Seasonal Variations in Food Supply for Wild Primates Claude Marcel Hladik
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Seasonal Variations in Food Supply for Wild Primates Claude Marcel Hladik To cite this version: Claude Marcel Hladik. Seasonal Variations in Food Supply for Wild Primates. I. de GARINE & G. A. HARRISON. Coping with Uncertainty in Food Supply, Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp.1-25, 1988. hal-00578690 HAL Id: hal-00578690 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00578690 Submitted on 27 Feb 2012 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. observé le14février1975surunîlotdel’Ivindo Ikata, jeunegorillemâle Coprophagie Uncertainty in Food Supply Primates. In : I. de GARINE et G. A. HARRISON HLADIK, C.(Eds.), M. (1988) — Seasonal Variations in Food Supply for Wild Document publiéen1988: . Clarendon Press, Oxford : 1-25. Coping with " - 2 ~ :;; "~- ~ ~~ ~ ~ t- ~ ~ " - ~i~ o " H > .§ cZ 3 xXX X 0- en ~ ~ >~ Q. "0 ~IRI~xxxxxxxxxxxx "0 9. - t>C>t>t>t>t> 0 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxw 00000 I~ t>!>t>t>!>t>c>t>t>c>t> ° lxxxxxxxxxx o 0000000000 n {> 5~ Ixx00x000x 0 {> 0 Z "Tlx.,- (\l 2 5 Q~ 0x0000 :E ;:::0: :E IT _" 0 iE Ul_ 0< xxx000000 "g. " {> xxxx <0 000000000 ~ ~ {>{> xxxx 00000 ~" {>{> ~ 0xx000 0S c~ xxx -< o ~z Z ." o o " n 1(") ;; Body weight in grams ~ 0" 0~ ~ 0 0 0 00; 0 0~ <0 ~I :r 0 0Z r < ,. c m 0 o "~ 0~ 0 m 0 ~"Q ~ 0 ~ 0 0 . I'~ '" "~ 0m ~m • '0· • ~mro • ~,~ cQ ~ ~'" ~ 1\\\ -0 cz ~,> ~~ 0 ~ I~ c m = 0 ro r\~%\\ ID'" ~ 't~. Q C I/ C ~ • ~ ,~ I \ I~? <;;>~6? -0 ~ ~ \\ ,\ > • .. 0/"8 ~ 0~ I \ .\ 0. I I ~ t ~ C~'" 0- ~ / \\ ~ 1 0 co 1 --.:: - - (f>c ~ ~ :;: ;:; IT ;?-.< ID t Q ~ 10", 'i? \Il1 , CO! "'0 ~f 0- -" '" Body weight -- % deviation from annual mean c3 ~. o z , 6 Z o ." o o o o o o o Activi"' ty DMonthly percentage"'of annual mean o ~ 15 " 1m• mr'<a ,Iil ~ @ I m il1 I I I I w r ... J .. I 11:Q <~ I m m Z ." NI i o o " n ~ r:r: ,. o '" ~ ~~ E.. C: < := ~- ~ .... c~. Percentage of fresh weight ingested ::: _. :-::~~~ z - o o'" o 10 C . M. IILADIK SEASONAL VARIATIONS INZ FOOD." o o tJ SUPPLY 11 o - mature leaves; shoots and tender le,avcs; flowers; immature fruits; mature fruits. The does along the time axis show the different sampling periods, which have been grouped, eo generate sufficient sample size, into two-month successive periods. The resulting graphs indicate the range of the seasonal variations in terms of food intake (total fresh weight}. These graphs illustrate an important methodological point: if we are going to compare the diet of two different species, it is absolutely necessary to sample food intake during the same period, or similar seasons. Consider, for instance, 1he difference of the quantities of fruits ingested by both species, during the dry .;ea son (June-July) and during the wet monsoon season (December). The .trhitrary choice of one of these seasons for only one species would rorally nhscure a compari son, and the species which is in fact the more frugivorous (the gray langur) may appear to ear more leaves than the purple-faced langur. By contrast, if we compare the food cho ices of the two species during .; uccessive periods of the year, a specific constancy can be clearly observed. At .tny rime of the year, the purple-faced langur (Presbytis se11ex) ingests a larger quantity of leaves, especially of tough mature leaves, a nd a smaller amount of Iruits, especially of mature fruits, than does the gray langur (Presbytis entellus). I or boch species, at the end of the winter monsoon (February- March), the Frc. 1.7. The toque macaque, Macaca sinica, foraging for insects in the undergrowth proportion of leaves remains high (95 per cent for the purple-faced langur). of rhe dry forest of Sri Lanka. Protein is the limiting factor for la rge dispersed groups lhe amount of fruits in the diet of both species reaches a maximum during the living in large terntories where fruits are abundant. clry season (June-July): 75 per cent for the gray langur and only 52 per cent fur 1hc purple-faced langur. Tbis amount slowly decreases, heing replaced by llowcrs, mainly in August-September, and by new leaves, particularly abundant there are imporranr