Comparative studies of social behavior in Callicebus and Saimiri: strength and specificity of attraction between male-female cagemates.

The strength and specificity of attraction between male and female cagemates was compared in Saimiri and Callicebus, using paired-comparison and single-stimulus methods of testing. Results from both methods showed that the attraction to the cagemate was stronger and more specific in Callicebus than in Saimiri. Sex differences were more pronounced in Saimiri than in Callicebus. Squirrel monkey females were more strongly attracted to strangers than were males and they clearly preferred female strangers over male strangers or their male cagemates.