Socioecology of Hanuman langurs: The story of their success

Koenig, Andreas; Borries, Carola

doi:10.1002/evan.1026

Cited by 63 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 95 publications

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“…In this study, Hanuman langurs did not consume faunal resources, but in deciduous forests, they fed on ticks, lice, grasshoppers and other small invertebrates [Mathur et al, 1990;Srivastava, 1991;Koenig and Borries, 2001]. In bonnet macaques, in a tropical dry evergreen forest, faunal items constituted about 14.5% of their diet [Krishnamani, 1994], but Singh [1999] reported that there were very few (1.3%) invertebrates in their overall diet in some other forest areas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diet and Dietary-Niche Breadth of Diurnal Rain Forest Primates in the Central Western Ghats, India

Roy¹,

Singh²,

Singh³

2012

IJFP

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We studied the feeding ecology of 3 sympatric primate species, the lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus), bonnet macaque (Macaca radiata) and Hanuman langur (Semnopithecus entellus), in a tropical rain forest of the Central Western Ghats, India. Since the availability of leaves is much higher than that of fruits, we expected that the primarily folivorous langurs would use a larger number of resources than the primarily frugivorous macaques. Since fruits are a relatively total resource, unlike leaves, of which only selected parts are consumed, we expected that the primarily frugivorous macaques would use resources more proportionately than the folivorous langurs, resulting in a wider food niche breadth in macaques. We collected data on these primate species over a period of 2 years using scan sampling in a contiguous rain forest. We calculated Levin’s standardised food niche breadth for each species. Langurs used a larger number of tree species than macaques, but their niche breadth was narrower than that of macaques. The majority of their diet (over 50%) came from only a few trees in the case of all three primate species. Long-term data are provided herein for the first time on the feeding ecology of bonnet macaques and Hanuman langurs in a tropical rain forest.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diet and Dietary-Niche Breadth of Diurnal Rain Forest Primates in the Central Western Ghats, India

Roy¹,

Singh²,

Singh³

2012

IJFP

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“…Infanticide occurs once in 2.5 group years (Koenig and Borries 2001); this may seem like a low frequency. But, the Ramnagar population reproduces very slowly, with a mean birth interval of 2.4 years.…”

Section: Adjusting Sexual Signals: the Case Of Langur Monkeysmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…This possibility arises through long-term data collected on two populations that live under extremely different environmental conditions (Koenig and Borries 2001). The reproduction of one population is highly seasonal, whereas the other produces offspring throughout the year.…”

Section: Adjusting Sexual Signals: the Case Of Langur Monkeysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untitled

2013

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Reproductive synchrony or desynchrony of primate females influences number and fitness of males in mating systems. Langur monkey populations provide a natural experiment for observing alternative female strategies of confusing or concentrating paternity. Where females escape seasonal reproductive constraints, they desynchronize fertility and show visible cues (menstruation), enabling single males to monopolize matings. This increases female fitness by reducing food competition. Where langurs are seasonally constrained, females conceal fertility, confusing paternity and reducing infanticide. These case studies illuminate how hominin females could increase male numbers and investment. Fitness payoffs to male investors will be affected by degree of reproductive seasonal constraint, and by females either concealing or confusing menstrual cues of imminent fertility. Among ancestors of modern humans and Neanderthals these strategies diverged. Under pressure of encephalization, modern human female ancestors, less seasonally constrained, pursued a strategy of cosmeticization of menstrual signals. This Female Cosmetic Coalitions model accounts for the African Middle Stone Age record of pigment use. Among Neanderthals, strategies alternated. Severe seasonality during glacial cycles tied Neanderthal males into pair-bonds, suppressing cosmetic signaling. Only during interglacials when seasonality relaxed would Neanderthal females require blood-red cosmetics. Our Seasonality Thermostat model explains why European ochre use correlates with climate through the Middle to Late Pleistocene. INTRODUCTION There is a growing consensus that evolving Homo mothers relied on cooperative breeding to raise larger-bodied, larger-brained offspring (e.g., Aiello and Key 2002;Barrickman et al. 2008;Burkart et al. 2009;Robson and Wood 2008;Shultz et al. 2012;van Schaik et al. 2006 Models for cultural levels of human cooperation (Boyd and Richerson 1992, 2005Gintis et al. 2003;Henrich and Boyd 2001;Henrich et al. 2003Henrich et al. , 2006Nowak and Sigmund 2005;Richerson et al. 2003), invoke multilevel and group selection processes, but ignore what is most difficult to explain-how to secure cooperation between the sexes, given the trade-off between investing in current offspring versus future mating opportunities (cf. Bowles 2006). One game theory model (Key 1998(Key , 2000 incorporated the differences of reproductive energetic costs to specify conditions for the evolution of cooperation that can be practically applied to the fossil record. Yet even these conditions do not identify how females induced males to subsidize their reproduction (Kaplan et al. 2000;Marlowe 2001). Recent models (Gavrilets 2012) highlight the difficulty of shifting from systems of significant male mating competition into productive male investment, where males face a social dilemma of ceding fitness advantage to free-riding rivals.If we can define the mechanisms available to Homo females giving them leverage against male defection through the Early to Middle Plei...

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“…For example, some colobine monkeys, which are considered leaf specialists, have exhibited drastic seasonal shifts in diet, with almost 80% of their diet comprising fruit and seeds in some months (Koenig and Borries, 2001). In addition, although all colobine monkeys have anatomical specializations adapted for processing leaves, there is substantial interspecific variation in the types of leaves consumed.…”

Section: Defining Dietary Guildsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Species co‐occurrence patterns and dietary resource competition in primates

Kamilar

Ledogar

2010

American J Phys Anthropol

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Diamond (Assembly of species communities. In: Cody ML, Diamond JM, editors. Ecology and evolution of communities. Cambridge: Belknap. p 342-444 (1975)) argued that interspecific competition between species occupying similar niches results in a nonrandom pattern of species distributions. In particular, some species pairs may never be found in the same community due to competitive exclusion. Rigorous analytical methods have been developed to investigate the possible role that interspecific competition has on the evolution of communities. Many studies that have implemented these methods have shown support for Diamond's assembly rules, yet there are numerous exceptions. We build on this previous research by examining the co-occurrence patterns of primate species in 109 communities from across the world. We used EcoSim to calculate a checkerboard (C) score for each region. The C score provides a measure of the proportion of species pairs that do not co-occur in a set of communities. High C scores indicate that species are nonrandomly distributed throughout a region, and interspecific competition may be driving patterns of competitive exclusion. We conducted two sets of analyses. One included all primate species per region, and the second analysis assigned each species to one of four dietary guilds: frugivores, folivores, insectivores, and frugivore-insectivores. Using all species per region, we found significantly high C scores in 9 of 10 regions examined. For frugivores, we found significantly high-C scores in more than 50% of regions. In contrast, only 23% of regions exhibited significantly high-C scores for folivores. Our results suggest that communities are nonrandomly structured and may be the result of greater levels of interspecific competition between frugivores compared to folivores.

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Socioecology of Hanuman langurs: The story of their success

Cited by 63 publications

References 95 publications

Diet and Dietary-Niche Breadth of Diurnal Rain Forest Primates in the Central Western Ghats, India

Diet and Dietary-Niche Breadth of Diurnal Rain Forest Primates in the Central Western Ghats, India

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Species co‐occurrence patterns and dietary resource competition in primates

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