Comments on: Stress: Physiological effects and surrounding research http://primatology.net/2007/02/22/stress-physiological-effects-and-surrounding-research/ We ain’t monkeyin’ around here. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:32:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Health for a Long Happy Life » Stress: Physiological effects and surrounding research http://primatology.net/2007/02/22/stress-physiological-effects-and-surrounding-research/#comment-1442 Mon, 19 Mar 2007 21:44:34 +0000 http://primatology.org/2007/02/22/stress-physiological-effects-and-surrounding-research/#comment-1442 [...] Original post by Betsy Herrelko [...]

]]> By: Kambiz http://primatology.net/2007/02/22/stress-physiological-effects-and-surrounding-research/#comment-752 Thu, 22 Feb 2007 16:09:11 +0000 http://primatology.org/2007/02/22/stress-physiological-effects-and-surrounding-research/#comment-752 This is kinda sorta related to your post. A group of biologists who studied wild spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi), are reporting a unique trait related to stress release. The spider monkeys live in the forests of Central and South America and in large groups, but split into short-lived, constantly changing groups of a few individuals to travel more easily in search of food.

They seem to have a unique way of dealing with stress, they have

“been observed embracing to avoid gang violence.

Hugging diffuses the tension when two bands of monkeys meet… Without these calming embraces, the situation can escalate into aggression and even physical attacks, they report.”

You may know this, but primates are awfully social. Fieldwork like this has been documented thoroughly in other species, and it shows to us that animals in capitivity must have strong social groups. Social groups offer them a chance where they can form bonds and deal with their stressors together.

This quote comes from News @ Nature. But the original research comes from Filippo Aureli, who has published this report. I know the link is dead for now, but that’s cause the publication isn’t live yet. If you want, here’s the citation:

Aureli F. & Schaffner C. M. Biol. Lett., 10.1098/rsbl.2007.0041 (2007).

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