Leaders of progressions in wild mixed‐species troops of saddleback (Saguinus fuscicollis) and mustached tamarins (S. mystax), with emphasis on color vision and sex

Abstract

Leadership of travel progression is an important aspect of group living. It is widely believed that trichromacy evolved to facilitate the detection and selection of fruit in the dappled light of a forest. Further, it has been proposed that in New World primate species, which typically contain a range of color vision phenotypes, at least one female in a group will be trichromatic (i.e., having three types of visual pigment, in contrast to the two types of pigment found in dichromatic individuals) and will lead the group to fruiting trees. We examine progression leadership within two wild mixed-species troops of saddleback (Saguinus fuscicollis) and mustached (Saguinus mystax) tamarins over a complete year. As whole units, the mixed-species troops were most frequently led by a mustached tamarin. This is the first time that mixed-species group leadership and individual leadership have been quantified in these tamarin species. In terms of single-species intragroup leadership, neither the visual status (dichromatic or trichromatic) nor the sex of individuals had a consistent effect across species. Saddleback tamarin groups were led by males more frequently than females, while evidence suggests that mustached tamarins may be female-led. The notion that all groups contain at least one trichromatic female that leads the troop to feeding trees was not supported.

Behavioural Evidence of Sex-Linked Colour Vision Polymorphism in the Squirrel Monkey Saimiri ustus

“…With respect to this, frequent contact calls that adult squirrel monkey females give while foraging serve as signals that orient the remainder of the troop to the female core while travelling and foraging [Baldwin and Baldwin, 1981]. However, at least in saddlebacked tamarins (Saguinus fuscicollis) and in emperor tamarins (Saguinus imperator) , groups are more frequently led to feeding trees by males [Dominy et al, 2003;Smith et al, 2003a].…”

Color vision pigment frequencies in wild tamarins (Saguinusspp.)

“…To date there is no evidence to suggest that other members of a group benefit from another individual's trichromacy through social foraging. In a study of foraging behavior of tamarins, trichromatic females did not consistently lead the group to fruiting trees [Smith et al, 2003b].…”

“…During this time fecal samples were collected from individually identifiable animals for DNA extraction (for further details see Smith et al [2003b]). The samples were stored in 100% ethanol at ambient temperature.…”

Mieux vaut prévenir que guérir : comment sécuriser la relation Homme-Chien ?

“…Contrairement à la notion de dominance-subordination, qui est liée à l'organisation sociale d'un groupe, le leadership fait référence à un rôle social de plusieurs individus au sein du groupe et permet d'adapter la vie du groupe à son environnement, en coopérant pour exploiter le milieu de façon optimale. La notion de leadership est compatible avec les relations interspécifiques : le leadership interspécifique a notamment été décrit lors des déplacements de deux espèces de tamarins ou de recherche plus efficace d'aliments par des groupes mixtes d'oiseaux (Smith et al, 2003 ;Sridhar et al, 2009) Une autre hypothèse évoquée actuellement et décrite chez les animaux de rente pour définir la relation homme-animal est la balance de la somme des interactions positives, négatives et neutres entre l'homme et l'animal (Boivin et al, 2012), déjà décrite dans le cadre de la relation sociale chez des primates (Deputte 2000). Pour Boivin et al (2012), l'ensemble des interactions (positives, négatives et neutres) module la perception de l'homme par l'animal et réciproquement, ce qui permet de construire la relation entre les individus.…”