The Influence of Target Animacy and Social Rank on Hand Preference in Barbary Macaques (Macaca sylvanus)

Abstract

+39 334 6139953Acknowledgements: We would like to thank Dr. Cesare Avesani Zaborra and Camillo Sandri for allowing this study to take place in Parco Natura Viva. Furthermore, special thanks should be given to Sara Castellazzi, Daniela Galietta and Simone Parodi, the Barbary macaques' zookeepers, for their cooperation in the study and for their daily work. We gratefully acknowledge the Editor of the journal and the anonymous reviewers for their generous revisions that improved notably the form

Hand preference predicts behavioral responses to threats in Barbary macaques

“…In line with the predictions, no group-level hand preference was found in this study. Previous studies on Barbary macaque hand preference have also reported the absence of group-level lateralization for unimanual reaching (Baldachini et al, 2021). Here we found evidence of unambiguous hand preference for unimanual foraging in 20 of the 22 individuals tested.…”

“…Here we found evidence of unambiguous hand preference for unimanual foraging in 20 of the 22 individuals tested. This translates to 91% of the sample, while earlier studies on Barbary macaques reported 35%, 47%, and 75% of individuals to be significantly lateralized (Schmitt et al, 2008; Regaiolli et al, 2018; Baldachini et al, 2021). The higher proportion of lateralized individuals reported here compared to earlier research may be attributed to methodological differences rather than differences among the investigated populations.…”

“…Nevertheless, the results of these studies showed that for sequences of unimanual reaching, older individuals had an overall stronger hand preference (Schmitt et al, 2008). They did not find any effect of dominance rank on hand preference during bouts of unimanual interactions with inanimate targets using both food and non-food (Baldachini et al, 2021). Finally, none of these studies reported group-level lateralization for unimanual reaching or manipulation of inanimate objects (Baldachini et al, 2021;Regaiolli et al, 2018;Schmitt et al, 2008).…”

“…They did not find any effect of dominance rank on hand preference during bouts of unimanual interactions with inanimate targets using both food and non-food (Baldachini et al, 2021). Finally, none of these studies reported group-level lateralization for unimanual reaching or manipulation of inanimate objects (Baldachini et al, 2021;Regaiolli et al, 2018;Schmitt et al, 2008). None of these studies, however, .…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, only three studies have so far investigated hand preference in Barbary macaques. These studies reported seven out of twenty (35%), seven out of fifteen (47%), and nine out of twelve (75%) individuals to be significantly lateralized (Baldachini et al, 2021;Regaiolli et al, 2018;Schmitt et al, 2008). However, these studies used different methods to collect data on hand use and to determine hand preference.…”