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Lisa Rapaport

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21

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University of Zagreb

Uppsala University

University of East London

University of Leicester

Gwen Robbins Schug

University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Gabriel Gutierrez-Alonso

University of Salamanca

Macquarie University

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

Swansea University

Jesper Hoffmeyer

University of Copenhagen

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Papers by Lisa Rapaport

Additional file 3: of Gene changes may minimize masculinizing and defeminizing influences of exposure to male cotwins in female callitrichine primates

Summary of amino acid residue substitutions and predicted change in structure/function (PROVEAN, ... more

Additional file 2: of Gene changes may minimize masculinizing and defeminizing influences of exposure to male cotwins in female callitrichine primates

Tissue or DNA source for gene sequencing. (DOCX 67Â kb)

Additional file 1: of Gene changes may minimize masculinizing and defeminizing influences of exposure to male cotwins in female callitrichine primates

Regions of candidate genes sequenced de novo for this study and PCR primers used to amplify selec... more

African Elephants Respond to Distant Playbacks of Low-Frequency Conspecific Calls

Journal of Experimental Biology, 1991

We conducted 58 playback experiments with free-ranging African elephants in Etosha National Park,... more We conducted 58 playback experiments with free-ranging African elephants in Etosha National Park, Namibia, to estimate the distance over which some of their low-frequency calls are audible to other elephants. We broadcast pre-recorded elephant calls to elephants that were 1.2 and 2.0 km from the speaker while making simultaneous video and audio recordings of their behavior. In order to reduce the risk of habituation, we used a variety of call types as stimuli. Elephants responded to playbacks at both 1.2 and 2.0 km, with a full response consisting of the elephant vocalizing, lifting and spreading its ears, remaining motionless in this position (‘freezing’), moving the head from side to side (‘scanning’) and, in the case of males responding to female estrous calls, orienting to and finally walking 1 km or more towards the loudspeaker. We analyzed our data quantitatively for three of these responses. The occurrence of each behavior increased substantially immediately after playbacks. ...

Social contributions to the foraging behavior of young wild golden lion tamarins ( Leontopithecus rosalia ): Age‐related changes and partner preferences

American Journal of Primatology, 2019

In cooperatively breeding species, group members other than the parents contribute to the care of... more In cooperatively breeding species, group members other than the parents contribute to the care of the young. The costs and benefits to caregiving may vary with the type of care provided and with caregiver characteristics such as age, sex, reproductive status, and foraging ability. Here I examine the relative contributions of parents, helpers and same-aged twins to the foraging and feeding activities of the young in a longitudinal study of wild golden lion tamarins, specifically with regard to direct food transfer, tolerance for coforaging or cofeeding by immatures and signaling young as to the location of profitable prey-foraging sites. I found that the type of food-related assistance varied as a function of the age of the immature and among group members. Rates of food transfer steadily declined as immatures aged, while coforaging rates peaked when juveniles were in the middle age group. Mothers and fathers were the most generous in terms of providing food to begging young. Mothers most often directed juveniles to productive foraging sites, and female helpers never did. Older siblings did not vary caregiving effort according to sex or age. Adult and subadult foraging ability was not a strong predictor of the rates at which prey was given to the young or the rates at which caregivers tolerated coforaging by immatures on plant and prey resources. Thus, foraging ability did not appreciably influence generosity to or tolerance of the young.

Sibling sex, but not androgens, shapes phenotypes in perinatal common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus)

Scientific Reports, 2019

When offspring share a womb, interactions among fetuses can impart lasting impressions on phenoty... more When offspring share a womb, interactions among fetuses can impart lasting impressions on phenotypic outcomes. Such intrauterine interactions often are mediated by sex steroids (estrogens and androgens) produced by the developing fetuses. In many mammals, intrauterine interactions between brothers and sisters lead to masculinization of females, which can induce fitness consequences. Many litter-bearing primates, though, seem to escape androgen-mediated litter effects, begging why? Here, we investigated how the sex composition (i.e., same- or mixed-sex) of litters influences perinatal outcomes in the common marmoset monkey (Callithrix jacchus), using a combination of physiological, morphological, and behavioural assays. We hypothesized that androgens from male fetuses would mediate developmental differences across litter types. We found that newborns (24–36 hours old) from same- and mixed-sex litters were indistinguishable by urinary androgen profiles, birth weights, morphometrics, a...

