Out of Sight but Not Out of Mind? Behavioral Coordination in Red-Tailed Sportive Lemurs (Lepilemur ruficaudatus)

Bibliographic Data

ID11279367
AuthorsClaudia Fichtel (0000-0002-8346-2168, University of Göttingen, corresponding author), Walter Zucchini (University of Göttingen), Roland Hilgartner (0000-0002-2241-1949, Krankenhaus Salem)
Year2011
Volume32
Issue6
Pages1383-1396
Publication date2011-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Primatology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0164-0291 • E-ISSN: 1573-8604
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s10764-011-9551-6
PMID22207772
PMCIDPMC3228940
OpenAlexW2040102256
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited50

Many animals are organized into social groups and have to synchronize their activities to maintain group cohesion. Although activity budgets, habitat constraints, and group properties may impact on behavioural synchrony, little is known regarding how members of a group reach a consensus on the timing of activities such as foraging bouts. Game theory predicts that pair partners should synchronize their activities when there is an advantage of foraging together. As a result of this synchronization, differences in the energetic reserves of the two players develop spontaneously and the individual with lower reserves emerges as a pacemaker of the synchrony. Here, we studied the behavioral synchrony of pair-living, nocturnal, red-tailed sportive lemurs (Lepilemur ruficaudatus). We observed 8 pairs continuously for ≥1 annual reproductive cycle in Kirindy Forest, Western Madagascar. During focal observations, one observer followed the female of a pair and, simultaneously, another observer followed the male. We recorded the location and behavioral state of the focal individual every 5 min via instantaneous sampling. Although behavioral synchrony of pair partners appeared to be due mainly to endogenous activity patterns, they actively synchronized when they were in visual contact (<10 m). Nevertheless, red-tailed sportive lemurs benefit from synchronizing their activity only for 15% of the time, when they are close together. The lack of an early warning system for predators and weak support for benefits via social information transfer in combination with energetic constraints may explain why red-tailed sportive lemurs do not spend more time together and thus reap the benefits of behavioral synchrony

Animal ecology · Behavioural sciences · Biology · Foraging · Group cohesiveness · Lemur · Nocturnal · Primate · Prosimian · Animal Behavior and Reproduction · Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior · Primate Behavior and Ecology · Psychology · Social Psychology · Ecology

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