Marmosets are cooperative breeders with complex social needs that require family group housing and extensive behavioral enrichment to maintain welfare in captive settings.
Marmoset welfare depends fundamentally on family group social structure that enables cooperative infant care and natural social behavior. Pair housing without extended family members fails to replicate the social complexity that marmosets evolved for. Marmosets in inadequate social housing show increased stereotypic behaviors and reduced foraging activity. The high reproductive rate of marmosets creates population management challenges in captive settings that must be addressed through contraception rather than welfare-compromising social isolation. Behavioral enrichment programs that stimulate natural foraging and social behavior are essential components of welfare management.