Evidence that displacement activities facilitate behavioural transitions in ring-tailed lemurs
Publication Type: |
Journal Article |
Year of Publication: |
2012 |
Authors: |
Victoria Buckley, Stuart Semple |
Publication/Journal: |
Behavioural Processes |
Keywords: |
displacement activity, lemur catta, motivation, ring-tailed lemur, self-scratching |
ISBN: |
03766357 |
Abstract:
Displacement activities are behavioural patterns defined by their apparent irrelevance to an animal’s ongoing actions. Despite being identified in diverse taxa, their function remains poorly understood. One hypothesis posits that displacement activities facilitate transitions between different behaviours by mediating changes in animals’ motivational state. Under this hypothesis, it is predicted that displace-ment activities will occur more frequently around changes in behaviour than at other times, and also
that rates of displacement activities will be higher before than after such behavioural transitions. We tested these two predictions in wild ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta). During focal observations, animals’ behavioural state was continuously recorded, as were all occurrences of self-scratching, a common dis-placement activity in this species. Self-scratching rates were found to be significantly elevated both before and after behavioural transitions. Furthermore, self-scratching rates were significantly higher before behavioural transitions occurred than after. These results, therefore, provide support for the hypothesis
that displacement activities facilitate behavioural transitions in L. catta.