Gene changes may minimize masculinizing and defeminizing influences of exposure to male cotwins in female callitrichine primates

Biology of Sex Differences, 2016

Background: Sexual differentiation in female mammals can be altered by the proximity of male litt... more Background: Sexual differentiation in female mammals can be altered by the proximity of male littermates in utero, a phenomenon known as the intrauterine position effect (IUP). Among simian primates, callitrichines (marmosets and tamarins) are likely candidates for IUP, since they exhibit obligate dizygotic twinning and fetuses share extensive vascularization in utero. In this paper, we determined whether female reproductive parameters are altered by gestating with a male twin and evaluated changes in genes associated with anti-Müllerian and steroid hormones in twinning callitrichine primates. Methods: We assessed the impact of gestation with male cotwins on reproductive performance and survivorship in female marmosets (Callithrix) and lion tamarins (Leontopithecus), contrasting measures for females gestated with one or more littermates (M+) or no male littermates (0M). We compared targeted coding regions for genes involved in steroidal and anti-Müllerian hormone mediation of sexual differentiation for representatives of twinning callitrichines (Callithrix, Saguinus, and Leontopithecus) with closely related New World primates that produce single births (Saimiri and Callimico). Results: IUP effects in females were absent in female callitrichine primates: age at first ovulation, average litter size, and the proportion of stillborn infants, and lifetime survivorship did not differ between M+ and 0M females. We documented multiple nonsynonymous substitutions in genes associated with steroid synthesis, transport, and cellular action (SRD5A2, CYP19A1, SHBG, and AR) and with anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH and AMHR2) in callitrichines. In the only callitrichine to produce single infants (Callimico), two genes contained nonsynonymous substitutions relative to twinning callitrichines (CYP19A1 and AMRHR2); these substitutions were identical with nontwinning Saimiri and humans, suggesting a reversion to an ancestral sequence.

Hwæt!: adaptive benefits of public displays of generosity and bravery in Beowulf

Behaviour, 2016

Costly signalling — along with other adaptive mechanisms, including reciprocity and kin selection... more Costly signalling — along with other adaptive mechanisms, including reciprocity and kin selection — supports altruism in human societies. Because literary works can reflect the lives, motivations and ideals of real cultures, the same adaptive forces governing the actions of actual persons may drive the interactions depicted in these stories. Based on this reasoning, we analysed the interactions in the Old-English poem Beowulf, asking whether the beneficent behaviour exhibited by the characters functions as costly signalling or as exchange-based interactions. We found that both mechanisms play a role but costly signalling provides benefits beyond those from relationships based on exchange. Specifically, gift exchange promoted comrade allegiance but costly signalling additionally provided status increase to the signaller. Furthermore, boasting about oneself forged alliances whereas telling tales about the exploits of others increased speaker status. We show that hypotheses derived fro...

Is tolerance really teaching?

The Behavioral and brain sciences, 2015

Kline succeeds in demonstrating the value of an approach that integrates information from various... more Kline succeeds in demonstrating the value of an approach that integrates information from various scientific and social disciplines, but her framework does not uniformly provide clarity. Specifically, inclusion of situations in which knowledgeable individuals do not actively donate information is misguided. Passive tolerance by demonstrators should continue to be excluded from definitions of teaching, in order to focus on situations in which selection has favored behaviors that are specifically geared to promoting learning in others.

Tutoring in Wild Golden Lion Tamarins

International Journal of Primatology, 2002

Among most nonhuman primates, juveniles must acquire most of their solid food independently. Info... more Among most nonhuman primates, juveniles must acquire most of their solid food independently. Information gleaned from adults results from efforts initiated by the juveniles. Donation of food or foraging information by adults to immatures is rare among apes and virtually unknown among monkeys. We report 3 observations in which wild adult golden lion tamarins appear to have directed their immature

Food Transfer Among Adult Lion Tamarins: Mutualism, Reciprocity or One-Sided Relationships?

