Do wild tamarins reconcile? Two case reports from moustached tamarins
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Do wild tamarins reconcile? Two case reports from moustached tamarins Eckhard W. Heymann 1 Received: 7 May 2020 / Revised: 28 September 2020 / Accepted: 15 October 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Mechanisms of conflict resolution, e.g. reconciliation, have been reported from a number of group-living animals, particularly primates. However, whether or not conflict resolution occurs in the cooperatively breeding callitrichids (marmosets and tamarins) remains a matter of debate. Captive studies provide contrasting evidence for the occurrence of reconciliation, and no evidence has been previously available for wild groups. Here, I present data on post-conflict behaviour in wild moustached tamarins, Saguinus mystax, which suggest that reconciliation occurs among wild callitrichids, too. However, reconciliation seems to occur very rarely among these primates, probably due to the generally peaceful nature of their social relations. Keywords Saguinus mystax . Aggression . Affiliation . Post-conflict behaviour
Introduction Group living provides benefits to group members, e.g. reduced predation risk, but also creates conflicts among group members over resources like food and mates (Danchin et al. 2008; Krause and Ruxton 2002). Conflicts may disrupt social relations thereby compromising the stability and integrity of groups. Therefore, mechanisms such as reconciliation have evolved to modulate and resolve conflicts (Aureli and de Waal 2000). Reconciliation occurs when former opponents interact non-agonistically after a conflict, thus reducing the probability of further conflicts (Aureli and van Schaik 1991; de Waal and van Roosmalen 1979). Reconciliation has been demonstrated in a number of different primate and nonprimate species (Arnold and Aureli 2007; Fraser and Bugnyar 2011; Lazzaroni et al. 2017). For callitrichid primates (marmosets and tamarins), evidence for reconciliatory behaviour is conflicting: while it has not been observed in captive red-bellied tamarins, Saguinus labiatus (Schaffner and Caine 2000; Schaffner et al. 2005), it is present in captive common marmosets, Callithrix jacchus, and captive cotton* Eckhard W. Heymann [email protected] 1
Verhaltensökologie & Soziobiologie, Deutsches Primatenzentrum – Leibniz-Institut für Primatenforschung, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
top tamarins, Saguinus oedipus (Peñate et al. 2009; Westlund et al. 2000). To date, no researchers have published accounts of reconciliatory behaviour among wild callitrichids. In this paper, I report observations on two behavioural events in wild moustached tamarins, Saguinus mystax, where one individual acted aggressively towards a group mate and then immediately showed affiliative behaviour towards that same individual. Moustached tamarins live in groups of 3–10, rarely more individuals with a high level of genetic relatedness (Heymann 2000; Huck et al. 2005; Löttker et al. 2004). Breeding is usually restricted to a single adult female, resulting in a high reproductive skew among females (Garber 1997). B
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