Diurnal Variation in Foraging and Diet in the Wedge-Capped Capuchin Cebus olivaceus

Abstract

Cebus olivaceus monkeys exhibit pronounced diurnal variation in when they forage and what they eat when they are foraging. During the dry season, while foraging bouts occurred throughout the day, the group reliably foraged in the early morning and late afternoon. During the wet season there was no overall pattern to foraging through the day. At all times of the year, animals usually fed on ripe fruit in the early morning, but only certain fruits were taken more frequently at this time. Thereafter they fed on both fruits and invertebrates. I examined whether these diurnal patterns reflects environmental conditions, such as ambient temperature or resource availability, or internal constraints, such as preference for or selection of specific food items.

Use of Mineral Licks by White-Bellied Spider Monkeys (Ateles belzebuth) and Red Howler Monkeys (Alouatta seniculus) in Eastern Ecuador

“…Alouatta seniculus, in contrast, has smaller home ranges and likely moves shorter distances than do Ateles; thus, use of saladeros may be less tied to movement patterns and more related to diet. Feeding activity likely is high in early morning (Robinson 1984;Wallace 2001), which may account for the absence of primates at saladeros before 0830 h. If geophagy reflects a need to obtain minerals or other compounds to aid digestion, then timing of visits to saladeros may be a response to patterns of feeding.…”

The Foraging Itinerary of Spider Monkeys: When to Eat Leaves?

“…One of the most common temporal patterns observed was a peak in fruit consumption early in the morning. The animals may be choosing to eat easily digestible, high-energy fruit at this time to restore the energy deficiency that has accumulated over the night [12][13][14][15].…”

Diurnal and Seasonal Variations in Vervet Monkeys' Activity

“…Although feedmg may synchronize or influence other behavioral and physiological rhythms (Malik & Southwick, 1988;Nakagawa, 1989;Robinson, 1984), the restrictions placed upon free-ranging primates may constrain activity and they can become time minimizers and organize their activities in a way that better lowers metabolic costs.…”

“…These studies have generally been carried out in captive environments or under other experimental condtions so that the literature from field sites is scarce. Some of the studies done on free-ranging primates do not include statistical analyses or have been carried out on provisioned troops ( M a k & Southwick, 1988;Nakagawa, 1989;Robinson, 1984). Moreover, seasonal effects are seldom investigated, and very few attempts have been made to explore which selective advantages or benefits animals can derive from distributing their activities according to the time of day.…”