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Young primates in the family Callitrichidae (the marmosets and tamarins) receive extensive and relatively prolonged care from adults. Of particular note, callitrichid young are routinely provisioned until well after weaning by parents and helpers, which is in stark contrast to typical juvenile primates, who must acquire most of their food independently once they are weaned. Adults of some callitrichid species produce a specialized vocalization that encourages immature group members to take proffered food from the caller. Here, I report that wild adult golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia) not only used this food-offering call to encourage young, mobile offspring to approach and take captured prey from them, but as the young began to spend significant time foraging for themselves and to acquire prey by independent means, the frequency of these vocalizations in the context of food transfer declined. Adults then began to use food-offering calls in a novel context: to direct juveniles to foraging sites that contained hidden prey that the adults had found but not captured. During the period of these most frequent adult-directed prey captures, the independent prey-capture success rates of juveniles improved. Thus, adults modified their provisioning behavior in a progressive developmentally sensitive manner that may have facilitated learning how to find food. I hypothesize that as a result of these demonstrations by adults, juveniles either may be encouraged to continue foraging despite low return rates or to learn the properties of productive prey-foraging substrates in a complex environment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Reports on research conducted on the behaviors and societies of lion tamarins, a species of monkey with brilliant colors, lionlike manes and playful antics. Differences in research on animals in captivity and animals in their natural habitat; Conservation efforts concerning tamarins; Populations and ranges; Types of lion tamarins including golden, black, black-faced and golden-headed; Questions about whether the types are separate species or subspecies.

Discusses the role of captive breeding in wildlife conservation and for restoring endangered species, whether it has been successful, and whether the strategy should be dropped in favor of other measures. Controversy over captive breeding, which is thought be some to be a waste of money that could be better spent on conserving ecosystems, that it detracts from more important conservation work, and that it is of little use beyond trying to save a few critically endangered species; Births of endangered animals in zoos, after which some are introduced to the wild; Opinion that habitat protection and captive breeding do not need to be mutually exclusive or done at the expense of one another; The efforts of zoos to preserve the golden lion tamarin.

The article reports on research in the April 29, 2011 issue of "Behavioral Ecology" by Lisa Rapaport that suggests that the golden lion tamarin (Leontopithecus rosalia) is capable of teaching behavior. Adult tamarins were observed making calls to tell young to retrieve food from their hands, and eventually began making calls to help young retrieve hidden food. Teaching behavior has been found in only a few other animal species, including the tandem-running ant, the meerkat, and the pied babbler.