The sensory ecology of primate food perception, revisited

Veilleux, Carrie C.; Dominy, Nathaniel J.; Melin, Amanda D.

doi:10.1002/evan.21967

Cited by 10 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 255 publications

(683 reference statements)

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“…As also pointed out by various authors (e.g. Smith and Evans 2013;Leonard and Masek 2014;Valenta et al 2015;Wilke et al 2017;Veilleux et al 2022), our results highlight the importance of a multimodal perspective, as examining single modalities may be insufficient to explain behavioral decisions. How such multisensory interactions guide behavior in a feeding or other contexts requires further studies and across a wider range of species to understand how (socio)ecological traits shape sensory ecology.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

“…Vision and olfaction have been suggested to be the main senses in primate foraging ecology (e.g. Dominy 2004;Rushmore et al 2012;Veilleux et al 2022). Most diurnal primates are strongly visually oriented animals (see overview in Veilleux et al 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dominy 2004;Rushmore et al 2012;Veilleux et al 2022). Most diurnal primates are strongly visually oriented animals (see overview in Veilleux et al 2022). They have three-dimensional vision and are the only eutherian mammals to have developed trichromatic vision, albeit not in all taxa (see Nevo and Heymann 2015;Niimura et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Influence of visual information on sniffing behavior in a routinely trichromatic primate

Weiß

Widdig

2023

Preprint

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Most catarrhine primates are considered to be strongly visually oriented animals, obtaining information about conspecifics and their environment from a diversity of visual cues. Other sensory modalities may provide information that is redundant and/or complimentary to visual cues. When cues from multiple sensory modalities are available, these may reinforce or suppress each other, as shown in a range of taxa from insects to humans. In the present study, we tested how the presence and ambiguity of visual information affects the use of olfactory cues when exploring food and non-food items in semi-free ranging Barbary macaques at Affenberg Salem, Germany. In experiment 1, we presented monkeys with pipes containing food (peanuts, popcorn), non-food (stones, feces) or no items. The ends of the pipes were either transparent or opaque, and we assessed whether animals looked, sniffed and/or grabbed into the pipes depending on visibility of the contents. In experiment 2, we manipulated the visual appearance of familiar food items (popcorn) with food colorant and scored if monkeys sniffed at and/or ate the popcorn depending on whether it was uncolored or dyed. In both experiments, the available visual information modulated sniffing behavior. Both visual as well as olfactory information further affected, whether or not monkeys attempted to retrieve the items from the pipes in experiment 1, while data were insufficient to assess this in experiment 2. Hence, reliance on the olfactory sense was modulated by the available visual information, emphasizing the interplay between different sensory modalities for obtaining information about the environment.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Influence of visual information on sniffing behavior in a routinely trichromatic primate

Weiß

Widdig

2023

Preprint

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“…Despite a greater focus on the visual ecology of nocturnal primates over the past several decades (Veilleux et al, 2022), there remains a lack of research into the sensory ecology of primate foraging, in particular the importance of olfaction (Nevo & Heymann, 2015; Phillips et al, 2004). Diet is a strong selective pressure for sensory adaptations, and frugivorous primates exhibit behavioral and morphological traits that reflect a strong reliance on olfaction (Veilleux et al, 2022). However, olfaction also appears to play a critical role in the detection of insect prey in Aotus .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The importance of auditory, olfactory, and visual cues for insect foraging in owl monkeys (Aotus nancymaae)

Breitenbach,

Ambros,

Risko

et al. 2023

American J Primatol

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Nocturnal mammals have unique sensory adaptations to facilitate foraging at night. Owl monkeys (Aotus spp.) are pair‐living nocturnal platyrrhines adept at capturing insect prey under low‐light conditions. Owl monkeys use acoustic and chemical cues in intraspecific communication and use olfaction to detect fruit as they forage. We conducted an experiment to determine which cues (auditory, olfactory, and visual) Aotus nancymaae rely upon when foraging for insects. We scored the behavior of 23 captive owl monkeys during a series of trials in which monkeys were provided sensory boxes with insect cues either present (experimental box) or absent (control box). Each cue was tested alone and in combination with all other cues (multimodal cues). We used generalized linear mixed models to determine which cues elicited the greatest behavioral response. Owl monkeys approached and spent more time near experimental boxes than control boxes. Male owl monkeys were quicker than their female partners to approach the sensory boxes, suggesting that males may be less neophobic than females. The owl monkeys exhibited behaviors associated with olfaction and foraging (e.g., sneezing, trilling) during trials with multimodal cues and when only olfactory cues were present. When only visual or auditory cues were present, owl monkeys exhibited fewer foraging‐related behaviors. After approaching a sensory box, however, they often touched boxes containing visual cues. A. nancymaae may rely on olfactory cues at night to detect a food source from several meters away and then rely more on visual cues once they are closer to the food source. Their use of sensory cues during insect foraging differs from nocturnal strepsirrhines, possibly reflecting physiological constraints associated with phylogeny, given that owl monkeys evolved nocturnality secondarily from a more recent diurnal ancestor.

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“…However, our results highlight the importance of recognizing that senses are multifaceted and that different proxies may measure different dimensions of a given sense (e.g. threshold sensitivity versus discrimination versus breadth of stimuli [72]). The relationships between different dimensions within a sense, anatomical proxies, and the roles of that sense during foraging are likely far more complex than often acknowledged.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anatomy and dietary specialization influence sensory behaviour among sympatric primates

et al. 2022

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Senses form the interface between animals and environments, and provide a window into the ecology of past and present species. However, research on sensory behaviours by wild frugivores is sparse. Here, we examine fruit assessment by three sympatric primates ( Alouatta palliata , Ateles geoffroyi and Cebus imitator ) to test the hypothesis that dietary and sensory specialization shape foraging behaviours. Ateles and Cebus groups are comprised of dichromats and trichromats, while all Alouatta are trichomats. We use anatomical proxies to examine smell, taste and manual touch, and opsin genotyping to assess colour vision. We find that the frugivorous spider monkeys ( Ateles geoffroyi ) sniff fruits most often, omnivorous capuchins ( Cebus imitator ), the species with the highest manual dexterity, use manual touch most often, and that main olfactory bulb volume is a better predictor of sniffing behaviour than nasal turbinate surface area. We also identify an interaction between colour vision phenotype and use of other senses. Controlling for species, dichromats sniff and bite fruits more often than trichromats, and trichromats use manual touch to evaluate cryptic fruits more often than dichromats. Our findings reveal new relationships among dietary specialization, anatomical variation and foraging behaviour, and promote understanding of sensory system evolution.

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The sensory ecology of primate food perception, revisited

Cited by 10 publications

References 255 publications

Influence of visual information on sniffing behavior in a routinely trichromatic primate

Influence of visual information on sniffing behavior in a routinely trichromatic primate

The importance of auditory, olfactory, and visual cues for insect foraging in owl monkeys (Aotus nancymaae)

Anatomy and dietary specialization influence sensory behaviour among sympatric primates

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