responded differentially to playbacks of two species-specific alarm calls. The reaction to the alarm peep, the warning call to bird predators, was a prompt flight to the mother surrogate and essentially resembled the respective behavior of mother-reared infants. The responses to yapping, the alarm call to terrestrial predators, were less clear-cut and habituated soon. However, when yapping was played back in connection with the presentation of a reference object, both subjects tested in this way clearly avoided the object and preferred contact with the mother surrogate while they thoroughly explored a n object presented with a control tone, From this it can be concluded that the perception of both alarm calls is innate. In addition, the method of behavior-contingent playback of vocalizations simulates the learning process by which the visual perception of terrestrial predators of the habitat is acquired.

show abstract

Snake Avoidance in Feral and Laboratory Reared Squirrel Monkeys

Cited by 28 publications

References 9 publications

Responses to snakes by surrogate- and mother-reared squirrel monkeys

Responses to snakes by surrogate- and mother-reared squirrel monkeys

Fear of snakes in wild- and laboratory-reared rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta)

Behavioral responses to species‐specific warning calls in infant squirrel monkeys reared in social isolation

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About