International Journal of Primatology, 2001

Tamarins (Callitrichidae) are cooperative breeders. Groups typically contain only two or three br... more Tamarins (Callitrichidae) are cooperative breeders. Groups typically contain only two or three breeding individuals and subordinate group members are reproductively suppressed. Nonreproductive individuals, which are usually the offspring of the group's breeding members, delay dispersal while providing care to infant siblings. Callitrichid breeder-infant and helper-infant relationships have been well studied but empirical studies regarding the dynamics of breeder-helper relationships are

Optimal foraging theory predicts effects of environmental enrichment in a group of adult golden lion tamarins

Zoo Biology, 1998

ABSTRACT The success of environmental enrichment programs in effecting specific changes in the be... more ABSTRACT The success of environmental enrichment programs in effecting specific changes in the behavior of captive animals has not always been uniform. Separate studies demonstrated both an increase in food competition and a decrease in food competition among captive group-living primates upon introduction of foraging devices. The objectives of this study were to measure the effects of variation in resource distribution and availability on food competition in a group of captive adult golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia). The resource variables chosen were suggested from optimal foraging theory. The energy invested to obtain an item influenced food transfer and aggressive behaviors while food abundance did not. All individuals obtained an equivalent number of items over the course of the experiment from the foraging device, even though some tamarins obtained most of their food rewards directly from the device while others received their food rewards primarily through food transfer from other group members. Because the monkeys appeared highly motivated to obtain food from the test apparatus and did not habituate to it, the foraging device used in this experiment could be used as regular environmental enrichment for golden lion tamarins. One way to circumvent potentially unacceptable rates of aggression, with this or any feeding protocol that increases foraging task complexity and search time, may be to provide more than one foraging device per group. Zoo Biol 17:231–244, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Parental care and infant development in a family group of captive Sichuan golden monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellanae): First 20 days

Primates, 1990

A male Sichuan golden monkey (Rhhtopithecus roxellanae) was born on July 24, 1986 to an adult pai... more A male Sichuan golden monkey (Rhhtopithecus roxellanae) was born on July 24, 1986 to an adult pair on loan from the Chinese government. Physical and behavioral development of the infant, as well as the behavior of the parents, were recorded for the first 20 days of the infant's life. (On Day 21 the trio was returned to the Chongqing Zoo in the People's Republic of China.) The infant pelage was dark gray at birth but soon began changing to the orange-gold color typical of the adults. Forty hours of behavioral data were collected using a combination of scan sampling and all occurrences of selected behaviors techniques. The infant pushed against his mother and pulled toward objects in the enclosure beginning at 4 days of age. Time spent in these behaviors increased steadily and on Day 15 the infant broke contact with his mother for the first time. Mother-infant contact appeared to be maintained by both individuals mutually up to the infant's 10th day of the life. The percentage of time that the infant spent actively embracing his mother began to decline after that while the female continued to spend the majority of her time embracing the infant. During the first few days following the birth, the male always initiated and maintained proximity to the female and the infant. This "vigilant" behavior had declined somewhat by the end of the study.

Some Observations Regarding Allomaternal Caretaking among Captive Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus)

Journal of Mammalogy, 1987

The peregrinations and behavior of feral burros (£quus asinus) which affect their distribution ar... more

Social influences on foraging behavior in young nonhuman primates: Learning what, where, and how to eat

Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 2008

Human infants rely on social interactions to acquire food-related information.1, 2 Adults activel... more

Provisioning of Young in Golden Lion Tamarins (Callitrichidae, Leontopithecus rosalia): A Test of the Information Hypothesis

Ethology, 1999

Rapaport\ L[ G[ 0888] Provisioning of young in golden lion tamarins "Callitrichidae\ Leontopithec... more

Parenting Behaviour: Babbling Bird Teachers?

