English: PARENTAL CARE of MACACA MULATTA:

Mothers nurse their young for 7-14 months. Like human babies, Rhesus babies seek physical contact with their mothers. This is needed for normal emotional development of infant monkeys. Males leave their group and migrate to a new one at a young age for mating purposes.

While the majority of parental care is the responsibility of the mother, rhesus infants are also handled by close female relatives and protected by adult males. In the first few days, the infant is carried ventrally and protected from other group members by the mother. Ventral clinging is the position most frequently adopted during travel for the first four months of life, but rhesus infants begin to ride dorsally for short periods during the second week. By six weeks of age, locomotor skills are developed enough for the infant to move independently, but they do not move very quickly at this age, and if the mother is traveling too quickly, she will pick up the infant and carry it. Some young rhesus are carried until they reach one year of age, though it is rare. During early infancy, rhesus macaques nurse exclusively for the first two weeks of life, after which they begin to experiment with solid food. At about four months of age, rhesus mothers begin to resist the attempts of their offspring to nurse, and young rhesus macaques are fully weaned by the birth of their next sibling.

Exploration off of the mother begins as early as five days old and continues to increase so that by the third week, the infant breaks physical contact with the mother as frequently as possible. During this time, juvenile and adolescent females are intensely interested in the infant and will approach the mother and groom her in an attempt to get near the infant. When an infant is off the mother, a young rhesus female will touch the infant and try to carry it, but the mother is watchful of this interaction and any sign of distress from the infant may elicit an aggressive response from the mother towards the younger female. This practice of "aunting" behavior seen in young female rhesus macaques will influence their ability to successfully raise infants.

COMMUNICATION:

Vocal and gestural communication is important in rhesus macaques. Facial expression, body postures, and gestures are all forms of non-vocal communication among rhesus macaques and are important in interactions between individuals at short distances. One facial expression that is seen throughout macaque species and is one of the most common expressions in rhesus macaques is the "silent bared teeth" face. Among rhesus macaques this is seen between individuals of differing rank with the lower-ranking or submissive animal performing the "silent bared teeth" face to the dominant animal. Another common facial expression used in dominance interactions include a "fear grimace" accompanied by a scream, heard in frightened animals and used to appease or redirect aggression. Dominant animals use a silent "open mouth stare" as a threat to other animals; this is accompanied by the tail sticking straight out behind the body with the monkey standing quadrupedally. Another common visual communication signal is the "present rump," where the tail is raised and the genitals are exposed to the more dominant individual.