Diet and feeding behavior of Rhinopithecus bieti at Xiaochangdu, Tibet:: Adaptations to a marginal environment

被引:58
作者
Xiang, Zuo-Fu
Huo, Sheng
Xiao, Wen
Quan, Rui-Chang
Grueter, Cyril C.
机构
[1] Cent S Univ Forestry & Technol, Coll Life Sci & Technol, Changsha 410004, Hunan, Peoples R China
[2] Chinese Acad Sci, Kunming Inst Zool, Kunming, Yunnan, Peoples R China
[3] CAS, Grad Univ, Beijing, Peoples R China
[4] Univ Zurich, Anthropol Inst & Museum, Zurich, Switzerland
关键词
Rhinopithecus bieti; Colobinae; feeding ecology; lichens; diet; Tibet;
D O I
10.1002/ajp.20412
中图分类号
Q95 [动物学];
学科分类号
071002 ;
摘要
The diet and feeding ecology of a wild subpopulation of black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti) were studied at Xiaochangdu in Honglaxueshan Nature Reserve, Tibet. This region is climatologically harsher than any other inhabited by non-human primates. Black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys fed on 48 parts of 25 plant species, at least three species of lichens and seven species of invertebrates. The number of food items exploited varied markedly among seasons, with dietary diversity being greatest in spring and summer. In winter, black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys had to subsist on fallback foods such as dried grass and bark. Ubiquitous lichens formed a major dietary constituent throughout the year, contributing about 75% of feeding records. Even though lichens act as a staple, our findings signify that the monkeys at Xiaochangdu prefer feeding on foliage, which is higher in protein content than the former. We provide evidence that black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys are able to cope with an array of food items other than lichens and hence can be regarded as feeding generalists. We discuss the results with reference to previous studies on other subpopulations living in habitats that are floristically more diverse and offer more plant food items than the marginal habitat at Xiaochangdu.
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页码:1141 / 1158
页数:18
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