Current Biology, 2006

One of humankind's most distinctive characteristics is our extended and complex period of child d... more

Ontogeny of provisioning in two populations of wild golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia)

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 2006

Provisioning weaned young is an important part of the cooperative rearing system of marmosets and... more Provisioning weaned young is an important part of the cooperative rearing system of marmosets and tamarins (family: Callitrichidae). Juvenile callitrichids receive a substantial proportion of their diet from all adult group members, whereas juveniles of most other primate species only receive food from the mother infrequently via scrounging. We conducted a longitudinal study of provisioning to 21 young wild golden lion tamarins through their first year of life in two Brazilian reserves. Juveniles were predicted to experience higher provisioning rates at the site with mature forest (the presumed ancestral habitat) and in territories that contained a higher proportion of preferred habitat within the mature forest reserve. Key measures of provisioning did not differ substantially between habitat types. The rates at which juveniles begged for food were very similar across habitats, while the influence of habitat on the rates at which juveniles received food was small and varied across age groups. The most pronounced differences between the reserves were: adult resistance to food-transfer attempts was less frequent, food-offering calls before food transfer were more frequent, and the proportion of prey provisioned was higher in the reserve in which earlier successionalstage forest predominated. Within the mature forest reserve, begging success of young juveniles covaried positively with preferred habitat. Rather than overt caretaker-offspring conflict, an information-feedback loop between juveniles and adults appears to drive provisioning changes as juveniles mature. Direct measures of resource abundance are needed to help clarify the mechanisms by which forest successional stage influences provisioning.

Progressive parenting behavior in wild golden lion tamarins

Behavioral Ecology, 2011

Young primates in the family Callitrichidae (the marmosets and tamarins) receive extensive and re... more Young primates in the family Callitrichidae (the marmosets and tamarins) receive extensive and relatively prolonged care from adults. Of particular note, callitrichid young are routinely provisioned until well after weaning by parents and helpers, which is in stark contrast to typical juvenile primates, who must acquire most of their food independently once they are weaned. Adults of some callitrichid species produce a specialized vocalization that encourages immature group members to take proffered food from the caller. Here, I report that wild adult golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia) not only used this food-offering call to encourage young, mobile offspring to approach and take captured prey from them, but as the young began to spend significant time foraging for themselves and to acquire prey by independent means, the frequency of these vocalizations in the context of food transfer declined. Adults then began to use food-offering calls in a novel context: to direct juveniles to foraging sites that contained hidden prey that the adults had found but not captured. During the period of these most frequent adult-directed prey captures, the independent prey-capture success rates of juveniles improved. Thus, adults modified their provisioning behavior in a progressive developmentally sensitive manner that may have facilitated learning how to find food. I hypothesize that as a result of these demonstrations by adults, juveniles either may be encouraged to continue foraging despite low return rates or to learn the properties of productive prey-foraging substrates in a complex environment.

Provisioning in wild golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia): benefits to omnivorous young

Behavioral Ecology, 2005

Provisioning may act to cushion weaned young from dietary insufficiency and errors during the per... more Provisioning may act to cushion weaned young from dietary insufficiency and errors during the period in which they are mastering complex foraging techniques or learning to identify appropriate dietary items. That is, young mammals who receive food from others may gain nutritional and/or informational benefits. I conducted a longitudinal study of 13 wild golden lion tamarins 11-56 weeks of age in six groups to evaluate hypotheses regarding the functions of provisioning. All members belonging to this primate taxonomic family (the Callitrichidae) are cooperative breeders and are known to provision their young more frequently than do other primate species, except humans. My results, together with experimental findings, suggest that juveniles receive both nutritional and informational benefits from being provisioned. My juvenile study subjects received animal prey (invertebrates and small vertebrates) from others more frequently than plant resources (fruits and hardened exudates). Apparently difficult-tohandle fruits were more likely to be transferred than readily processed fruits. These results support the nutritional benefits hypothesis because the young received items, particularly lipid-and protein-rich prey, that they might not otherwise have acquired. That juveniles fed independently on, and were provisioned with, the same fruits on the same day is counterevidence to the nutritional benefits hypothesis, however. The informational benefits hypothesis was supported because juveniles received a large variety of foods (including more than 20% of fruit species eaten) and received uncommon fruits that were easily acquired. Adults emitted food-offering calls to encourage the transfer of prey to juveniles, particularly when the prey was whole and alive.

