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Saguinus oedipuscotton-top tamarin

By Brian Bridgeman

Ge­o­graphic Range

North­west Colom­bia

Habi­tat

Cot­ton-top tamarins in­habit trop­i­cal rain­forests, open wood­lands, and sec­ondary growth. They are sen­si­tive to any al­ter­ation in their habi­tat.

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Cot­ton-top tamarins are dis­tin­guished from other mem­bers of the genus Sagui­nus by pos­sess­ing a crest of long whitish hair from the fore­head to the nape flow­ing over the shoul­ders. Their back is brown and the un­der­parts of the arms and legs are whitish to yel­low. The rump and inner sides of thighs are red­dish-or­ange. The base of the tail is also red­dish-or­ange, while the tip is black­ish.

Char­ac­ter­is­tics that dis­tin­guish cal­litrichids from other new world mon­keys are mod­i­fied claws in­stead of nails on all dig­its and the pres­ence of two rather than three mo­lars on each side of the jaw.

  • Range mass
    260 to 380 g
    9.16 to 13.39 oz

Re­pro­duc­tion

Sagui­nus oedi­pus has a monog­a­mous breed­ing sys­tem. This species has a form of co­op­er­a­tive breed­ing, which isn't pre­sent in many other Pri­mates. It con­sists of adult 'helpers' stay­ing in the fam­ily and gain­ing breed­ing ex­pe­ri­ence in­stead of breed­ing them­selves. This may re­sult in the high­est re­pro­duc­tive po­ten­tial of all pri­mates.

Cot­ton-top tamarins are re­pro­duc­tively ac­tive sea­son­ally with fe­males being seen preg­nant or suck­ling young only from Jan­u­ary to June. They have an es­trous cycle of 15 days and ges­ta­tion lasts ap­prox­i­mately 140 days. Sex­ual ma­tu­rity is reached at 18 months in fe­males and 24 months in males. Sagui­nus oedi­pus gives birth to non-iden­ti­cal twins twice each year.

  • Breeding interval
    Saguinus oedipus breeds twice each year
  • Average number of offspring
    2
  • Average number of offspring
    1.9
    AnAge
  • Average gestation period
    140 days
  • Average gestation period
    178 days
    AnAge
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
    18 months
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
    Sex: female
    548 days
    AnAge
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
    24 months
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
    Sex: male
    550 days
    AnAge

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Be­hav­ior

S. oedi­pus live in groups rang­ing from 1-19 in­di­vid­u­als. How­ever, the most com­mon group sizes are from 3-9 in­di­vid­u­als. These groups con­sist of a dom­i­nant mated pair, their young of the year, and a few sub­or­di­nate or young an­i­mals of both sexes. These sub­or­di­nate mem­bers tend to form small groups and mi­grate in and out of the home range of the main group. Also, these sub­or­di­nates are the "helpers". Home ranges vary from 7-10 hectares. S. oedi­pus are also ter­ri­to­r­ial and uses scent marks to de­fine their ter­ri­tory. When com­ing into con­tact with other groups, in­stead of phys­i­cal con­tact they will threaten the other group with the show­ing of their rear and gen­i­tal area as a ter­ri­to­r­ial dis­play.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Food Habits

Cot­ton-top tamarins are pri­mar­ily in­sec­tiv­o­rous; in­sects being 40% of their diet. They also eat a large amount of fruit which con­sists of 38.4% of their diet. Feed­ing on ex­u­dates, which is known as gum feed­ing, takes up 14.4% of their diet. Sagui­nus oedi­pus have an in­ter­est­ing char­ac­ter­is­tic which con­sists of food as­so­ci­ated calls that are cor­re­lated with food pref­er­ences. Cer­tain calls made by cot­ton-top tamarins were strictly as­so­ci­ated with a feed­ing con­text and were not used in non-feed­ing con­texts. How­ever, it should be noted that there is a 3% error, when these spe­cific calls are made in non-feed­ing con­texts.

  • Animal Foods
  • insects
  • Plant Foods
  • fruit
  • sap or other plant fluids

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

None

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

None

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

The main prob­lems con­tribut­ing to the cot­ton-top tamarin's sta­tus as en­dan­gered is the clear­ing of their for­est habi­tat and pop­u­la­tion de­ple­tion from an­i­mal trade. Na­ture re­serves have been set up to help main­tain pop­u­la­tions of Sagui­nus oedi­pus.

Other Com­ments

Males put forth more ef­fort in car­ing for young than the fe­males. This re­la­tion­ship is unique amongst cal­litrichids. The fa­ther as­sists at birth and car­ries the young all of the time exept when the mother is feed­ing. This char­ac­ter­is­tic re­sults from the fact that a fe­male gives birth to 2 in­fants at a time, each with a weight of 15-20% of the mother's weight.

Con­trib­u­tors

Brian Bridge­man (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Glossary

Neotropical

living in the southern part of the New World. In other words, Central and South America.

World Map

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

cooperative breeder

helpers provide assistance in raising young that are not their own

dominance hierarchies

ranking system or pecking order among members of a long-term social group, where dominance status affects access to resources or mates

endothermic

animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.

forest

forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.

iteroparous

offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).

monogamous

Having one mate at a time.

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

omnivore

an animal that mainly eats all kinds of things, including plants and animals

rainforest

rainforests, both temperate and tropical, are dominated by trees often forming a closed canopy with little light reaching the ground. Epiphytes and climbing plants are also abundant. Precipitation is typically not limiting, but may be somewhat seasonal.

scrub forest

scrub forests develop in areas that experience dry seasons.

seasonal breeding

breeding is confined to a particular season

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

social

associates with others of its species; forms social groups.

tactile

uses touch to communicate

territorial

defends an area within the home range, occupied by a single animals or group of animals of the same species and held through overt defense, display, or advertisement

viviparous

reproduction in which fertilization and development take place within the female body and the developing embryo derives nourishment from the female.

Ref­er­ences

Elow­son, M. A., et al.. "Food-as­so­ci­ated calls cor­re­late with food pref­er­ences in cot­ton-top tamarins." An­i­mal Be­hav­iour. New York; 42: 931-37 (1991).

Mac­don­ald, D. 1984. En­cy­clo­pe­dia of Mam­mals. Facts on File Pub­li­ca­tions, NY.

Nowak, R.M. 1983. Walker's Mam­mals of the World. Forth Edi­tion. John Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity Press, Bal­ti­more.

Tardif, S. D., et al.. "Ef­fects of Sib­ling-Rear­ing Ex­pe­ri­ence on Fu­ture Re­pro­duc­tive Suc­cess in Two Species of Cal­litrichi­dae." Amer­i­can Jour­nal of Pri­ma­tol­ogy. New York 6:377-80 (1984).

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Classification

Classification

  • Kingdom Animalia animals
  • Phylum Chordata chordates
  • Subphylum Vertebrata vertebrates
  • Class Mammalia mammals
  • Order Primates primates
  • Family Cebidae marmosets, tamarins, capuchins, and squirrel monkeys
  • Genus Saguinus tamarins
  • Species Saguinus oedipus cotton-top tamarin