Life history traits and parental care in Lepilemur ruficaudatus

Abstract

In this study we investigated the importance of biparental care for the evolution and/or maintenance of pair-living in red-tailed sportive lemurs (Lepilemur ruficaudatus), a nocturnal folivorous lemur. Between 2000 and 2005, we collected data on life history traits from a total of 14 radio-collared pairs of adults and their offspring in Kirindy forest, western Madagascar. Predation rate varied between years with a minimum of 0% and a maximum of 40% per year. Patterns of parental care were quantified during simultaneous focal observations of both pair-partners in 2003 and 2004. Mating activity was limited to the months of May and June, as indicated by conspicuous changes of vulval morphology and male mate guarding behavior. After a gestation length of about 5 months, which is much longer than expected for a lemur of this body mass, single infants were born in November. Lactation lasted for about 50 days. Apart from lactation, females provided infant care by warming, grooming and transporting infants orally. Infants were parked in dense vegetation while females foraged. Males were seen only rarely in proximity to infants and we found no evidence for direct infant care provided by social fathers. We conclude that the necessity of direct infant care cannot explain the evolution and/or maintenance of pair-living in Lepilemur ruficaudatus.

Why “monogamy” isn't good enough

“…Physical contact only occurs during the mating season when the male, who defends the range against other males (but not females), maintains proximity [Hilgartner et al, 2012]. Some "dispersed pair-living" species are considered monogamous (e.g., redtailed sportive lemur, L. ruficaudatus; [Hilgartner et al, 2008]; Eastern wooly lemur, Avahi laniger; [Norscia & Borgognini-Tarli, 2008]; Milne-Edwards' sportive lemur, Lepilemur edwardsi; [Thalmann 2001]), though genetic analyses to confirm monogamy have only been reported in red-tailed sportive lemurs (see [Hilgartner et al, 2008[Hilgartner et al, ,2012). In other dispersed pair-living species, extra-pair paternity can be quite high (e.g., P. furcifer's rate of extra-pair paternity is 0.75, n ¼ 4 [Sch€ ulke et al, 2004]).…”

“…The Mate Defense Hypothesis can explain the evolution of pair-living in some primate species [e.g., Brotherton & Komers, 2003;Fuentes, 2000;Gursky, 2003;Hilgartner et al, 2008;Hilgartner et al, 2012;Palombit, 1996;Palombit, 1999]. In red-bellied lemurs, this hypothesis can be difficult to assess: over the course of 25 years of study by D. Durham, R. Jacobs, D. Overdorff, B. O. Razafindratsima, B. Singletary, S. Tecot, and numerous local field technicians with whom they work, there have been only two instances (both in 2014) in which mating was observed in red-bellied lemurs (J. Krauss, personal communication; Tecot and Baden, unpublished data).…”

Predation by Mammalian Carnivores on Nocturnal Primates: Is the Lack of Evidence Support for the Effectiveness of Nocturnality as an Antipredator Strategy?

“…For the first search theme, 'dietary composition', 10 papers met the initial inclusion criteria, but of these 2 were not relevant to our review [Jolly et al, 2000;Kappel et al, 2011] and 2 were only suspected cases of predation [Curtis et al, 1999;Brockman et al, 2008], leaving 6 data papers. From the 'nocturnality' search, 4 of the 12 papers retained after reading the text reported sus-pected, rather than confirmed, events [Curtis et al, 1999, duplicated from diet search; Nekaris, 2001;Hilgartner et al, 2008;Rahlfs and Fichtel, 2010], 2 had primary data that were superceded in other articles included in the review [Gursky, 2002;Karpanty, 2006], 1 did not report species [Ray, 1997] and 1 reported a failed predation event [Eberle and Kappeler, 2008], to leave only 4 data papers. This totals 10 papers included in our review (6 resulting from the 'dietary composition' search and 4 from the 'nocturnality' search) and 2 book chapters.…”

Characterization of the Tree Holes Used by Lepilemur ruficaudatus in the Dry, Deciduous Forest of Kirindy Mitea National Park

“…L. ruficaudatus is a small (<1 kg) [Zinner et al, 2003;Hilgartner et al, 2008Hilgartner et al, , 2012, folivorous primate that sleeps in tree holes or tangles [Rasoloharijaona et al, 2003[Rasoloharijaona et al, , 2008Olivieri et al, 2005]. It lives in the dry, deciduous forests of western Madagascar, ranging from south of the Tsiribihina River to north of the Onilahy River [Mittermeier et al, 2014].…”

“…It lives in the dry, deciduous forests of western Madagascar, ranging from south of the Tsiribihina River to north of the Onilahy River [Mittermeier et al, 2014]. The species lives in mixed-sex pairs with 0.3 to 1.2 ha home ranges but forages solitarily [Zinner et al, 2003;Hilgartner et al, 2008Hilgartner et al, , 2012. Male home ranges are larger than female home ranges and overlap with each other [Hilgartner et al, 2012].…”