Additional file 3: of Gene changes may minimize masculinizing and defeminizing influences of exposure to male cotwins in female callitrichine primates

Summary of amino acid residue substitutions and predicted change in structure/function (PROVEAN, ... more

Additional file 2: of Gene changes may minimize masculinizing and defeminizing influences of exposure to male cotwins in female callitrichine primates

Tissue or DNA source for gene sequencing. (DOCX 67Â kb)

Additional file 1: of Gene changes may minimize masculinizing and defeminizing influences of exposure to male cotwins in female callitrichine primates

Regions of candidate genes sequenced de novo for this study and PCR primers used to amplify selec... more

African Elephants Respond to Distant Playbacks of Low-Frequency Conspecific Calls

Journal of Experimental Biology, 1991

We conducted 58 playback experiments with free-ranging African elephants in Etosha National Park,... more We conducted 58 playback experiments with free-ranging African elephants in Etosha National Park, Namibia, to estimate the distance over which some of their low-frequency calls are audible to other elephants. We broadcast pre-recorded elephant calls to elephants that were 1.2 and 2.0 km from the speaker while making simultaneous video and audio recordings of their behavior. In order to reduce the risk of habituation, we used a variety of call types as stimuli. Elephants responded to playbacks at both 1.2 and 2.0 km, with a full response consisting of the elephant vocalizing, lifting and spreading its ears, remaining motionless in this position (‘freezing’), moving the head from side to side (‘scanning’) and, in the case of males responding to female estrous calls, orienting to and finally walking 1 km or more towards the loudspeaker. We analyzed our data quantitatively for three of these responses. The occurrence of each behavior increased substantially immediately after playbacks. ...

Social contributions to the foraging behavior of young wild golden lion tamarins ( Leontopithecus rosalia ): Age‐related changes and partner preferences

American Journal of Primatology, 2019

In cooperatively breeding species, group members other than the parents contribute to the care of... more In cooperatively breeding species, group members other than the parents contribute to the care of the young. The costs and benefits to caregiving may vary with the type of care provided and with caregiver characteristics such as age, sex, reproductive status, and foraging ability. Here I examine the relative contributions of parents, helpers and same-aged twins to the foraging and feeding activities of the young in a longitudinal study of wild golden lion tamarins, specifically with regard to direct food transfer, tolerance for coforaging or cofeeding by immatures and signaling young as to the location of profitable prey-foraging sites. I found that the type of food-related assistance varied as a function of the age of the immature and among group members. Rates of food transfer steadily declined as immatures aged, while coforaging rates peaked when juveniles were in the middle age group. Mothers and fathers were the most generous in terms of providing food to begging young. Mothers most often directed juveniles to productive foraging sites, and female helpers never did. Older siblings did not vary caregiving effort according to sex or age. Adult and subadult foraging ability was not a strong predictor of the rates at which prey was given to the young or the rates at which caregivers tolerated coforaging by immatures on plant and prey resources. Thus, foraging ability did not appreciably influence generosity to or tolerance of the young.

Sibling sex, but not androgens, shapes phenotypes in perinatal common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus)

Scientific Reports, 2019

When offspring share a womb, interactions among fetuses can impart lasting impressions on phenoty... more When offspring share a womb, interactions among fetuses can impart lasting impressions on phenotypic outcomes. Such intrauterine interactions often are mediated by sex steroids (estrogens and androgens) produced by the developing fetuses. In many mammals, intrauterine interactions between brothers and sisters lead to masculinization of females, which can induce fitness consequences. Many litter-bearing primates, though, seem to escape androgen-mediated litter effects, begging why? Here, we investigated how the sex composition (i.e., same- or mixed-sex) of litters influences perinatal outcomes in the common marmoset monkey (Callithrix jacchus), using a combination of physiological, morphological, and behavioural assays. We hypothesized that androgens from male fetuses would mediate developmental differences across litter types. We found that newborns (24–36 hours old) from same- and mixed-sex litters were indistinguishable by urinary androgen profiles, birth weights, morphometrics, a...

