Ru Yangkai, Zhao Jilai, Garber Paul A, Li Wenbo, Pan Huijuan
School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China.
Department of Anthropology and Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA.
Am J Primatol. 2025 Mar;87(3):e70026. doi: 10.1002/ajp.70026.
Behavioral and dietary flexibility allow primates to effectively exploit resources that fluctuate in time and space. Here we examined monthly variation in the diet and activity budget of a wild nonprovisioned group of Tibetan macaques inhabiting Mt. Huangshan, China. From October 2022 to September 2023, we recorded the behavior of a group of wild macaques and collected data on food availability, temperature, rainfall, and day length. We found that over a 12-month period, the Tibetan macaques fed on 109 plant species. The main food types consumed were fruits (54.5%), leaves (24.3%), seeds (7.7%), stems (6.5%), flowers (4.0%), and buds (2.5%). Tibetan macaques were found to target fruits as a main resource during months in which fruits were most abundant. During months when fruits were scarce, they increased their consumption of leaves, seeds, and stems. The top three plant species each month accounted for 70.7% of total feeding time indicating that their foraging effort focused on a small number of highly productive plant species each month. The Tibetan macaque daily activity budget was dominated by feeding (3.98 h or 33.7%) and resting (3.81 h or 32.8%), followed by traveling (2.40 h or 20.9%) and socializing (1.45 h or 12.6%). When time spent feeding on leaves increased, the Tibetan macaques experienced a significant increase in time spent resting and a significant decrease in time spent feeding. In addition, during the months of December and January, pine seeds were found to be an important food for Tibetan macaques. It is possible that increasing lipid consumption during the cold winter months serves to offset the additional costs of thermoregulation. Our results indicate that Tibetan macaques flexibly adjusted their diet and activity patterns in response to monthly variation in temperature, rainfall, and food availability across a range of forest types in east-central China.
行为和饮食的灵活性使灵长类动物能够有效地利用在时间和空间上波动的资源。在此，我们研究了中国黄山野生、未人工投喂的藏猕猴群体饮食和活动预算的月度变化。2022年10月至2023年9月，我们记录了一群野生猕猴的行为，并收集了食物可获得性、温度、降雨量和日照时长的数据。我们发现，在12个月的时间里，藏猕猴取食了109种植物。所消耗的主要食物类型为果实（54.5%）、树叶（24.3%）、种子（7.7%）、茎（6.5%）、花（4.0%）和芽（2.5%）。研究发现，在果实最为丰富的月份，藏猕猴将果实作为主要资源。在果实稀缺的月份，它们会增加树叶、种子和茎的摄入量。每月排名前三的植物物种占总取食时间的70.7%，这表明它们每月的觅食活动集中在少数几种高产植物物种上。藏猕猴的每日活动预算以取食（3.98小时或33.7%）和休息（3.81小时或32.8%）为主，其次是移动（2.40小时或20.9%）和社交（1.45小时或12.6%）。当取食树叶的时间增加时，藏猕猴休息的时间显著增加，取食的时间显著减少。此外，在12月和1月期间，松子被发现是藏猕猴的重要食物。在寒冷的冬季增加脂质消耗可能有助于抵消体温调节的额外成本。我们的研究结果表明，藏猕猴会根据中国中东部一系列森林类型中温度、降雨量和食物可获得性的月度变化，灵活调整它们的饮食和活动模式。
