On the move: Activity budget and ranging ecology of endangered Ashy red colobus monkeys (Piliocolobus tephrosceles) in a savanna woodland habitat

作者：Mohamed Kibaja, Addisu Mekonnen, Trond Reitan, Cuthbert L. Nahonyo, Matana Levi, Nils Chr. Stenseth, R. Adriana Hernández‐Aguilar · 发表于：Global Ecology and Conservation · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.1016/j.gecco.2023.e02440 · 被引用次数：7 · 研究领域：Primate Behavior and Ecology、Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior、Animal Behavior and Reproduction

The majority of primate species are under the threat of extinction and their numbers are decreasing worldwide mainly due to human activities. Most primates outside protected areas survive in habitats with different degrees of anthropogenic alterations. Thus, the persistence of a primate species across its geographic range partly depends on the ability of its populations to adapt to diverse habitats with different spatiotemporal patterns of food availability. Understanding the ecological and behavioral adaptations of a particular species to the different habitats it occupies is crucial for designing a comprehensive conservation approach that can also benefit sympatric wildlife species. Ashy red colobus (Piliocolobus tephrosceles) are arboreal, folivorous and endangered monkeys that occur in Uganda and Tanzania. They have been studied in forest habitats, but very little is known about their behavior and ecology in savanna woodland and how these arboreal and folivorous monkeys can survive in such dry habitats. To better understand this species’ range of adaptations, from July 2016 to June 2018 we conducted a comparative study of habitat quality, activity budget and ranging ecology of two groups of Ashy red colobus monkeys living in distinct habitats in western Tanzania: savanna woodland and forest mosaic. We found that the savanna woodland group spent significantly more time moving and less time feeding than the forest mosaic group. We also found that the savanna woodland group ...