The influence of group size and foraging environment on the daily path length of a critically endangered primate Nomascus nasutus

LI Xingkang; ZHONG Xukai; WEI Shaogan; CUI Liangwei; FAN Pengfei; GUAN Zhenhua; MA Changyong

doi:10.16829/j.slxb.150495

2021 , Vol. 41 >Issue 4: 388 - 397

DOI: https://doi.org/10.16829/j.slxb.150495

ORIGINAL PAPERS

The influence of group size and foraging environment on the daily path length of a critically endangered primate Nomascus nasutus

LI Xingkang ,
ZHONG Xukai ,
WEI Shaogan ,
CUI Liangwei ,
FAN Pengfei ,
GUAN Zhenhua ,
MA Changyong

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1 Key Laboratory for Conserving Wildlife with Small Populations in Yunnan, Faculty of Biodiversity Conservation, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China;
2 School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China;
3 School of Life Sciences, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541001, China;
4 The Administration Bureau of Guangxi Bangliang Gibbon National Nature Reserve, Jingxi 533800, China

Received date: 2020-11-05

Online published: 2021-08-02

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Abstract

Daily path length can reflect animals'foraging efforts and offer insights into their foraging strategy, which is essential for implementing effective conservation plans for endangered species.The Cao Vit gibbon(Nomascus nasutus) is a small, critically endangered arboreal ape living in polygynous social groups(average group size 6.3).Research on its daily path length related to foraging habits is still limited.During two distinct periods, one from April 2008 to December 2009 and the other from October 2016 to August 2017, we followed two gibbon groups(G1 and G4) in Bangliang National Nature Reserve, Guangxi Province, China.We collected feeding behavioral and dietary data using instantaneous scan sampling at 5 min intervals on gibbon groups and mapped the gibbon groups' positions every 30 minutes.A total of 157 full-day observations were used to analyze the dietary changes and calculate the gibbons' daily path lengths.The gibbons changed their diet significantly in the two observation periods, and we found that they traveled on average 1 373 m per day(range:354-2 837 m), similarly to monogamous gibbon species living in low-latitude areas with smaller group sizes(3.8 in average).These findings indicate that, despite Cao Vit gibbons' relatively bigger group sizes, their daily foraging effort is not higher than other species, conflicting with the ecological constraints model.The availability of larger food patches, lower inter-species competition, and low group density might be the main reason for allowing Cao Vit gibbons to survive in bigger groups without increasing foraging efforts.Furthermore, the gibbons fed more fruits and traveled longer distances when anthropogenic disturbances were lower, while they significantly decreased their movements during the fruit-scarce dry season.This points to a potential energy conservation strategy employed by Cao Vit gibbons as an adaptation to cope with limited high-quality food.The large amount of data provided by the present work significantly amplified our understanding of Cao Vit gibbons travel patterns related to their foraging behavior when facing food scarcity, and improved the scientific knowledge that fosters the conservation of critically endangered wildlife.

Key words： Nomascus nasutus; Daily path length; Group size; Anthropogenic disturbance; Seasonal variation

Cite this article

LI Xingkang , ZHONG Xukai , WEI Shaogan , CUI Liangwei , FAN Pengfei , GUAN Zhenhua , MA Changyong . The influence of group size and foraging environment on the daily path length of a critically endangered primate Nomascus nasutus[J]. ACTA THERIOLOGICA SINICA, 2021 , 41(4) : 388 -397 . DOI: 10.16829/j.slxb.150495

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