Other Psychology Commons^™

Social Interactions Among Giant Panda Cubs (Ailuropoda Melanoleuca): An Investigation Into The Role Of Kin Recognition, Kelly M. Jackson

Undergraduate Distinction Papers

Although giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) are known to be solitary in the wild, cubs engage in frequent bouts of affiliative behavior in captive settings. The goal of the project was to investigate whether kinship or familiarity based on housing influenced the frequency of social interactions within one-year old giant panda cubs. Data were collected from June through mid-July 2016 at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Sichuan, China. Over 113 hours of behavioral observations were recorded on four sets of twins and one singleton, focusing specifically on affiliative behaviors. Time housed together was a significant predictor of the …