Compensation in Abnormal Conditions of Infant  Care in the Common Marmoset (&lt;em&gt;Callithrix Jacchus&lt;/em&gt;)

ABSTRACT. Data on callitrichids infant carrying is highly variable, and there is some disagreement over the relative involvement of different group members. Considering that variation may result from different social and environmental conditions it is important to compare data from different environments. The purpose of this study was to compare infant carrying in 11 Callithrix jacchus groups living in two colonies, in the UK and Brazil, or in a field site in the northeastern Brazil. No differences were found in the amount of time that infants were carried, in the three environmental conditions, during weeks 1 to 4, 7, and 10. Fathers and mothers carried infants for equivalent amounts of time in the three conditions, but helpers from natural groups carried infants more than their captive counterparts. In general, adult helpers carried infants more than subadults and juveniles. The results suggest that carrying is a stable feature in Callithrix jacchus groups, but there is a trend suggestive of an extended carrying period in natural groups. Mothers behaviour were remarkably stable, but fathers behaviour, although comparable, was more conspicuous in captivity than in the field, what may be attributed to paternity certainty. Finally, the greater participation of field helpers in carrying is considered as deriving mostly to age of helpers than to group size.

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Carrying behaviour in captive and wild marmosets (Callithrix jacchus): A comparison between two colonies and a field site

Yamamoto

Box

Albuquerque

et al. 1996

Primates

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Opportunistic mothers: female marmosets (Callithrix kuhlii) reduce their investment in offspring when they have to, and when they can

Fite

Patera

French

et al. 2005

Journal of Human Evolution

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All female primates incur energetic costs associated with producing and caring for offspring, but females belonging to the New World primate family Callitrichidae, the marmosets and tamarins, appear to face even further demands. In fact, the energetic demands of rearing callitrichid infants are thought to have led to the evolution of cooperative infant care in these species. If this explanation is true, then one might expect that natural selection should also have shaped patterns of maternal behavior to be sensitive to the costs of reproduction and equipped females to reduce their investment in offspring under certain conditions. Therefore, we examined the maternal effort and postpartum endocrine profiles of individual female marmosets (Callithrix kuhlii) across conditions that represented two hallmarks of callitrichid reproduction-conception during the early postpartum period and alloparental assistance. When females conceived during the early postpartum period and faced the upcoming demands of caring for their newly conceived litters (Study 1), they significantly reduced their caregiving effort and had significantly higher postpartum levels of estradiol relative to breeding attempts in which conception occurred later in the postpartum period. Postpartum estradiol was negatively correlated with maternal carrying effort. When experienced alloparents were present (Study 2), females again reduced their caregiving effort relative to breeding attempts in which experienced alloparents were not present. Postpartum cortisol, however, did not vary as a function of experienced alloparental assistance. The results of these studies suggest that female marmosets have been subjected to similar selection pressures as females of other primate taxa-to maximize their reproductive success by reducing their investment in offspring under the worst and best of conditions-and suggest that hormones may mediate within-female variation in maternal care. These studies also provide support for the notion that mothers are "flexible opportunists" when it comes to providing care to their young.

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Compensation in Abnormal Conditions of Infant Care in the Common Marmoset (<em>Callithrix Jacchus</em>)

Cited by 2 publications

References 6 publications

Carrying behaviour in captive and wild marmosets (Callithrix jacchus): A comparison between two colonies and a field site

Carrying behaviour in captive and wild marmosets (Callithrix jacchus): A comparison between two colonies and a field site

Opportunistic mothers: female marmosets (Callithrix kuhlii) reduce their investment in offspring when they have to, and when they can

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