Dominy Nathaniel J, Lucas Peter W
Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Am J Primatol. 2004 Mar;62(3):189-207. doi: 10.1002/ajp.20015.
Here we describe correlations among visual ecology and the physiochemical properties of fruits and leaves consumed by four species of catarrhine primate: Cercopithecus ascanius, Colobus guereza, Pan troglodytes, and Piliocolobus badius. Collectively, their diet was diverse, with each species relying on fruits and leaves to different extents. The mean chromaticity of both foods, as perceived by the green-red and yellow-blue signals that catarrhines decode, was distinct from background foliage. However, selection on the basis of color was evident only for leaves. Primates consumed leaves with higher green-red values than the leaves they avoided-sensory mechanism that correlated with key nutritional variables, such as increased protein and reduced toughness. Moreover, the monkeys ingested leaves near dusk, when reddish targets may be more salient. Similar patterns were never observed with respect to edible fruits, the chromaticities of which did not differ from unconsumed fruits or correlate with nutritional properties. We also found that primate biomass is higher in seasonal sites. We conclude that these findings are consistent with the notion that routine trichromatic vision evolved in a context where seasonal folivory was pivotal to survival.
在此，我们描述了四种猕猴灵长类动物（红耳猕猴、黑白疣猴、黑猩猩和红腹绿猴）所食用的果实和树叶的视觉生态学与理化特性之间的相关性。总体而言，它们的饮食多种多样，每个物种在不同程度上依赖果实和树叶。通过猕猴所解码的绿 - 红和黄 - 蓝信号所感知到的这两种食物的平均色度，与背景树叶不同。然而，仅在树叶方面基于颜色的选择是明显的。灵长类动物食用的树叶具有比它们所避开的树叶更高的绿 - 红值——这种感官机制与关键营养变量相关，比如蛋白质增加和韧性降低。此外，猴子在黄昏时分摄取树叶，此时微红的目标可能更显著。对于可食用果实，从未观察到类似模式，其色度与未食用果实并无差异，也与营养特性无关。我们还发现季节性栖息地的灵长类动物生物量更高。我们得出结论，这些发现与以下观点一致，即常规三色视觉是在季节性食叶对生存至关重要的背景下进化而来的。
