BEHAVIORAL DISCRIMINATION BETWEEN CIRCUMGENITAL ODOR FROM PERI-OVULATORY DOMINANT AND ANOVULATORY FEMALE COMMON MARMOSETS (CALLITHRIX-JACCHUS)

Social peer groups of callitrichid monkeys [marmosets and tamarins] ex hibit intrasexual dominance hierarchies in captivity. This laboratory study employed two-choice behavioral discrimination bioassys to test t he hypothesis that scent from female common marmosets contains chemica l cues that permit discrimination between dominant females in the peri ovulatory versus luteal phase of the ovarian cycle and females holding dominant versus subordinate status. When scent from only dominant fem ales was presented, marmosets directed significantly greater amounts o f investigatory behavior toward peri-ovulatory scent versus scent coll ected during the luteal phase of the ovarian cycle. Animals of both se xes demonstrated significant discriminatory behavior between scent dep osited by dominant versus subordinate females, but only when the domin ant female was in the peri-ovulatory phase of the ovarian cycle. Test animals directed equal amounts of investigative behavior toward scent from luteal-phase dominant females and subordinate females. Female tes t subjects deposited significantly more scent marks over presented sce nts than did male subjects, particularly when the scent had been donat ed by a peri-ovulatory female. Chemical odors specific to the periovul atory and luteal phases of the ovarian cycle may play a role in mediat ing behavioral interactions among marmosets. Am. J. Primatol. 46:265-2 84, 1998. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.