Comparison of artificial food intake between high- and low-ranking females among provisioned, free-ranging Japanese macaques (<i>Macaca fuscata</i>) at Takasakiyama - Preliminary report

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  • 高崎山餌付けニホンザル群における人工餌獲得量の順位間比較（予報）
  • タカサキヤマ エズケ ニホンザルグン ニ オケル ジンコウエ カクトクリョウ ノ ジュンイカン ヒカク ヨホウ

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Skewed artificial food allocation among a provisioned, free-ranging primate troop may encourage the desertion of low-ranking animals from the troop, such that deserters could become agricultural pests. Although differences in artificial food intake between dominance ranks have been investigated in some studies, those differences in feeding behavior that actually cause differences in food intake have been poorly documented. Differences in the feeding behavior for artificial foods between high- and low-ranking females were preliminarily investigated, between March and June, in provisioned, free-ranging Japanese macaques at Takasakiyama, Oita, Japan. At Takasakiyama, wheat grains and sweet potatoes are regularly given to macaques. As the small wheat grains take more time to handle than sweet potatoes, presumably, high-ranking macaques would be less easily able to monopolize it than sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are given to macaques once a day, whereas wheat grains are given several times a day at Takasakiyama. Notably, high-ranking females obtained 2.2 times more calories from artificial foods than did low-ranking females. Additionally, they acquired more calories from both food items than low-ranking females. High-ranking females gathered 71.5 to 104.9 % of the estimated amount of indispensable energy from artificial foods, whereas low-ranking females obtained only 21.2 to 45.0 %. Contrary to the prediction then, wheat grains impacted more on differences in calorie intake from artificial foods between high- and lowranking females than did sweet potatoes. This result indicates that the feeding policy requires modification, e.g. expanding the feeding area, increasing the ratio of sweet potatoes to wheat grains without changing the total calorific value given to each troop, etc., so as to allocate artificial foods more evenly among troop members.

Journal

  • Primate Research

    Primate Research 23 (1), 25-32, 2007

    Primate Society of Japan

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