ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with a comparison between the mother-infant interaction in the 'isolates' and mother-infant interaction in 'group-living' animals. The differences in mother-infant relations can be ascribed to two main environmental differences. First, in the absence of aunts the isolated mothers were less restrictive and their infants ranged to a distance from their mothers more freely. Second, in the absence of play-companions, during the second six months, the isolated infants returned more often to the only other animal in their pen, their mother, and thus spent shorter periods at a distance from her. In particular, mothers vary in the extent to which they permit or restrict the amount of interaction between the infant and the other members of its social group. The chapter summarizes the results of an attempt to assess the extent and nature of the influence amongst captive rhesus monkeys. The importance of play-companions in infant rhesus monkeys has also been shown by M. K. Harlow.
