| Abstract: | Tamarins – the slightly different primates Unusual for primates, callitrichids are characterized in their social organization by a male‐biased sex ratio and in their social breeding system by a high degree of flexibility with prevailing polyandry, particularly in tamarins. Social polyandry contrasts with a general monopolization of paternities by a single male, i.e. genetic monogamy. Unique amongst primates (and very rare amongst mammals in general) is the cooperative breeding, where apart from fathers other group members, particularly adult males, participate in the transport of infants, generally twins. Finally, female tamarins show much higher rates of scent marking and possess much larger scent glands than males. In combination with the chemical composition of scent marks, this is most plausibly interpreted as a “quality indicator” in the sense of sexual selection theory. |
