CECOAL   02625
CENTRO DE ECOLOGIA APLICADA DEL LITORAL
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
capítulos de libros
Título:
Aotinae: Social Monogamy in the Only Nocturnal Haplorhynes
Autor/es:
EDUARDO FERNANDEZ DUQUE
Libro:
Primates in Perspective
Editorial:
Oxford University Press
Referencias:
Lugar: Oxford; Año: 2007; p. 139 - 154
Resumen:
The two most salient features of owl monkeys are their nocturnal habits and their monogamous social organization. Owl monkeys concentrate their activities during the dark portion of the 24-h cycle with peaks of activity at dawn and dusk. Interestingly, our understanding of the evolution of nocturnality in the genus is further challenged by the existence of at least one owl monkey species that shows some remarkable temporal plasticity in its activity patterns. Differently from all owl monkey species in the tropics which are strictly nocturnal, A. a. azarai of the South American Gran Chaco is cathemeral showing activity during the day, as well during the night. Owl monkeys are also one of the few socially monogamous primates in the world. They live in small groups that include only one pair of reproducing adults, one infant, one or two juveniles and sometimes a subadult. Males show intense care of the infants. For a long time, the difficulties of studying a small arboreal and nocturnal primate limited our understanding of the evolution and maintenance of monogamy in this taxon. More recently, studies on the cathemeral owl monkeys of the Gran Chaco have begun to offer some insights into their social organization.