Authors
F Maisels, Annie Gautier-Hion, J -P Gautier
Publication date
1994/10
Journal
International Journal of Primatology
Volume
15
Pages
681-701
Publisher
Springer US
Description
Recent studies have shown that the so- called folivorous African colobines eat a significant amount of seeds. There is disagreement as to whether seed-eating is due to the poor quality of tree foliage, due in turn to poor soils, or to the fact that seeds are a normal part of colobine diets. To test these hypotheses, we studied feeding of red colobus monkeys, Colobus badius tholloni,and black-and-white colobus monkeys, Colobus angolensis angolensis,in a tropical rain forest of Central Zaire (Salonga National Park). We conducted studies on soil properties, vegetation composition, and the availability and chemical contents of food plants simultaneously. Soils were very acid, with a high percentage of sand, very low cation exchange capacity, and very low exchangeable bases. The forest was dominated by legumes (45.6% of trees), among which the Caesalpinioideae were the best represented (85%). C …
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Scholar articles
F Maisels, A Gautier-Hion, JP Gautier - International Journal of Primatology, 1994