Evidence of behavioral contagion in captive black-and-white ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata) and red ruffed lemurs (Varecia rubra)

Abstract

Behavioral contagion is thought to have a significant role in social synchronization and coordination across animal taxa. While there is extensive evidence of behavioral contagion in Haplorrhines (i.e. monkeys and apes), limited research exists in Strepsirrhines (i.e. lemurs). Here, we aimed to investigate the presence of contagious yawning and scratching in two captive groups of black-and-white ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata) (N = 4) and red ruffed lemurs (Varecia rubra) (N = 4), and further test whether behavioral contagion is modulated by the model’s dominance rank. We conducted all occurrence sampling to examine whether individuals observing a yawning or scratching event (i.e. trigger event) were more likely to yawn or scratch in the following 2 minutes, as compared to individuals who did not observe it. We ran generalized linear mixed models and found that the likelihood of yawning and scratching was higher for individuals observing the trigger event than for individuals who did not observe the event, although the model’s dominance rank had no modulating effect on the probability of showing behavioral contagion. Our findings represent the first evidence of behavioral contagion in this genus and contribute to shed light on the distribution and the possible adaptive function of this phenomenon in primates.