Abstract
Data are presented on the feeding behavior ofPresbytis rubicunda at Sepilok, north Borneo. Emphasis is given to describing the fruit-eating behavior of this small colobine monkey, which specializes in eating seeds from large, dull-colored, and fleshless fruits. The seed predation is conspicuously different from the seed dispersal effected by sympatric monogastric primates and is characteristic of colobine frugivory at other forest sites. Most seed-eating occurred during the period of maximum fruit production and fewer small-seeded, animal-dispersed fruits were eaten at other times.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Altman, J. (1974). Observational study of behaviour; Sampling methods.Behaviour 49: 227–267.
Ashton, P. S. (1982). Dipterocarpaceae.Flore Malesiana 9: 237–305.
Bauchop T., and Martucci, R. W. (1968). Ruminant-like digestion of the langur monkey.Science 161: 698–700.
Bennett, E. L. (1983).The Banded Langur: Ecology of a Colobine in West Malaysian Rain-Forest, Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Cambridge University, Cambridge.
Chivers, D. J. (1974). The siamang in Malaya: a field study of a primate in a tropical rain forest.Contrib. Primatol. 4: 1–335.
Chivers, D. J., and Hladik, C. M. (1980). Morphology of the gastrointestinal tract in primates: Comparisons with other mammals in relation to diet.J. Morphol. 166: 337–386.
Clutton-Brock, T. H. (1977). Some aspects of interspecific variation in feeding and ranging behaviour in primates. In Clutton-Brock, T. H. (ed.),Primate Ecology, Academic Press, London, pp. 539–556.
Cockburn, P. F. (1975) Phenology of dipterocarps in Sabah.Malay. Forester 38: 160–170.
Curtin, S. H. (1980). Dusky and banded leaf monkeys. In Chivers, D. J. (ed.),Malayan Forest Primates, Plenum Press, London, pp. 107–145.
Davies, A. G., and Baillie, I. C. (1988). Soil-cating by red leaf monkeys (Presbytis rubicunda) in Sabah, northern Borneo.Biotropica 20: 252–258.
Davies, A. G., Caldecott, J. O., and Chivers, D. J. (1983). Natural foods as a guide to the nutrition of Old World primates. In Remfry, J. (ed.),Standards in Laboratory Animal Management, UFAW, Potters Bar, pp. 225–244.
Davies, A. G., Bennett, E. L., and Waterman, P. G. (1988). Food selection by two south-east Asian colobine monkeys (Presbytis rubicunda andP. melalophos) in relation to plant chemistry.Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 34: 34–56.
Davies, D. D. (1962). Mammals of the lowland rain-forest of North Borneo.Bull. Nat. Mus. (State of Singapore) 31: 1–129.
Dittus, W. P. J. (1977). The social regulation of population density and age-sex distribution in the toque monkey.Behavior 63: 281–322.
Gartlan, J. S., McKey, D. B., Waterman, P. G., Mbi, C. N., and Struhsaker, T. T. (1980). A comparative study of the phytochemistry of two African rainforests.Biochem. Syst. Ecol. 8: 401–422.
Gautier-Hion, A., Duplantier, J.-M., Quris, R., Feer, F., Sourd, C., Decoux, J.-P., Dubost, G., Emmons, L., Erard, C., Hecketsweiler, P., Moungazi, A., Roussilhon, C. and Thiollay, J.-M. (1985). Fruit character as a basis of fruit choice and seed dispersal in a tropical forest vertebrate community.Oecologia, 65: 324–337.
Gittins, S. P., and Raemaekers, J. J. (1980) Siamang, lar and agile gibbons, In Chivers, D. J. (ed.),Malayan Forest Primates, Plenum Press, New York, pp. 63–101.
Fooden, J. (1971). Report on primates collected in western Thailand; January–April, 1967.Fieldiana 59.
Fox, J. E. D. (1971).Anthocephalus chinensis, the Laran tree of Sabah.Econ. Bot. 25: 221–233.
Harrisson, M. J. S. (1986). Feeding ecology of black colobus,Colobus satanas, in central Gabon. In Lee, P. C., and Else, J. G. (eds.),Primate Ecology and Conservation, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K., pp. 31–37.
Hegnauer, R. (1964).Chemotaxonomie der Pflazen, Birhauser Verlag, Basel, Vol. 3, pp. 124–163.
Hladik, C. M. (1977). A comparative study of the feeding strategies of two sympatric species of leaf monkeys:Presbytis senex andPresbytis entellus. In Clutton-Brock, T. H. (ed.),Primate Ecology, Academic Press, London, pp. 324–353.
Homewood, K. (1978). Feeding strategy of the Tana Mangabey (Cercocebus galeritus galeritus). J. Zool. Lond. 186: 375–391.
Janzen, D. H. (1969) Seed-eaters versus seed size, number, toxicity and dispersal.Evolution 23: 1–27.
Kay, R. F., and Hylander, W. L. (1978). The dental structure of mammalian folivores with special reference to Primates and Phalangeroidea (Marsupiala). In Montgomery, G. G. (ed.),The Ecology of Arboreal Folivores, Smithsonian, Washington, D.C., pp. 173–191.
Kay, R. N. B., Hoppe, P., and Maloiy, G. M. (1976). Fermentative digestion of food in the colobus monkey,Colobus polykomos.Experimentia 32: 485–487.
