Breeding performance of captive‐born cotton‐top tamarin (Saguinus oedipus) females: Proposed explanations for colony differences

Successful breeding by captive‐born Saguinus oedipus females has now been reported from several colonies, but a marked parity effect (ie, differences in infant survival with the number of litters produced) is usually observed; survival of infants of primiparous females is extremely low but increases with subsequent litters. This parity effect was not observed in the captive‐born breeding females in the Oak Ridge Associated Universities colony, with survival of offspring of primiparous females at 58.6%. Two explanations are proposed for this difference: (1) pairing with a male having previous experience in siring and rearing offspring may improve infant survival for primiparous females; and (2) postponing mating to a later age may increase infant survival for primiparous mothers.