Title
Activity pattern and diet of red howler monkey in Andean forest
Author(s)
Martínez-Gómez, J., Gómez-Posada, C., Giraldo, P., Kattan, G.H.
Abstract
We report on the activity budgets and diet of three red howler troops at elevations of 1900-2100m at Santuario de Fauna y Flora Otún Quimbaya in the Central Cordillera of Colombia. The three troops used different habitat types that included combinations of old-growth and secondary forest, and Chinese ash (Fraxinus chinensis) plantations. The daily routine consisted in an alternation of feeding and resting periods, and traveling among feeding trees. The three groups spent 58% of their time resting, 21% feeding, 15% traveling to feeding trees, and 6% in social interactions, with some differences among groups possibly related to habitat type. Time spent resting decreased towards noon and increased again at the end of the day. The diet was composed mainly of foliage (49%) and fruits (45%). We found differences in diet composition among troops, probably related to the types of resources found in their home ranges in each habitat type. Monkeys initiated their activities late (8:00-9.00), particularly in cold and rainy mornings. Social interactions consisted mostly of play sessions involving infants and juveniles. We observed few allogrooming sessions of short duration. The behavioral plasticity of howler monkeys allows them to adjust their time budgets and diet to varied conditions, but in general their activity patterns are conservative, which is related to their highly folivorous diet and sedentary lifestyle.
Keywords
Time budget; Howler monkey; Diet; Primate ecology; Allouatta
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