EARLY MOTHER-INFANT RELATIONSHIPS OF MACACA-THIBETANA AT MT-EMEI CHINA

Quantitative data on early mother-infant relationships in the Tibetan macaque was collected during the first 23 weeks of infant life in spring, 1987, at Mt. Emei, China. During the first week of life, infants spent 98.3% of their time in ventroventral contact with their mothers. This contact rapidly decreased to 33.8% by the 4th week and thereafter to 0.85% by the 23rd week. Nipple contact decreased relatively slowly from 89.7% to 62.9% within the first 4 weeks of infant life and to 19.8% by the 23rd week. Ventrolateral and ventrodorsal contact appeared by the 2nd week, mean-while, maternal restraining behavior appeared, and reached a peak by the 3rd week. The mother neither encouraged nor discouraged her infant's independence during 4-8th weeks. Maternal rejection of the infant was first observed when the infant was 11 weeks old and continued thereafter.