Abstract
The present investigation was designed to clarify relationship between mother-infant distance (0. 5m) and filial locomotion in the Japanese monkeys. The subjects used in the present investigation were three multiparous adult females and their male infants. Each pregnant female was housed in a cage of 60 × 93 × 125cm which denied visual and tactile access with other monkeys. Observations in this living-cage began immediately after parturition and throughout the first six months of the infants' lives. Mother-infant interactions were observed for 15 min with 5-sec intervals once or twice a week. The results suggest that the 0.5m distance between mother and infant is affected directly by infant's locomotion, and indirectly by maternal behavior, because the 0.5m distance between mother and infant tended to change in accordance with filial locomotion, which is affected by maternal behaviors (5) in the first six months of the infant's life (Fig. 1-4).
