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Signaling of reproductive status in captive female golden-headed lion tamarins (Leontopithecus chrysomelas)

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In species in which paternal care has an important impact on the offspring's fitness, concealment of reproductive status has been proposed as a strategy employed by females to prevent males from practicing desertion and polygamy, which would then lean to monogamous or polyandrous mating systems or both. We investigated whether the female's reproductive status is being concealed in golden-headed lion tamarins, which exhibit extensive paternal care and a mainly monogamus/polyandrous mating system. We used a combination of behavioral observations and endocrine data to determine female reproductive status and to examine changes in sociosexual behaviors over the ovarian cycle and between conceptive and nonconceptive cycles. Females clearly signaled their reproductive status by way of proceptive sexual presenting. Males showed in creased frequencies of anogenital sniffing and mounting during the fertile period indicating that they detected changes in olfactory and behavioral cues emitted by females, and they adjusted their mounting behavior accordingly. Males and females also remained in closer proximity before and during the fertile period which suggests the existence of mate guarding. We discuss a possible function of behavioral advertisement of reproductive status in shaping the mating system in Leontopithecus chrysomelas.
Tijdschrift: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY
ISSN: 0164-0291
Issue: 3
Volume: 21
Pagina's: 445-465
Jaar van publicatie:2000
Trefwoorden:lion tamarins, reproductive biology, sexual behavior, advertisement of estrus