Olfactory communication is an important mediator of social interactions in mammals, thought to provide information about an individual’s identity and current social, reproductive, and health status. In comparison with other taxa such as carnivores and rodents, few studies have examined primate olfactory communication. Tamarins (Callitrichidae) conspicuously deposit odorous secretions, produced by specialized scent glands, in their environment. In this study, we combined behavioral and chemical data on captive cotton-top tamarins, Saguinus oedipus, and bearded emperor tamarins, S. imperator subgrisescens, to examine the role of olfactory communication in the advertisement of species, sex, and reproductive status. We observed no difference in scent-marking behavior between species; however, females marked more frequently than males, and reproductive individuals more than non-reproductive ones. In addition, tamarins predominantly used their anogenital gland when scent-marking, followed by the suprapubic gland. We collected swabs of naturally deposited tamarin anogenital scent marks, and analyzed these samples using headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Despite a limited sample size, we established differences in tamarin anogenital mark chemical composition between species, sex and reproductive status, and identified 41 compounds. The compounds identified, many of which have been reported in previous work on mammalian semiochemistry, form targets for future bioassay studies to identify semiochemicals. Our non-invasive method for collecting deposited scent marks makes it a promising method for the study of olfactory communication in scent-marking animal species, applicable to field settings and for the study of elusive animals.

中文翻译：

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狨猴（Saguinus spp.，新热带灵长类动物）的气味标记信号种类、性别和生殖状态

嗅觉交流是哺乳动物社会互动的重要媒介，被认为提供有关个人身份和当前社会、生殖和健康状况的信息。与其他类群如食肉动物和啮齿动物相比，很少有研究检查灵长类动物的嗅觉交流。狨猴（Callitrichidae）在它们的环境中显着地沉积由特殊气味腺体产生的有气味的分泌物。在这项研究中，我们结合了圈养棉顶狨猴 Saguinus oedipus 和胡须帝王狨猴 S. imperator subgrisescens 的行为和化学数据，以检查嗅觉交流在物种、性别和生殖状态广告中的作用。我们观察到物种之间的气味标记行为没有差异。然而，女性比男性更频繁地标记，生殖个体多于非生殖个体。此外，狨猴在气味标记时主要使用它们的肛门生殖腺，其次是耻骨上腺。我们收集了自然沉积的罗望子肛门生殖器气味标记的拭子，并使用顶空气相色谱-质谱法分析了这些样品。尽管样本量有限，但我们确定了物种、性别和生殖状态之间的狨猴肛门生殖器标记化学成分的差异，并确定了 41 种化合物。鉴定出的化合物（其中许多已在以前的哺乳动物信息化学工作中得到报道）形成了未来生物测定研究以鉴定化学信息的目标。我们收集沉积气味标记的非侵入性方法使其成为研究气味标记动物物种嗅觉交流的有前途的方法，