Gene changes may minimize masculinizing and defeminizing influences of exposure to male cotwins in female callitrichine primates

Biology of Sex Differences, 2016

Background: Sexual differentiation in female mammals can be altered by the proximity of male litt... more Background: Sexual differentiation in female mammals can be altered by the proximity of male littermates in utero, a phenomenon known as the intrauterine position effect (IUP). Among simian primates, callitrichines (marmosets and tamarins) are likely candidates for IUP, since they exhibit obligate dizygotic twinning and fetuses share extensive vascularization in utero. In this paper, we determined whether female reproductive parameters are altered by gestating with a male twin and evaluated changes in genes associated with anti-Müllerian and steroid hormones in twinning callitrichine primates. Methods: We assessed the impact of gestation with male cotwins on reproductive performance and survivorship in female marmosets (Callithrix) and lion tamarins (Leontopithecus), contrasting measures for females gestated with one or more littermates (M+) or no male littermates (0M). We compared targeted coding regions for genes involved in steroidal and anti-Müllerian hormone mediation of sexual differentiation for representatives of twinning callitrichines (Callithrix, Saguinus, and Leontopithecus) with closely related New World primates that produce single births (Saimiri and Callimico). Results: IUP effects in females were absent in female callitrichine primates: age at first ovulation, average litter size, and the proportion of stillborn infants, and lifetime survivorship did not differ between M+ and 0M females. We documented multiple nonsynonymous substitutions in genes associated with steroid synthesis, transport, and cellular action (SRD5A2, CYP19A1, SHBG, and AR) and with anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH and AMHR2) in callitrichines. In the only callitrichine to produce single infants (Callimico), two genes contained nonsynonymous substitutions relative to twinning callitrichines (CYP19A1 and AMRHR2); these substitutions were identical with nontwinning Saimiri and humans, suggesting a reversion to an ancestral sequence.

Hwæt!: adaptive benefits of public displays of generosity and bravery in Beowulf

Behaviour, 2016

Costly signalling — along with other adaptive mechanisms, including reciprocity and kin selection... more Costly signalling — along with other adaptive mechanisms, including reciprocity and kin selection — supports altruism in human societies. Because literary works can reflect the lives, motivations and ideals of real cultures, the same adaptive forces governing the actions of actual persons may drive the interactions depicted in these stories. Based on this reasoning, we analysed the interactions in the Old-English poem Beowulf, asking whether the beneficent behaviour exhibited by the characters functions as costly signalling or as exchange-based interactions. We found that both mechanisms play a role but costly signalling provides benefits beyond those from relationships based on exchange. Specifically, gift exchange promoted comrade allegiance but costly signalling additionally provided status increase to the signaller. Furthermore, boasting about oneself forged alliances whereas telling tales about the exploits of others increased speaker status. We show that hypotheses derived fro...

Is tolerance really teaching?

The Behavioral and brain sciences, 2015

Kline succeeds in demonstrating the value of an approach that integrates information from various... more Kline succeeds in demonstrating the value of an approach that integrates information from various scientific and social disciplines, but her framework does not uniformly provide clarity. Specifically, inclusion of situations in which knowledgeable individuals do not actively donate information is misguided. Passive tolerance by demonstrators should continue to be excluded from definitions of teaching, in order to focus on situations in which selection has favored behaviors that are specifically geared to promoting learning in others.

Tutoring in Wild Golden Lion Tamarins

International Journal of Primatology, 2002

Among most nonhuman primates, juveniles must acquire most of their solid food independently. Info... more Among most nonhuman primates, juveniles must acquire most of their solid food independently. Information gleaned from adults results from efforts initiated by the juveniles. Donation of food or foraging information by adults to immatures is rare among apes and virtually unknown among monkeys. We report 3 observations in which wild adult golden lion tamarins appear to have directed their immature

Food Transfer Among Adult Lion Tamarins: Mutualism, Reciprocity or One-Sided Relationships?

