RESUMO
In primates, urine washing (UW) is a behavior in which individuals intentionally deposit urine on their bodies. Social and nonsocial hypotheses have been proposed to explain the adaptive function of this behavior. For capuchins, different functions have been assigned for UW, suggesting it as a flexible behavior, but studies have been mainly in captivity. However, no investigations have been performed in urban environments, where these animals can modify their behavior. Our goal was to study UW in a semi-provisioned group of an introduced unknown robust capuchin species (Sapajus sp.) living in a tiny urban fragment in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, where they have contact with humans. We assessed the influence of social (sexual, agonistic, and anointing behaviors) and environmental (temperature, relative air humidity, height of the monkeys in the trees, number of people present in the fragment, and human-monkey interactions) variables, the influence of behavior before and after UW, and the influence of sex-age classes, on the frequency of UW. We observed 75 records of UW in 300 h of observations, where urine was mostly deposited on hands and passed on to feet (95%). There were no significant differences in the frequency of the behavior between sex-age classes nor in the behaviors before and after UW. Around 50% of UW took place in the late morning and we found no correlation between UW and temperature, relative air humidity, nor the heights of the monkeys in the trees. However, we found a significant association between UW and the daily number of people in the fragment, but not between UW and human-monkey interactions, anointing, agonisms, and sexual behavior. Our study increases the scope of UW flexibility by identifying the presence of visitors affecting the occurrence of this behavior. We discussed different possibilities through which people could influence the capuchins to display UW.
Assuntos
Cebus , Sapajus , Animais , Brasil , Haplorrinos , HumanosRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Different land cover types in cities, including green areas, have impacts on mental health. Few studies, however, have been conducted in megacities in low-/middle-income countries, which have extremely complex urban arrangements. OBJECTIVE: We analyzed land cover using the population database of the São Paulo Megacity Mental Health Survey (n = 4287) and the associations with the diagnosis of depression/anxiety. METHODOLOGY: Automatic classification of the orthophotos of the metropolitan area was performed using the random forest algorithm to provide land cover variables. The association of mental health data with land cover was determined with logistic regression and multilevel regression models. RESULTS: The percentage of different green spaces, mainly grassed areas, within districts was negatively associated with the presence of anxiety (OR 0.994, 0.968, 0.994, respectively), while roofs, asphalt and shadow (OR 1.007, 1.021, 1.085, 1.021, 1.014, respectively) were positively associated with the presence of anxiety. These results were more significant in green areas within the fourth quartile [-0.352 (0.158) and -0.347 (0.155), respectively] and in the roofs in the fourth quartile [0.321 (0.159)]. No significant results were found for depression. SIGNIFICANCE: Our data indicate the need for intensive greenery in spaces with different vegetation compositions in urban environments, especially megacities, to improve the mental health of urban dwellers.