SOCIAL-ORGANIZATION IN A WILD POPULATION OF CALLITHRIX-JACCHUS .2. INTRAGROUP SOCIAL-BEHAVIOR

The social behavior of the common marmoset has been well studied in ca ptivity, but little is known about the social dynamics of this species in its natural habitat. Social relationships were studied in three po lygynous groups of common marmosets, Callithrix jacchus, in northeaste rn Brazil. Breeding adults appeared to be the center of social life an d were the most frequent grooming partners or nearest neighbors for mo st adult group members. The observations of unidirectional agonistic i nteractions suggest that breeding adults were also dominant over all o ther group members, but that neither sex was dominant over the other. The dynamics of within-group social relationships are likely to be imp ortant determinants in the reproductive strategies employed by marmose t females.