Minerals in the foods eaten by mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei).
Minerals are critical to an individual's health and fitness, and yet little is known about mineral nutrition and requirements in free-ranging primates. We estimated the mineral content of foods consumed by mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. Mountain gorillas acquire the majority of their minerals from herbaceous leaves, which constitute the bulk of their diet. However, less commonly eaten foods were sometimes found to be higher in specific minerals, suggesting their potential importance. A principal component analysis demonstrated little correlation among minerals in food items, which further suggests that mountain gorillas might increase dietary diversity to obtain a full complement of minerals in their diet. Future work is needed to examine the bioavailability of minerals to mountain gorillas in order to better understand their intake in relation to estimated needs and the consequences of suboptimal mineral balance in gorilla foods.
Department of Anthropology, Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, New York, United States of America; New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, New York, United States of America.
Emma C
EC
Cancelliere
Department of Animal Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America.
Nicole
N
DeAngelis
Department of Biology, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda.
John Bosco
JB
Nkurunungi
Charles Perkins Centre, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
David
D
Raubenheimer
Department of Anthropology, Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, New York, United States of America; New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, New York, United States of America; Department of Anthropology, Hunter College of the City University of New York, New York City, New York, United States of America.
Jessica M
JM
Rothman
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000502:physiology*; D006071:Gorilla gorilla / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008903:Minerals / Q000032:analysis*; D014454:Uganda
D008903:Minerals