Peter Flynn Briarcliff High School

Review of Literature

Ring tailed lemur: lemur catta, lemurinae,

lemuridae

1758 Karl Linneaus: sterrepterine suborder

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Common in wild, breed well in captivity

Diurnal and semi terrestrial (Jolly, 1966)

Review of Literature

Range Map for Lemur catta

Madagascar

Southwestern areas

Spiny forest eco-region

Deciduous forest

Forests diminishing: fires,

overgrazing, wood harvesting, food

(Sussman 1991)

Matrilineal society (Jolly, 1966)

Not strict dominance hierarchy (Dunham

2008)

Size monomorphism

Hormonal masculinization

Female feeding priority ( Drea, 2007)

Review of Literature

Review of Literature

Diet affects on growth and maturity;

frugivorous and folivorous

(Ganzhorn,1986)

Time spent foraging varies depending on

diet, range use, and habitat (Glander 1999)

Natural habitat reintroduction: decrease

obesity: increase agility (Keith-Lucas

1999)

Research Objective

The objective was to determine if free range foraging by

Lemur catta affects their weight

Dominance status affects feeding and foraging time and

amount of the food that they are able to get access to and

consume.

Hypothesis

H1: Lemur catta weight will decrease, which would indicate better

health and fitness, during periods of free ranging

H2: More subordinate Lemur catta will spend more time foraging,

less time feeding; dominant Lemur catta more time feeding less

time foraging

H0: No positive of negative effect will be observed for the caged

vs. free ranging lemurs

Methods

Conducted at Duke Lemur Center: Durham, NC

Eleven ring-tailed lemurs (5 males, 6 females)

Housing: caged vs. free ranging (4/15-11/15)

14.33 Acres

Triplex indoor cell vs. Natural Habitat Enclosures

Methods

Nutrition = monkey chow, fruit, vegetables, greens

Monkey chow provided for in NHEs

Obtain rest of diet through foraging

21 day observational field research

65 hours observation: 32 hours per adult – separated into two groups

Scan Sampling Method- five minute intervals (Cohen, 1971)

Methods

Behavioral Index:

- Feeding (subsets ie monkey chow, leaves, and fruit)

- Social

- Resting

- Travel (foraging, not foraging)

Ad libitum sampling used to assess dominance hierarchy (Altman, 1970)

Analysis change in weight – previously collected data

Records to 1995 used to identify:

- Moves

- Health issues

- Pregnancy

Data/ Results

Chart 1: Dominance Relationship

Hierarchy

Females

Dory Alena Persephone Cleis Fern Nicaea

Males*

Alexander Ivy Cap’n Lee Fritz

*Berisades dominance neutral

Dominant females:

- Dory

- Alena

- Persephone Subordinate females:

- Cleis

- Fern

- Nicaea

Dominant males:

- Alexander

- Ivy

Subordinate males:

- Cap’n Lee

- Fritz

Data/ Results

Name FR change significant p-value

all down yes 0.000

Alena (F) down yes 0.009

Alex (M) up no 0.189

Berisades (M) up no 0.472

Cap'n Lee (M) down no 0.485

Cleis (F) down yes 0.000

Dory (F) down yes 0.042

Fern (F) n/a n/a n/a

Fritz (M) down yes 0.012

Ivy (M) down no 0.565

Nicaea (F) down no 0.278

Persephone (F) down yes 0.000

Table 5: Summary Of Significance of Changes

In Lemur Weight When Free Ranging Versus Caged

Females (F): 6/6 females lower when FR (Nicaea)

Males (M): 2/5 males higher when free-ranging

3/5 males lower when free-ranging (Fritz)

