Factors affecting feeding decisions in a group of black lemurs confronted with novel food

Gosset, Delphine; Roeder, Jean‐Jacques

doi:10.1007/bf02629634

Cited by 11 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…In captivity, neophobia has been studied in rats [Barnett, 1963;Mitchell, 1976], birds [Mettke-Hoffman et al, 2002; for review see Greenberg & MettkeHoffman, 2001] and nonhuman primates [Box, 1988;Day et al, 2003;Glickman & Sroges, 1966;Gosset & Roeder, 2001;Visalberghi & Addessi, 2003;Visalberghi & Fragaszy, 1995;Visalberghi et al, 1998Visalberghi et al, , 2002Vitale & Queyras, 1997;Yamamoto & Lopes, 2000]. Although several studies have been carried out on captive capuchins, there is little information on the response of wild capuchins to novel foods and objects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Response toward novel stimuli in a group of tufted capuchins (Cebus libidinosus) in Brasília National Park, Brazil

Sabbatini

Stammati

Tavares

et al. 2007

American J Primatol

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We investigated responses toward novel foods and novel objects by wild capuchins that routinely exploit visitors' foods in Brasília National Park. Given the capuchins' daily exposure to human foods and objects, we expected them to be more explorative toward novel foods and objects compared to capuchins that are not habituated to visitors. However, since the safety and palatability of potential foods have to be learned, we also expected the capuchins to be cautious about eating novel foods, as has been reported for wild and captive capuchins. Stimuli were presented on a platform in four experimental conditions: familiar food (FF), novel food (NF), familiar food plus novel object (FF+O), and novel food plus novel object (NF+O). Latencies to approach and contact the platform, and to approach and to ingest food did not differ across conditions. Nevertheless, the capuchins were significantly more responsive (measured in terms of interest, manipulation, etc.) toward familiar foods than novel foods, and ate significantly more of the former. In other words, their explorative response toward novel foods led to little consumption. Our results do not support the "readiness to eat" hypothesis, according to which a lower readiness to eat and food neophobia are the consequences of the presence of a distracting novel object. The finding that capuchins explore novel stimuli but remain cautious about eating novel foods supports the view that neophilia and neophobia are motivationally independent responses.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Response toward novel stimuli in a group of tufted capuchins (Cebus libidinosus) in Brasília National Park, Brazil

Sabbatini

Stammati

Tavares

et al. 2007

American J Primatol

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“…Studying low‐quality possibly toxic items could be particularly relevant as, along with the number of exposures (Visalberghi & Addessi ; Wardle et al. ), the type of food is known to affect both cautiousness level and social learning (Gosset & Roeder ; Carruth et al. ; Johnson ; Gustafsson et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food Acceptance and Social Learning Opportunities in Semi‐Free Eastern Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii)

et al. 2015

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When confronted with novel foods, chimpanzees' responses combine a mixture of curiosity and cautiousness. Once the item is in the mouth, the initial cautiousness is followed by an aversion to bitter taste that is mediated mainly by the TAS2R gene family. For instance, variations on the TAS2R38 locus which has been studied extensively in humans have been associated with different acceptance of bitter substances. Surprisingly, while cautiousness and bitter taste aversion were selected to prevent any risk of poisoning, very few studies on novel food acceptance have included the vegetative parts of plants. Moreover, the studies were usually carried out with captive apes faced to a very restricted variety of non-toxic plants, hardly making the results representative. This study aims to replicate previous findings obtained in zoos while controlling for these limitations. We provided nine subgroups of eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) living in the Ugandan sanctuary of Ngamba Island with novel plants known to be consumed by wild chimpanzees of the same subspecies, as well as domestic plants, wild sapota fruit and grey clay used by human local communities. We also genotyped their TAS2R38 gene. Our results confirm the very low genetic heterogeneity for TAS2R38 in this chimpanzee subspecies. Chimpanzees were particularly cautious towards the vegetative parts of novel plants, likely reflecting their behavioural strategy for avoiding toxic compounds. We also confirmed their higher propensity towards testing sapota and clay, reflecting their ability to expand their diet. In contrast with the results found in zoos, familiar and novel less-palatable vegetative parts of plants did not elicit many interindividual observations. This may be explained by the items presented, which could have been so novel to be considered as enrichment in captive conditions, where the apes are rarely exposed to plants.

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“…Food neophobia (i.e., hesitancy to ingest a novel food) can be observed in many animals [e.g., Domjan, 1977], including primates (black lemurs [Gosset & Roeder, 2001], rhesus macaques [Johnson, 2000a], tufted capuchins [Visalberghi & Fragaszy, 1995]; Visalberghi et al, 2003a], chimpanzees [Visalberghi et al, 2002], and common marmoset [Vitale & Queyras, 1997]). Most studies on food neophobia in nonhuman primates have focused on how social factors can alter this behavior [e.g., Visalberghi & Fragaszy, 1995;Vitale & Queyras, 1997].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) are not neophobic toward novel food with a high sugar content

Johnson

2006

American J Primatol

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While we know that food neophobia in nonhuman primates is affected by social factors, little is known about how palatability, and specifically sugar content, might ameliorate a monkey's hesitancy to eat a novel food. It is likely that an innate preference for sweet substances would alter an animal's typical neophobic response. To test this, I presented nine male rhesus macaques with novel foods that contained a low, high, or no amount of sugar. As expected, the monkeys exhibited a neophobic response to the no-sugar novel foods but not to the high-sugar novel foods. Previous research on food neophobia may need to be reevaluated in light of the effects of sugar content on the neophobic response.

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Factors affecting feeding decisions in a group of black lemurs confronted with novel food

Cited by 11 publications

References 19 publications

Response toward novel stimuli in a group of tufted capuchins (Cebus libidinosus) in Brasília National Park, Brazil

Response toward novel stimuli in a group of tufted capuchins (Cebus libidinosus) in Brasília National Park, Brazil

Food Acceptance and Social Learning Opportunities in Semi‐Free Eastern Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii)

Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) are not neophobic toward novel food with a high sugar content

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