Behavioral and social correlates of escape from suppression of ovulation in female common marmosets housed with the natal family

Abstract

Although female common marmosets typically do not breed while housed with their natal families, up to half ovulate at least once while housed with the intact natal family, and a similar proportion conceive if an unrelated adult male is present in the group. In this study, we investigated the behavioral and social correlates of escape from suppression of ovulation by daughters housed in intact natal families or in families in which the father had been replaced by an unrelated adult male. Focal-animal behavioral data were collected from daughters that were (N = 7) or were not (N = 10) undergoing ovulatory cycles while housed with the natal family and from daughters that were (N = 5) or were not (N = 3) cycling or pregnant in families containing an unrelated male. Additionally, four cyclic and six acyclic females housed in intact natal families underwent simulated "prospecting" tests. Cyclic and acyclic daughters in intact natal families did not engage in sexual interactions with the father and showed few differences from one another in their interactions with the parents. Moreover, cyclic and acyclic daughters did not differ in their willingness to leave the family for short periods or to investigate an unfamiliar family in "prospecting" tests. However, daughters that underwent ovarian cycles in the presence of an unrelated male showed numerous behavioral differences from those in intact natal families, including frequent courtship and sexual behaviors with the male, reduced affiliative interactions with the mother, and elevated frequencies of aggressive display behavior. Moreover, these females were less likely to behave submissively towards the mother or the adult male. These findings suggest that both suppression of ovulation and inhibition of sexual behavior normally contribute to reproductive failure in female marmosets living with their natal families, and that the two components of suppression may become dissociated under specific social conditions. Am.

Other-regarding preferences in a non-human primate: Common marmosets provision food altruistically

“…strangers, which would probably be attacked (35). Yet, this prosociality is not merely kin favoritism because marmosets, just like other primates, recognize kin as shown by their ability to avoid inbreeding (36,37) and differentiate between related and nonrelated extragroup individuals (38). Nonetheless, kin selection may well have played a role in the origin of unsolicited prosociality (39), which subsequently was extended to actual and prospective social partners (40).…”

Reproductive skew in female common marmosets: what can proximate mechanisms tell us about ultimate causes?

“…In addition, an age-related dominance hierarchy is often apparent, either within each sex or in both sexes combined (Sutcliffe & Poole 1984;Digby 1995b). Both males and females may be highly aggressive to unfamiliar or extragroup individuals of the same sex, but within established groups, aggression is usually mild and infrequent (Epple 1967;Abbott 1984;Saltzman et al 1994Saltzman et al , 1997cDigby 1995b;Sousa et al 2005).…”

“…Reproductive skew in female marmosets W. Saltzman et al 391 (Rothe 1975;Abbott 1984;Saltzman et al 1997c) and in the field (Digby 1999;Sousa et al 2005). Several investigators have, on rare occasions, observed dominant females disrupting subordinate females' sexual interactions with males (Epple 1967;Rothe 1975;Abbott 1984 Abbott 1999, unpublished data) and, in the laboratory groups, most subordinate females are never seen even attempting to mate (Rothe 1975;Abbott 1984).…”

“…Interestingly, however, subordinate females undergoing ovulatory cycles are much less likely to submit to dominant females than are anovulatory subordinates (Saltzman et al 1997cAlencar et al 2006). Thus, a female's perception of herself as subordinate to another female, rather than the receipt of specific types or frequencies of agonistic behaviours, may be critical in determining ovulation suppression.…”

Contested dominance modifies the anovulatory consequences of social subordination in female marmosets

“…In most callitrichid groups, only one of the females produces offspring, but in captive family groups of C. jacchus, daughters of the reproductive female may cycle (5,10) provided that they are not subordinate to their mothers (11). Although ovulatory, these latter females do not usually become pregnant and do not deliver term infants.…”