Kappeler P M
Abt. Verhaltensforschung/Okologie, Deutsches Primatenzentrum, Göttingen, Germany.
Am J Primatol. 1998;46(1):7-33. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1098-2345(1998)46:1<7::AID-AJP3>3.0.CO;2-#.
In contrast to the majority of primates, many prosimians, some New World monkeys, and the great apes rest in tree holes or self-constructed nests during their inactive periods. The goal of this comparative study was to examine possible functions of this interspecific variation. Information on resting behavior, maternal behavior, and basic life-history traits was gleaned from the literature and mapped onto a phylogenetic tree of primates for various comparative tests. Parsimony-based reconstructions revealed that only the use of nests or tree holes as shelters for young infants can be unequivocally reconstructed for various higher taxa, suggesting that it is functionally different from the use of shelters by adults (who may be accompanied by infants). Further reconstructions revealed that the ancestral primate was most likely nocturnal and solitary and produced a single infant that was initially left in a shelter and later carried orally to a parking place in the vegetation--a combination of traits exhibited by many living galagos. Evolutionary losses of the use of nests were concentrated among diurnal and nonsolitary taxa and weakly associated with evolutionary increases in body size. Thus, protective functions of nests or tree holes used by prosimians are either secondary or there are alternative ways of obtaining protection. Because the evolution of larger litters was significantly associated with the presence of shelters, the presence of relatively altricial young among prosimians best explains the use of nests and tree holes, which are in most but not all cases also used by adults. These shelters therefore play an integral part in the life-history strategies of primitive primates and their ancestors and evolved secondarily among anthropoids for other purposes.
与大多数灵长类动物不同，许多原猴亚目动物、一些新大陆猴以及大猩猩在不活动期间会在树洞或自己建造的巢穴中休息。这项比较研究的目的是探究这种种间差异可能具有的功能。从文献中收集了关于休息行为、母性行为和基本生活史特征的信息，并将其映射到灵长类动物的系统发育树上，以进行各种比较测试。基于简约法的重建显示，只有将巢穴或树洞用作幼崽庇护所这一行为能够明确地在各种高等分类群中重建，这表明它在功能上与成年个体（可能带着幼崽）使用庇护所有所不同。进一步的重建显示，原始灵长类动物很可能是夜行性且独居的，每次产一仔，幼崽最初被留在庇护所，之后被母亲用嘴叼到植被中的一个“停放处”——许多现存的婴猴都具有这些特征组合。巢穴使用行为的进化丧失集中在昼行性和非独居的分类群中，并且与体型的进化增加关联较弱。因此，原猴亚目动物使用的巢穴或树洞的保护功能要么是次要的，要么存在其他获得保护的方式。由于较大窝仔数的进化与庇护所的存在显著相关，原猴亚目动物中相对早产的幼崽的存在最能解释巢穴和树洞的使用，在大多数但并非所有情况下，成年个体也会使用这些巢穴和树洞。因此，这些庇护所在原始灵长类动物及其祖先的生活史策略中起着不可或缺的作用，并且在类人猿中是为了其他目的而次生进化的。