Kool, K. (1986). Ranging and feeding behaviour of the silvered leaf monkey,Presbytis cristata, at Pangandaran, Jawa Barat, Indonesia.Primate Rep. 14: 244.
Leighton, M., and Leighton, D. R. (1983). Vertebrate responses to fruiting seasonality within a Bornean rain forest. In Sutton, S. L., Whitmore, T. C., and Chadwick, A. C., (eds.),Tropical Rainforest: Ecology and Management, Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 181–191.
MacKinnon J. R. (1974). The behavior and ecology of wild orangutans.Anim. Behav. 22: 3–74.
MacKinnon, J. R., and MacKinnon, J. S. (1980). Niche differentiation in a primate community. In Chivers, D. J. (ed.),Malayan Forest Primates, Plenum Press, New York, pp. 167–190.
Marsh, C. W. (1981). Ranging behavior and its relation to diet selection in the Tana River Red colobus (Colobus badius rufomitratus).J. Zoot. Lond. 195: 473–492.
McKey, D. (1978). Soils, vegetation and seed-eating by black colobus monkeys. In Montgomery, G. G. (ed.),The Ecology of Arboreal Folivores, Smithsonian, Washington, D.C., pp. 423–437.
McKey, D., Gartlan, J. S., Waterman, P. G., and Coo, G. M. (1981). Food selection by black colobus monkeys Colobus satanas) in relation to plant chemistry.Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 16: 114–146.
Medway, Lord (1970). The monkeys of Sundaland. In Napier, J. R., and Napier, P. H. (eds.),Old World Monkeys, Academic Press, London, pp. 513–553.
Medway, Lord (1977).Mammals of Borneo, Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, No. 7, Kuala Lumpur.
Napier, P. H. (1985). Catalogue of primates in the British Muscum (Natural History) and elsewhere in the British Isles. III. FamilyCercopitheidae, subfamilyColobinae. BM(NH), London.
Oates, J. F. (1977). The guereza and its food. In Clutton-Brock, T. H. (ed.),Primate Ecology, Academic Press, London, pp. 275–321.
Oates, J. F., Waterman, P. G., and Choo, G. (1980). Food selection by the South Indian leaf-monkey,Presbytis johnii, in relation to leaf chemistry.Oecologia 45: 45–56.
Payne, J. B. (1980). Competitors. In Chivers, D. J. (ed.) Malayan Forest primates, Plenum, New York, pp. 261–277.
Raemaekers, J. J. Aldrich-Blake, F. P. G., and Payne, J. P. (1980). The forest. In Chivers, D. J. (ed.),Malayan Forest Primates, Plenum Press, New York, pp. 29–61.
Smith, C. C. (1975). The co-evolution, of plants and seed-predators. In Gilbert, L. E., and Raven P. H. (eds.),Co-evolution of Plants and Animals, Texas University Press, Austin and London, pp. 53–77.
Smythe, N. (1970). Relationships between fruiting seasons and seed dispersal methods in a neotropical forest.Am. Nat. 104: 25–35.
Snow, D. W. (1965). A possible selective factor in the evolution of fruiting seasons in tropical forest.Oikos 15: 274–281.
Struhsaker, T. T. (1975).The Red Colobus Monkey, Chicago University Press, Chicago.
Supriatna, J., Manullang, B. O., and Soekara, E. (1986). Group composition, home range, and diet of the maroon leaf monkey (Presbytis rubicunda) at Tanjung Puting Reserve, central Kalimantan, Indonesia.Primates 27: 185–190.
Teaford, M. F. (1982) Differences in molar wear gradient between juvenile macaques and langurs.Am. J. Phys. Anthropol., 57: 323–330.
Teaford, M. F. (1983). Difference sin molar wear gradient between adult macaques and langurs.Int. J. Primatol. 4: 427–444.
Waser, P. (1977). Feeding, ranging and group size in the mangabey,Cercocebus albigena. In Clutton-Brock, T. H. (ed.)Primate Ecology, Academic Press. London 183–222.
Waterman, P. G., Ross, J. A. M., Bennett, E. L. and Davies, A. G. (1988). A comparison of the floristics and leaf chemistry of the tree flora in two Malaysian rain forests and the influence of leaf chemistry on populations of colobine monkeys in the Old World.Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 34: 1–32.
Wheatley, B. P. (1978). Foraging patterns in a group of long-tailed macaques in Kalimantan Timur, Indonesia. In Chivers, D. J., and Herbert J. (eds.),Recent Advances in Primatology: Behaviour, Academic Press, Lond, pp. 347–349.
Whitmore, T. C. (1975).Tropical Rain Forests of the Far East, Clarendon Press, U.K.
Wood, G. H. S. (1956). Dipterocarp flowering season in North Borneo, 1955.Malay. Forest. 19: 193–201.
Wrangham, R. W. (1977). Feeding behavior of chimpanzces in Gombe Stream National Part, Tanzania. In Clutton-Brock, T. H. (ed.),Primate Ecology, Academic Press, London, pp. 503–538.
Wrangham, R. W., and Waterman, P. G. (1981). Feeding behavior of vervet monkeys onAcacia tortilis andAcacia xanthophloea with special reference to reproductive strategies and tannin production.J. Anim. Ecol. 50: 715–731.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Davies, G. Seed-eating by red leaf monkeys (Presbytis rubicunda) in dipterocarp forest of northern borneo. International Journal of Primatology 12, 119–144 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02547577
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02547577