Journal
HORMONES AND BEHAVIOR
Volume 46, Issue 5, Pages 670-677Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2004.04.010
Keywords
paternal care; parental care; prolactin; marmoset; Callithrix; life history; ontogeny
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Previous studies have found a clear relationship between prolactin (prl) and paternal care in various vertebrate taxa. In New World monkeys, it has been demonstrated in several species that fathers have high prolactin levels even during periods without infant rearing. In this study, we followed the reproductive careers of common marmoset males as they transitioned from being an adult son within their native family to fathering their own offspring for the first time. Specifically, we examined the first experience of elevated prolactin levels in marmoset males. Additionally, we investigated the effects of the total number of experienced births as well as of age on prolactin levels. Our results show that common marmoset males did not experience an increase in prolactin secretion after pairing or shortly before birth of their first infants. However, prolactin levels rose more than twofold after the birth of their first infants and had lowered again 2.5 months after this event. We found no correlation between prolactin levels and the number of previous births experienced or age. Our study demonstrates that further work about a possible enhancing effect of prolactin on paternal care, by means of experimentally reducing hormonal levels, should be conducted in common marmosets using first-time fathers before males experience the first paternal increase in prolactin levels. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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