ABSTRACT
Among the unusual characteristics of the marmosets and tamarins is their tendency to form stable, long-lasting polyspecific associations (e.g., Garber 1988a; Heymann 1990; Norconk 1990; Peres 1992a). Saddle-back tamarins and red-bellied tamarin groups, for example, have been shown to spend up to 83% of their time together, and defend a common territory from their neighbors (Buchanan-Smith 1990). The first studies of wild callimicos showed that they associated with groups of saddle-back and red-bellied tamarins (Christen and Geissmann 1994; Pook and Pook 1982), but the frequency and longevity of these associations remained uncertain due to the short duration of these investigations and lack of fully habituated animals.
