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IPS Conference 2006
Abstracts
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Abstract # 43:
Scheduled for Monday,
June 26, 2006
02:20 PM-02:40 PM:
Session 6 (Kama A)
Paper Session
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DIET, ENERGY INTAKE, AND ENERGY EXPENDITURE BY MOUNTAIN GORILLAS OF BWINDI IMPENETRABLE NATIONAL PARK, UGANDA |
J. B. Nkurunungi1,2, J. Ganas1, S. Ortmann3 and M. M. Robbins1
1Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, , Leipzig, Deutscher Platz, 6, Germany, 2Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation, Uganda, 3Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany |
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| Dietary flexibility is common in primates because of changing temporal and spatial availability of food resources in the environment. Animals are expected to adapt to variation in food availability and forage optimally, such that they maximize energy gain relative to the energy expended to obtain these resources. Fruit, though high in energy and more easily digested is low in protein, is typically highly clumped and seasonally available. Conversely, herbaceous foods are more readily available, abundant, and high in protein but difficult to digest and low in energy. Therefore frugivorous-folivorous species, such as mountain gorillas, need to balance their diet intake and travel distance depending on fruit and herb availability. This study examined energy gain in relation to energy expenditure in mountain gorillas of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, which have a folivorous-frugivorous diet. One group of gorillas (n = 14) was studied for a one year period (September 2004 – August 2005). Energy intake was estimated by a combination of diet quantification (using focal and scan sampling to estimate intake rates and total dietary intake), nutritional analysis to estimate caloric value of food items, and using daily travel distance as a proxy for daily energy expenditure. This study enables us to better understand the relative roles that fruit and herbaceous foods play in shaping the foraging strategies of gorillas in a variable environment. |
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Modified: 18 December 2005
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