title: Diet and dietary-niche breadth of diurnal rain forest primates in the Central Western Ghats, India.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Mysore, Mysore, India.
authors.forename: Kuladeep
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.forename: Mewa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Mridula
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016673:Colobinae / Q000502:physiology*; D004032:Diet; D004777:Environment; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005638:Fruit / Q000145:classification; D007194:India; D008251:Macaca / Q000502:physiology*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000145:classification