Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:37:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CristinaE_DISSERT.pdf: 524500 bytes, checksum: 7087fd25119bfbf656e04c3c7d840371 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-10-08 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico / Considering the constant environmental changes, the ability to introduce new food items in the diet is crucial to omnivore animal survival. For optimal nourishment and lessening of intoxication risks, the animals must detect signs that indicate which items are adequate for their intake. We investigate some factors that interfere in the responses to non familiar food, modulating their neophobic behavior, of marmosets Callithrix jacchus, an omnivore and generalist primate, native to Northeast Brazil, known for being cautious in ingesting not known food. We analyzed the influence of food taste (sweet or salty), pregnancy and sex in feeding behavior and neophobic responses in these animals. 10 captive females were first selected, 5 of them being then pregnant. The females, pregnant or not, ate more when presented to the sweet items than to the salty ones. Pregnant females, however, themselves were less neophobic to both tastes, being also strongly neophilic to the sweets. We verified then the influence of nourishment during pregnancy on young males and females post natal feeding behavior. We observed 10 young divided in two groups, one whose mother ate that food item during pregnancy and one whose mother had no contact to it. In the first group that food was more easily accepted by the young, suggesting that neofobia and feeding behavior had a pre natal influence. Female young also ingested more food and were less neophobic than males, a difference already observed in behavior of adults of these specie. These results suggest that the low neophobic behavior to sweet food showed by females can be adaptive, and might have bestowed more fitness to those who presented it / Considerando as constantes mudan?as ambientais, a capacidade de introduzir alimentos novos na dieta ? essencial para a sobreviv?ncia de animais on?voros. Para a otimiza??o do forrageio e diminui??o dos riscos de intoxica??o, ? necess?rio ao animal detectar sinais que indiquem quais itens s?o adequados ou n?o para o consumo. Investigamos alguns fatores que interferem na resposta aos alimentos n?o familiares, modulando comportamentos neof?bicos em sag?is Callithrix jacchus, primatas nativos do nordeste brasileiro, animais on?voros e generalistas, por?m cautelosos na ingest?o de itens desconhecidos. Foi analisada a influ?ncia da qualidade gustativa dos alimentos (doce e salgado), da gesta??o, e do sexo no comportamento alimentar e na resposta neof?bica desses animais. Selecionamos inicialmente 10 f?meas de origem cativa, sendo cinco gr?vidas e cinco n?o. As f?meas apresentadas aos itens doces ingeriram maior quantidade do que aquelas apresentadas ao item salgado, estando ou n?o gestantes. Contudo, f?meas gr?vidas se mostraram menos neof?bicas para ambos os alimentos, embora demonstrassem forte neofilia para os doces. Verificamos ent?o a influ?ncia da alimenta??o das gr?vidas no comportamento alimentar p?s-natal de seus filhotes f?meas e machos. Observamos 10 filhotes: um grupo cuja m?e teve contato com o alimento na gesta??o e um cuja m?e n?o tivera esse contato. No primeiro grupo o alimento foi mais facilmente aceito pelos filhotes, sugerindo que a neofobia e a prefer?ncia alimentar possuam influ?ncia pr?-natal. Al?m disso, filhotes f?meas ingeriram mais alimentos e mostraram-se menos neof?bicas que filhotes machos, diferen?a j? observada em adultos da mesma esp?cie. Nossos resultados sugerem que o comportamento de baixa neofobia aos alimentos doces apresentado pelas f?meas possa ser adaptativo, e tenha conferido uma maior aptid?o ?quelas que o apresentassem