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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 9, 2026

Hand-Rearing Method for Infant Marmosets

Hand-Rearing Method for Infant Marmosets

Published on: June 9, 2023

Post-conception reproductive competition in cooperatively breeding common marmosets.

Wendy Saltzman¹, Kimber J Liedl, Orrie J Salper

¹Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA. saltzman@ucr.edu

Hormones and Behavior

|November 30, 2007

Summary

In common marmosets, breeding females do not typically interfere with each other's pregnancies. However, they may kill infants, especially when pregnant, potentially driving reproductive restraint in subordinates.

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Area of Science:

Primate reproductive behavior
Social endocrinology
Animal behavior

Background:

Common marmosets exhibit high female reproductive skew in cooperatively breeding groups.
Subordinate females often experience suppressed ovulation and reduced breeding success.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate post-conception reproductive competition mechanisms in common marmosets.
To compare hormonal profiles, pregnancy outcomes, and infant survivorship in singly and plurally breeding families.

Main Methods:

Hormonal analysis (urinary chorionic gonadotropin, estradiol sulfate) during pregnancy.
Monitoring of pregnancy outcomes (abortion, stillbirths, litter size).
Observation of infant survivorship and infanticide in laboratory-housed marmoset families.

Main Results:

No significant differences in hormonal levels or pregnancy outcomes between singly and plurally breeding females.
Infants born to a female while another family member was pregnant were at high risk of infanticide.
Infanticide was observed, with a pregnant female killing her daughter's infant.

Conclusions:

Breeding marmoset females do not regularly influence each other's pregnancy outcomes.
Infanticide of rivals' infants, particularly during one's own pregnancy, is a significant factor.
Infanticide may have driven the evolution of reproductive restraint in subordinate females.