Banca de DEFESA: MARCELLA MARINHO VILELA

Uma banca de DEFESA de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : MARCELLA MARINHO VILELA
DATE: 27/08/2025
TIME: 08:30
LOCAL: Videoconferência
TITLE:

The risk of playing: vigilance during playful episodes of wild Callithrix jacchus

KEY WORDS:

social behavior; Callitrichidae; marmosets; predation; prosociality

PAGES: 100
BIG AREA: Ciências Humanas
AREA: Psicologia
SUBÁREA: Psicologia Comparativa
SPECIALTY: Estudos Naturalísticos do Comportamento Animal
SUMMARY:

Play behavior provides several benefits to its practitioners; however, it is also associated with costs and risks, such as high energetic expenditure, increased risk of injury, and greater vulnerability to predation. One strategy to mitigate predation risk is vigilance, which involves monitoring the environment to detect potential threats. This study aimed to examine the relationship between play behavior and the occurrence of vigilance in wild marmosets (Callithrix jacchus), investigating how intrinsic aspects of play can modulate this behavior. We hypothesized that specific characteristics of play behavior may modulate vigilance, including duration, subgroup composition of participants, location, substrate, height, and exposure of participants. Increased vigilance is anticipated during play with longer duration, involving infants and juveniles, accompanied by participant vocalizations, occurring in unusual locations, at both lower and higher heights, and with exposed participants. To test our hypotheses, behavioural sampling (scan and focal animal) was conducted on 22 marmosets, from September 2023 to June 2024 in the Açu National Forest (Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil). Our results indicated greater vigilance in the following situations: during longer episodes, in the presence of immatures, containing vocalizations, in unusual locations, and at heights closer to the ground. This increase in vigilance may reflect indirect risks associated with play behavior. Our findings highlight the high levels of cognition and prosociality exhibited by marmosets. We suggest that these primates possess the capacity for prior risk assessment even in the absence of immediate threats.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Presidente - 1149552 - ARRILTON ARAUJO DE SOUZA
Interna - 1350337 - FIVIA DE ARAUJO LOPES
Externa à Instituição - ROSANA SUEMI TOKUMARU - UFES