International Journal of Primatology, 2001

Tamarins (Callitrichidae) are cooperative breeders. Groups typically contain only two or three br... more Tamarins (Callitrichidae) are cooperative breeders. Groups typically contain only two or three breeding individuals and subordinate group members are reproductively suppressed. Nonreproductive individuals, which are usually the offspring of the group's breeding members, delay dispersal while providing care to infant siblings. Callitrichid breeder-infant and helper-infant relationships have been well studied but empirical studies regarding the dynamics of breeder-helper relationships are

Optimal foraging theory predicts effects of environmental enrichment in a group of adult golden lion tamarins

Zoo Biology, 1998

ABSTRACT The success of environmental enrichment programs in effecting specific changes in the be... more ABSTRACT The success of environmental enrichment programs in effecting specific changes in the behavior of captive animals has not always been uniform. Separate studies demonstrated both an increase in food competition and a decrease in food competition among captive group-living primates upon introduction of foraging devices. The objectives of this study were to measure the effects of variation in resource distribution and availability on food competition in a group of captive adult golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia). The resource variables chosen were suggested from optimal foraging theory. The energy invested to obtain an item influenced food transfer and aggressive behaviors while food abundance did not. All individuals obtained an equivalent number of items over the course of the experiment from the foraging device, even though some tamarins obtained most of their food rewards directly from the device while others received their food rewards primarily through food transfer from other group members. Because the monkeys appeared highly motivated to obtain food from the test apparatus and did not habituate to it, the foraging device used in this experiment could be used as regular environmental enrichment for golden lion tamarins. One way to circumvent potentially unacceptable rates of aggression, with this or any feeding protocol that increases foraging task complexity and search time, may be to provide more than one foraging device per group. Zoo Biol 17:231–244, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Parental care and infant development in a family group of captive Sichuan golden monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellanae): First 20 days

Primates, 1990

A male Sichuan golden monkey (Rhhtopithecus roxellanae) was born on July 24, 1986 to an adult pai... more A male Sichuan golden monkey (Rhhtopithecus roxellanae) was born on July 24, 1986 to an adult pair on loan from the Chinese government. Physical and behavioral development of the infant, as well as the behavior of the parents, were recorded for the first 20 days of the infant's life. (On Day 21 the trio was returned to the Chongqing Zoo in the People's Republic of China.) The infant pelage was dark gray at birth but soon began changing to the orange-gold color typical of the adults. Forty hours of behavioral data were collected using a combination of scan sampling and all occurrences of selected behaviors techniques. The infant pushed against his mother and pulled toward objects in the enclosure beginning at 4 days of age. Time spent in these behaviors increased steadily and on Day 15 the infant broke contact with his mother for the first time. Mother-infant contact appeared to be maintained by both individuals mutually up to the infant's 10th day of the life. The percentage of time that the infant spent actively embracing his mother began to decline after that while the female continued to spend the majority of her time embracing the infant. During the first few days following the birth, the male always initiated and maintained proximity to the female and the infant. This "vigilant" behavior had declined somewhat by the end of the study.

Some Observations Regarding Allomaternal Caretaking among Captive Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus)

Journal of Mammalogy, 1987

The peregrinations and behavior of feral burros (£quus asinus) which affect their distribution ar... more

Social influences on foraging behavior in young nonhuman primates: Learning what, where, and how to eat

Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 2008

Human infants rely on social interactions to acquire food-related information.1, 2 Adults activel... more

Provisioning of Young in Golden Lion Tamarins (Callitrichidae, Leontopithecus rosalia): A Test of the Information Hypothesis

Ethology, 1999

Rapaport\ L[ G[ 0888] Provisioning of young in golden lion tamarins "Callitrichidae\ Leontopithec... more

Parenting Behaviour: Babbling Bird Teachers?

