Fundacion Proyecto Primates, Bogotá, Colombia.
Am J Primatol. 2012 Dec;74(12):1097-105. doi: 10.1002/ajp.22066. Epub 2012 Aug 22.
Brown spider monkeys (Ateles hybridus) are one of the least known and more threatened primates in the Neotropics. Recognized as a species about a decade ago, field studies on these endangered primates have mainly focused on estimating local population densities. Since 2006, we habituated a group of wild brown spider monkeys at Serranía de Las Quinchas, Colombia, and studied their feeding ecology during 2.5 years using focal "subgroup" sampling, and conducted phenological surveys in order to estimate habitat-wide fruit availability. Based on 847 hr of behavioral follows, brown spider monkeys spent approximately 25% of their time in feeding activities, and fed from fruits and leaves on at least 123 plant species. Ripe fruits were the most important item in the diet of A. hybridus at Las Quinchas comprising 92% of their feeding time. Probably due to the minor variation in the monthly proportion of fruits in brown spider monkey's diet throughout this study, there was no relation between habitat-wide fruit availability and the proportion of fruit included in their monthly diet. The diet of brown spider monkeys at Las Quinchas is toward the high end of fruit intake, even within other wild spider monkeys' populations, suggesting that these endangered primates might also be facing the challenges of being a large bodied fruit specialist under a regional scenario of habitat loss and fragmentation.
棕色吼猴（Ateles hybridus）是新热带地区最鲜为人知和受威胁最大的灵长类动物之一。大约十年前才被确认为一个物种，对这些濒危灵长类动物的实地研究主要集中在估计当地种群密度上。自 2006 年以来，我们在哥伦比亚的 Quinchas 山脉驯化了一群野生棕色吼猴，在 2.5 年的时间里，使用焦点“亚群”采样研究了它们的觅食生态学，并进行了物候调查，以估计栖息地内的果实可用性。基于 847 小时的行为跟踪，棕色吼猴大约 25%的时间用于觅食活动，并且至少从 123 种植物中摄取果实和叶子。在 Las Quinchas，成熟的果实是 A. hybridus 饮食中最重要的项目，占其饮食时间的 92%。可能由于在整个研究过程中，棕色吼猴饮食中每月果实比例的变化较小，因此栖息地内果实的可用性与它们每月饮食中包含的果实比例之间没有关系。Las Quinchas 的棕色吼猴的饮食在摄入水果方面处于较高水平，即使在其他野生吼猴种群中也是如此，这表明这些濒危灵长类动物在面临栖息地丧失和破碎化的区域性情况下，可能也面临着成为大型水果专食动物的挑战。
