Vigilance of mustached tamarins in single-species and mixed-species groups—the influence of group composition |
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Authors: | Mojca Stojan-Dolar Eckhard W Heymann |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology, German Primate Centre (DPZ), Kellnerweg 4, 37077, G?ttingen, Germany 2. Department of Sociobiology/Anthropology, Georg-August-University of G?ttingen, Kellnerweg 6, 37077, G?ttingen, Germany
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Abstract: | Species that participate in mixed-species groups (MSG) may have complementary roles in antipredator strategies. We studied
vigilance in mustached tamarins (Saguinus mystax), small arboreal primates that form stable mixed-species groups with saddleback tamarins (Saguinus fuscicollis), in order to examine how the direction of vigilance changes with different species group compositions and whether the division
of labor between the two species can be confirmed. We did so by comparing quantitative and qualitative differences in vigilance
behavior between same individuals in and out of association (case A); MSG and single-species groups of the same total group
size from two different populations (case B); and MSG of the same group size but with a different ratio of conspecifics to
heterospecifics (case C). We predicted that individuals would increase downward scanning when heterospecifics are absent or
their percentage is low, but total vigilance would increase only in case A due to the group size effect. However, mustached
tamarins increased total vigilance due to horizontal scanning in cases A and C, and the predictions were confirmed only in
small-sized groups in case B. Thus, we found indications that associating tamarin species in MSG might complement each other
in the direction of vigilance, but the division of labor alone does not satisfactorily explain all the findings. There appear
to be other mechanisms at work that define how direction of vigilance changes with group size and species composition. Complementarity
of species probably occurs due to species vertical stratification rather than differences in the direction of vigilance. |
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