Current Biology, 2006

One of humankind's most distinctive characteristics is our extended and complex period of child d... more

Ontogeny of provisioning in two populations of wild golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia)

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 2006

Provisioning weaned young is an important part of the cooperative rearing system of marmosets and... more Provisioning weaned young is an important part of the cooperative rearing system of marmosets and tamarins (family: Callitrichidae). Juvenile callitrichids receive a substantial proportion of their diet from all adult group members, whereas juveniles of most other primate species only receive food from the mother infrequently via scrounging. We conducted a longitudinal study of provisioning to 21 young wild golden lion tamarins through their first year of life in two Brazilian reserves. Juveniles were predicted to experience higher provisioning rates at the site with mature forest (the presumed ancestral habitat) and in territories that contained a higher proportion of preferred habitat within the mature forest reserve. Key measures of provisioning did not differ substantially between habitat types. The rates at which juveniles begged for food were very similar across habitats, while the influence of habitat on the rates at which juveniles received food was small and varied across age groups. The most pronounced differences between the reserves were: adult resistance to food-transfer attempts was less frequent, food-offering calls before food transfer were more frequent, and the proportion of prey provisioned was higher in the reserve in which earlier successionalstage forest predominated. Within the mature forest reserve, begging success of young juveniles covaried positively with preferred habitat. Rather than overt caretaker-offspring conflict, an information-feedback loop between juveniles and adults appears to drive provisioning changes as juveniles mature. Direct measures of resource abundance are needed to help clarify the mechanisms by which forest successional stage influences provisioning.

Progressive parenting behavior in wild golden lion tamarins

Behavioral Ecology, 2011

Young primates in the family Callitrichidae (the marmosets and tamarins) receive extensive and re... more Young primates in the family Callitrichidae (the marmosets and tamarins) receive extensive and relatively prolonged care from adults. Of particular note, callitrichid young are routinely provisioned until well after weaning by parents and helpers, which is in stark contrast to typical juvenile primates, who must acquire most of their food independently once they are weaned. Adults of some callitrichid species produce a specialized vocalization that encourages immature group members to take proffered food from the caller. Here, I report that wild adult golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia) not only used this food-offering call to encourage young, mobile offspring to approach and take captured prey from them, but as the young began to spend significant time foraging for themselves and to acquire prey by independent means, the frequency of these vocalizations in the context of food transfer declined. Adults then began to use food-offering calls in a novel context: to direct juveniles to foraging sites that contained hidden prey that the adults had found but not captured. During the period of these most frequent adult-directed prey captures, the independent prey-capture success rates of juveniles improved. Thus, adults modified their provisioning behavior in a progressive developmentally sensitive manner that may have facilitated learning how to find food. I hypothesize that as a result of these demonstrations by adults, juveniles either may be encouraged to continue foraging despite low return rates or to learn the properties of productive prey-foraging substrates in a complex environment.

Provisioning in wild golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia): benefits to omnivorous young

Behavioral Ecology, 2005

Provisioning may act to cushion weaned young from dietary insufficiency and errors during the per... more Provisioning may act to cushion weaned young from dietary insufficiency and errors during the period in which they are mastering complex foraging techniques or learning to identify appropriate dietary items. That is, young mammals who receive food from others may gain nutritional and/or informational benefits. I conducted a longitudinal study of 13 wild golden lion tamarins 11-56 weeks of age in six groups to evaluate hypotheses regarding the functions of provisioning. All members belonging to this primate taxonomic family (the Callitrichidae) are cooperative breeders and are known to provision their young more frequently than do other primate species, except humans. My results, together with experimental findings, suggest that juveniles receive both nutritional and informational benefits from being provisioned. My juvenile study subjects received animal prey (invertebrates and small vertebrates) from others more frequently than plant resources (fruits and hardened exudates). Apparently difficult-tohandle fruits were more likely to be transferred than readily processed fruits. These results support the nutritional benefits hypothesis because the young received items, particularly lipid-and protein-rich prey, that they might not otherwise have acquired. That juveniles fed independently on, and were provisioned with, the same fruits on the same day is counterevidence to the nutritional benefits hypothesis, however. The informational benefits hypothesis was supported because juveniles received a large variety of foods (including more than 20% of fruit species eaten) and received uncommon fruits that were easily acquired. Adults emitted food-offering calls to encourage the transfer of prey to juveniles, particularly when the prey was whole and alive.