Behavioral responses of exotic marmosets to a native apex predator in an urban Araucaria Pine Forest fragmentLow predation pressure is considered one of the main factors enabling invasive species to reproduce and spread outside their native habitats. In Curitiba, Paraná State, southern Brazil, the black-tufted-ear marmoset Callithrix penicillata has established populations in urban parks within the threatened Araucaria Pine Forest (Mixed Ombrophilous Forest). Here we report two events involving allochthonous marmosets in an urban park responding to the presence of an apex predator, the black-hawk-eagle Spizaetus tyrannus (M. Wied-Neuwied, 1820), a raptor known to prey on primates and other arboreal mammals in Brazil’s tropical forests. On the first occasion, when a hawk silently flew overhead, one member of the marmoset group emitted a single, high, loud peep, prompting the others to scatter into the understory. On the second occasion, members of another group produced ‘tsiks’ and short peeps interspersed with the hawk’s vocalizations as it flew farther away; the group did not flee but remained feeding and alert. Although based on few observations, our data suggest that black-tufted-ear marmosets respond adaptively to a native apex predator in the urban Araucaria Pine Forest. Further field research is needed to better understand interactions between these introduced marmosets and the native fauna, including experiments assessing variation in behavioral responses as a function of distance from vocal and/or visual cues of native and domestic predators.
KEYWORDS:
Allochthonous; Callithrix penicillata; predation; Spizaetus tyrannus; urban ecology