Urbani Bernardo, Youlatos Dionisios, Kowalewski Martín M
Centro de Antropología, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Apartado 66.755, Caracas 1061-A, Venezuela.
Department of Zoology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece.
Primate Biol. 2020 Oct 1;7(2):25-33. doi: 10.5194/pb-7-25-2020. eCollection 2020.
Sleep is the longest and most continuous behavioral phase in the 24 h cycle of mammals. However, selection of postures, substrates, and tree parts during sleep has not been adequately explored, as well as their evolutionary consequences. The present study investigates postural behavior, substrate, and tree part use during sleep in three howler species (, , and ) in Nicaragua, French Guiana, and Argentina. All three species were consistent in the use of a crouched ball-like sit-in posture on large, horizontal, unramified, or bifurcated substrates, and in avoiding the periphery of tree crowns. The regularities of these sleeping patterns are very likely functionally associated with protection from potential predators and extreme weather conditions, biomechanical stability, thermoregulation, and enhancement of the digestive process of hard-to-decompose plant material.
睡眠是哺乳动物24小时周期中最长且最连续的行为阶段。然而，睡眠期间姿势、睡眠基质和树木部位的选择及其进化后果尚未得到充分研究。本研究调查了尼加拉瓜、法属圭亚那和阿根廷的三种吼猴（、和）在睡眠期间的姿势行为、睡眠基质和树木部位的使用情况。这三个物种在大型、水平、无分支或分叉的基质上均采用蜷缩成球状的坐姿，并且都避免在树冠边缘睡眠。这些睡眠模式的规律很可能在功能上与抵御潜在捕食者和极端天气条件、生物力学稳定性、体温调节以及增强难分解植物材料的消化过程有关。
