Adult-infant food transfer in common marmosets: an experimental study
Infant marmosets and tamarins obtain solid food items from adults during and after the time of weaning. In addition to providing nutrients, food transfers may provide infants with the opportunity to learn about diet. The aim of this study was to investigate patterns of begging and food transfer in c...
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Published in | American journal of primatology Vol. 65; no. 4; pp. 301 - 312 |
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Main Authors | , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Hoboken
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company
01.04.2005
Wiley-Liss |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Infant marmosets and tamarins obtain solid food items from adults during and after the time of weaning. In addition to providing nutrients, food transfers may provide infants with the opportunity to learn about diet. The aim of this study was to investigate patterns of begging and food transfer in captive groups of common marmosets during tests with 1) palatable novel food, 2) unpalatable novel food, and 3) familiar food. Infants may gain an opportunity to learn about diet breadth by preferentially begging for novel rather than familiar items, while adults may facilitate infant learning by differing in their willingness to transfer food depending upon the food's novelty or palatability. In this study, infants exhibited more interest and begging with novel food items than with familiar ones. However, food transfers were not more likely to occur with novel foods than with familiar ones, and in fact adults were more likely to refuse infant begging attempts with novel foods. The palatability of the food also did not influence the rates of refusal and transfer: adults transferred palatable and unpalatable novel foods with similar frequencies. These results suggest that infant marmosets gain an opportunity to learn about diet breadth by begging for novel foods, but adults do not preferentially transfer novel or palatable food items. Am. J. Primatol. 65:301–312, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. |
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Bibliography: | istex:1554377B75F61C0D02C4C0CF6AFF83EE4C371FC7 ark:/67375/WNG-MH9K6VFQ-9 Medical Research Council, UK. Rosamunde Almond is now at the Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin ArticleID:AJP20117 ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 |
ISSN: | 0275-2565 1098-2345 |
DOI: | 10.1002/ajp.20117 |