Data/ Results

Overall Significance

Conclusions

Weight Data

Lower weights overall; supports H1

- Females majority decreased; supports H1

- Males weights varied; contradict H1

- Only one strong correlation

Female dominated society

- Feeding struggle

- Intrasexual competition

Data/ Results

Time Spent Foraging vs Time Spent Feeding

Conclusions

Observational Data

Dominant females greater amount time feeding than subordinate

females: supports H2

Subordinate males greater amount of time foraging than dominant

males: supports H2

% Time Spent

Feeding

% Time Spent

Foraging

DF v. SF

PV = 0.044

PV = 0.772

DM v. SM

PV = 0.565

PV = 0.031

P-values of Observational Data

Key: D = Dominant, S = Subordinate, M = Male, F = Female, PV = P-value P = <.05

Discussion

Dominance status and decrease weight – increase in fitness

support hypotheses

Main findings:

Supported reintroduction theory - healthy way to maintain

captive populations (Keith-Lucas 1999)

Medium between wild and caged observation

Research Limitations/Future

Research

Research limitations: larger sample size and greater

number hours observing

Future Research: analysis of actual nutritional value

and content of Lemur catta diet

Help long term decisions diet and feeding provisions

Bibliography

Altmann, Jeanne. "Observational Study of Behavior: Sampling Methods." University of Chicago Press 15 (1973).

Christine, Drea M., and Weil Anne. "External Genital Morphology of the Ring-tailed Lemur (lemur catta): Females are Naturally "Masculinized"" Journal of

Morphology 269 (2008): 451-63. Print.Dunham, Amy E. "Battle of the sexes: cost asymmetry explains female dominance." Animal Behavior

(2008): 1435-439.

Cohen, J. E. "Social grouping and troop size in yellow baboons." Int. Congr. Primat. 3 (1954): 58-64.

Dunham, Amy E., Erhart M. Elizabeth, Overdorff J. Deborah, and Wright C. Patricia. "Evaluating effects of deforestation, hunting, and El NIno events on a

threatened lemur." Biological Conservation 141 (2008): 287-97.

Ganzhorn, J. U. "Feeding behavior of Lemur catta and Lemur fulvus." International Journal of Primatology 7 (1986): 1-15.

Glander, Kenneth E., and Dori P. Rabin. "Food Choice From Endemic North Carolina Tree Species by Captive Prosimians (lemur fulvus)." American

Journal of Primatology 5 (1983): 221-29.

Godfrey, L. R. "Ontogenetic Correlates of Diet in Malagasy Lemurs." AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 123 (2004): 250-76.

Jolly A. 1966. Lemur behavior: a Madagascar field study. Chicago (IL): Univ Chicago Pr. 187 p.

Janson CH, Van Schaik CP. 1993. Ecological risk aversion in juvenile primates: slow and steady wins the race. In: Pereira ME, Fairbanks LA, editors.

“Juvenile primates: life history, development, and behavior.” Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p 57–74.

Kappeler, Peter M. "Female Dominance in Lemur Catta: More than Just Female Feeding Priority?" Folia Primatol (1990): 92-95.

Keith-Lucas, Timothy, Francis White, Laura Vick, and Lisa Keith-Lucas. "Changes in Behavior in Free-Ranging Lemur catta." American Journal of

Primatology (1999): 15-28.

Linnaeus, Carolus. "Systema Naturae." (1758).

Mowery, Christopher B., Colleen McCann, Robert Lessnau, and Ellen Dierenfeld. "Secondary Compounds in Foods Selected by Free-Ranging Primates on

St. Catherines Island, GA." Ring-tailed Lemur (Lemur catta) Husbandry Manual: American Association of Zoos and Aquariums (2001).

Sade, D. S. "Ontogeny of social relations in a group of free-ranging monkeys (macaca mulatta Zimmerman)." Dissertation at University of California,

Berkeley.

Sauther, Michelle L., Robert W. Sussman, and Lisa Gould. "The Socioecology of the Ringtailed Lemur: Thirty-Five Years of Research." Evolutionary

Anthropology (1999).

Sussman RW. 1991. “Demography and social organization of free-ranging Lemur catta in the Beza Mahafaly Reserve, Madagascar.” Am J Phys Anthro

84(1): 43-58.

Aknowledgements

Mentor Dr. Sarah Zehr

Mr. Inglis and Ms. Dyer

Mom and Dad

Dr. Cohen

Staff and faculty at the Duke Lemur Center and Duke

University

Thanks Everyone!