MATERNAL DIFFERENCES IN INFANT CARRIAGE IN GOLDEN-HEADED LION TAMARINS (LEONTOPITHECUS-CHRYSOMELAS)

Infant-carrying behaviour was observed in two families of captive gold en-headed lion tamarins. Although the young were raised in almost iden tical social situations, we found a reversed involvement of mother-fat her pairs in the amount of time they carried their offspring. In one c ase, the parental division of carrying behaviour was consistent with t he standard description for callitrichids in that the adult male was t he primary carrier. In the other family, the mother carried the infant considerably more than the male. Comparison of transfer initiations a nd transfer times showed that maternal choice operated. It is suggeste d that maternal behavior may depend primarily on the female's physical and hormonal condition.