variations in the dice of the gray langu. (broken line), with .11 1he 1ime of the wincer monsoon. In December, the total proportion of leaves a minimum at 10 and a maximum at 16 per cent. Similar differences in the ".1round 90 per cent of the dice of the purple-faced langur, bur does nor exceed intensity of the annual variation can be observed for fa ts, and to a lesser extent ''i per ~.:cnt of the diet of the gray langur. (or carbohydrates. T he resulting variation in terms of calories and dietary The dice of the toque monkey, Macaca sinica, is as diversified throughout balance would considerably contrast the rwo primate species. du.: M.::l\onal cycle, bur with an annual mean of 77 per cent of fruits (including Tbese differences between primate species have been understood in terms of wt·d, and fle1.hy pulp) and 4 per cem of animal prey, and can be considered as hchavioural physiology (Hiadik 1977a), according ro other aspects of rhe field '""'Pl'l'ialized' with the meaning defined above (see Fig.1.7). The proportion observations. The groups of purple-faced langurs are small (4 to 7 individuals}, ol lruit~ in~cstcd by the toque monkey during rhe dry season exceeds 95 per .tnd they live in a rather limited territory (2 to 7 ha; Rudran 1970) in which l l'lll, while dming, the winter monsoon rainy season the total proportion of ll.tcy travel for o nly short d istances ro feed on the most common food plants. lluwt• r~o and k·nves may reach 45 per cent and approach chat of fruits. I he larger groups of gray la ngurs (12 to 25 individuals) nor only have a wider i\~t· onlin g 10 the pc r~.:ent a gcs of the different food samp les ingested at differ rnrirorial ra nge (10 to 15 ha}, but also are more mobile and active. T hey have ' 111 IH'Irod' of 1he yt·ar, :1nd after 1hc biochemical a na lysis of nil che food .t diet including a large num ber of plaht species, especially the fruit-producing \ ,ltnpk,, 11 w.1~ pm,ihlt· 10 c;tlculatc the proportion of nutricnrs in the diet of pl.tnts such :ts banian and vccrn trees (Ficus bengafensis and Drypetes sepiaria, 1111' dlllt·H'IIl p11111.1tt' '>pn'rt·'· T he 1·csuhin~ ~raphs (Fil!,. l.ll and 1.9) show th: • •· ~pct:llvt: l y), for which 1hcy wil l travel long distances and fight against other v.III,IIIHII'•, rn l\'1111' ol dw pt'lll'lll:IIW of tlw cls·y wt·ighl o( tlw 101.11 food g •o11p::. wlwnlht·\l' food reso11rccs arc loc:ttcd near rhe territorial border (Ripley llll'.t '·Wd , Ios ll11 1wo ·.pnw-. ol lt·.d 1rrorrkt·y. Tht'> .dlow' ·' qtnH· difrt·rrlll I'J70). 1111111'"' ·"11111 ol tlu 1111111 \ ll\ ol \',111 ,1111111, wl11 l h 1111 11)',. 1.1• h.l\t' dw \.lllll' l'hr frl'cl11111 \II,IH'IW nf l ht• put pll· (.I ced l.111gtrt i~ thu~ hase;;d 1)11 a minimum IIHh • 11f rtltj'lltllllh lot luuh '•1'1 111 ' •.t •·111'11\ I 1'\ pc me \\ hu h l'"'"dn .1 Ill\\ h111 H'g11l.11 llll.tkl· of 11111 ricm. The "" . I "" ulo 11111' tltt I''"'' 111 1111 tl• (lip I 11) tlu 1'1 1ph 1=- ~ 111111d 1Ith 1!11 ltu tlu• "" "' v.111.1hl, 111td • ul 1ht I" I\ lttlf\111 1111" ~ p11111l \ ICI .1 .,. .t-.on.dly v.111.1hlr I I I , ttl tt ht h 1\ ltUII llh ltlttt • lttllll t l l tl IIUUI d ltuult u 1. ul elu ""'" J ~ . tn • ~ ...... - = '' ~ _' t'". .... =--< .,. ~ f.: ~. = f ~~ = !:: - Percentage of dry weight ingested o o Ul U Iii i i Iii I iii iii I I TTl I i i I Iii iii II' I I I iii ! r , 1 I\ \ , i \ I I I \ I I ,\ I \ ,I - " 'I~ , \ ~\ - ~' \ \ I, ); ,\ :; Ii- 0 1ro f " , ~ ~0a- ~ , !>( I, ~. I ~Q 0 I , §l. I //1 ro ; ,, w Ll o , ---I I I , I (, •I z , ; Ii ,, , ~ - o:Je--- 1- I I I, : i I I "l~ : i L I j o - o I I I I I I I -';I I I I I , , , - I I I -= -= ~ .;;: o ,, ~ := ~ <: •, , -U 0 I -u , ,/ , 0~ 0"- I \ w • I, "0 C •I , " 6" -- 3 \ , 2 3 I I w • I ! ~.+- ,, , I ~. I ,, , ,, , ,, - ,, D ,, , II ,, I , c ) I , > , , ,, -; , /, , , o ,, I,' , / , I " / , ,. / , , r / I • Z ",. , • I~/ ." z , • o I o ,I, o '. L "" 14 C. M. HLADIK SEASONAL VARIATIONS INz rOODo o t! SUPPLY 15 Foraging time per age and sex class Cercopithecidae 80 /o..'o-.~ P.. · ~ \. The recent work by Gautier-Hion (1980) was carried out with a specific i ?.\ A. / i \.tl 70 technique which, in spite of the difficulty of observing feeding activity of the JF l I\~' /" :~/ ·~~:~.