Padrões comportamentais do sagui comum (Callithrix jacchus) em ambiente de caatinga

Abstract

The Callithrix jacchus presents morphological and behavioral characteristics that allow it to be one of the most adaptable species within its genus. Occurs in different environments in Brazil and can be found in the Atlantic Forest and Caatinga. The Caatinga is a semi-arid environment with extreme conditions that promote a challenging environment for animals. Little is known about the behavioral and ecological aspects of mammals that inhabit this biome. Thus, this study aims to characterize the behavioral patterns of Callithrix jacchus in the semi-arid Caatinga environment, in order to better understand the ecological success of the species. We expected that (i) exudate feeding will occur for an extended time during the first hour of the day in response to scarce food availability; (ii) due to high temperatures resting behavior will start earlier in the day and last longer than reported in Atlantic Forest; (iii) the pressure of food scarcity will lead to the use of a larger home range and, therefore a higher frequency on locomotion; (iv) juveniles will devote more time to foraging and gum eating, they are not as efficient as adults in prey capture, and consequently they will dedicate less time to resting. The study was conducted in the Fazenda Marimbondo, in the state of Paraíba. Groups of free-living common marmosets (2) were observed during six months in order to obtain information about the group size, social composition, home range, diet and behavioral patterns. The behavioral data was collected using the focal animal sampling method. Each session consisted of a 10 min period of continuous observation and two to four sessions were recorded per day for each individual. The overall behavioral pattern showed that the most frequent behaviors were foraging and locomotion. Also, in adults and in juveniles gummivory was observed during a larger time interval than those described for the Atlantic Forest environment. The animals rested for a long period, during the hottest hours of the day. Contrary to what was expected, the groups presented home ranges sizes within the range of variation described for the species. The behavioral patterns found in this study suggest that common marmoset is well adapted to the semi-arid environment. The high frequency observed in foraging behavior, as in gum eating can be related to the resource scarcity in the semi-arid environment. On the other hand, the large time interval that animals used to rest, might be a response to the thermal stress during the hottest hours. These results provide first information on the behavioral patterns of Callithrix jacchus living in the Caatinga and reinforce the great ability of the species to survive in very different environments.