The nutritional value of feeding on crops: Diets of vervet monkeys in a humanized landscape |
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Authors: | Emma C. Cancelliere Colin A. Chapman Dennis Twinomugisha Jessica M. Rothman |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Anthropology, Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, NY, USA;2. New York Consortium for Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY, USA;3. McGill School of Environment and Department of Anthropology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada;4. Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, NY, USA;5. Makerere University Biological Field Station, Fort Portal, Uganda;6. Department of Anthropology, Hunter College of the City University of New York, and New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY, USA |
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Abstract: | Anthropogenic influences have dramatically altered the environments with which primates interact. In particular, the introduction of anthropogenic food sources to primate groups has implications for feeding behaviour, social behaviour, activity budgets, demography and life history. While the incorporation of anthropogenic foods can be beneficial to primates in a variety of nutritional ways including increased energetic return, they also carry risks associated with proximity to humans, such as risk of being hunted, disease risk and risk of conflict. Given such risks, we initiated a 3‐year study where we sought to understand the underlying nutritional motivations for anthropogenic food resource use by vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) in the humanized matrix surrounding the Nabugabo Field Station in central Uganda. Feeding effort, defined as proportion of feeding scans spent on anthropogenic food, was not associated with ripe fruit availability nor with crop availability as determined by phenological monitoring. Likewise, there was no difference in the protein, fibre, or lipid composition of crop food items compared to wild food items. Individuals spent less time feeding overall in months over the 3 years with a higher proportion of time spent feeding on crop foods, suggesting a potential benefit in terms of accessibility (reduction in the proportion of activity budget devoted to feeding). |
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Keywords: | anthropogenic crop‐raiding human‐modified landscapes human– primate conflict nutrition nutritional geometry |
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