Infant‐care behavior of mothers and fathers in a communal‐care primate, the cotton‐top tamarin (Saguinus oedipus)

Abstract

Infant care behavior was examined for 35 litters of 23 different groups of captive cotton-top tamarins. The behavior of mothers and fathers was compared to determine the effects of infant number and helper presence on each parent and to determine whether parents differed in responsiveness to infants. For young infants (1-4 weeks), the contribution of fathers to infant carrying was negatively correlated with helpers' contribution; as helpers carried more, fathers carried less. In contrast, the mothers' contribution to infant carrying was unaffected by helper contribution. Mothers carried older infants (5-8 weeks) less than did fathers, regardless of infant number or helper contribution. Fathers and mothers were equally likely to retrieve a non-harassed infant; however, fathers were more likely than mothers to retrieve an infant being harassed. These results suggest that fathers are more responsive to infants than are mothers. Mothers may limit their involvement in infant care, as has been proposed by field results, due to an energetically demanding reproductive strategy.Marmoset Research Center, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Parental care in the buffy-tufted-ear marmoset (Callithrix aurita) in wild and captive groups

“…Social composition interferred in the participation of fathers and helpers in transportation of infants. The father's lower investment in carrying when adult helpers were present, demonstrated for captive groups of other callitrichid species (McGrew, 1988;Tardif et al, 1990;Price, 1992a;Santos et al, 1997), were also observed here at group B. Similarly to the result obtained for free-range (see Terborgh & Goldizen, 1985;Goldizen, 1987;Yamamoto et al, 1996) and captive callitrichid groups (Ingram, 1977;Price, 1992b;Yamamoto et al, 1996;Santos et al, 1997), lower contribution to carrying by subadult alloparents (groups wild and captive A) relative to adult helpers (group B) was also recorded in our study.…”

“…For instance, it has been suggested that the extent to which the breeding male participate on infant carrying might change according to the presence of helpers. It has been documented a negative correlation between the number of adult helpers and infant transport by the father (McGrew, 1988;Tardif et al, 1990;Price, 1992a;Santos et al, 1997). The engagement on infant carrying by the breeding female, on the other hand, may be affected by litter size, maternal condition, and parity (Price, 1992a;Tardif et al, 1984).…”

The Mother’s Participation in Infant Carrying in Captive Groups of Leontopithecus chrysomelas and Callithrix jacchus

“…It has been suggested that food sharing, which has been reported as more frequent in Leontopithecus [19,20] than in other callitrichid genera [21][22][23][24], could be related to early weaning. This is not the case here because Leontopithecus mothers carried infants to a later age than did C. jacchus mothers [25]. Besides, reports suggest that food sharing does not facilitate early weaning [19].…”

“…In other words, are carrying data from captive animals reliable as indicators of the behaviour of wild animals? Comparative studies with C. jacchus [12] and with Saguinus oedipus [25] report no differences in carrying times for captive and wild infants from the two species. These data suggest that our results probably reflect carrying patterns of the animals in the wild, and that the differences found here are real differences related to genetic and ecological characteristics of the species and their environment.…”

Lactation, maternal behavior and infant growth in common marmoset monkeys ( Callithrix jacchus ): effects of maternal size and litter size

“…However, all instances of infants being located in this axial position do appear to be associated with some suckling. For this reason, the frequency of nursing bouts (number of times the infant assumed this axial position/number of observation sessions) was used as an estimator of suckling frequency, rather than the total time spent in the axial position b. Retrieval: defined as actions by the mother that directed the infant off another carrier and onto the mother (see Tardif et al 1990). In this species, individuals other than the mother are responsible for the majority of infant transport.…”