Do Javan gibbons ( Hylobates moloch ) use fruiting synchrony as a foraging strategy

Bibliographic Data

ID19386800
AuthorsHaneul Jang (0000-0001-5994-6413, Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Leipzig Germany), Rahayu Oktaviani (0000-0002-8272-5245, Javan Gibbon Research and Conservation Project Bogor Indonesia), Sanha Kim (Biodiversity Foundation Seoul South Korea), Ani Mardiastuti (0000-0002-6734-1200, Department of Forest Resources Conservation and Ecotourism, Faculty of Forestry and Environment IPB University Bogor Indonesia), Jae Chun Choe (0000-0002-5636-479X, Ewha Womans University, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume83
Issue10
Pagese23319-e23319
Publication date2021-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Primatology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0275-2565 • E-ISSN: 1098-2345
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ajp.23319
PMID34402078
OpenAlexW3196191113
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited46

Tropical rainforests are characterized by a high diversity of plant species. Each plant species presents with differential phenological patterns in fruit production. In some species, all individual trees produce fruit simultaneously within clustered periods; whereas in others, each individual tree fruits at irregular time intervals. By observing this pattern, some primate species use the presence of fruits in one tree as a cue to find fruit in other trees of the same synchronously fruiting tree species. Here, we investigated whether the highly frugivorous Javan gibbons ( Hylobates moloch ) in Gunung Halimun‐Salak National Park in Indonesia have knowledge of synchronous characteristics of fruiting trees and whether they can further distinguish fruit species with different synchrony levels, that is, tree species with highly synchronous fruiting patterns versus tree species with less synchronous fruiting patterns. Across 12 months we collected biweekly phenological data on 250 trees from 10 fruit species and observed Javan gibbons' visits to those species. We found that a fruit discovery in the beginning of fruiting seasons triggered gibbons to visit trees of the same fruit species. However, gibbons' visit rates did not differ between highly synchronous and asynchronous species. Our results suggest that Javan gibbons have knowledge of synchronous characteristics of fruiting trees in general, but they do not differentiate highly synchronous versus asynchronous fruit species. We speculate that Javan gibbons, who live in relatively small ranges with very low tree density of preferred fruit species, are likely able to track and remember fruiting states of individual trees without needing to distinguish fruit species with different synchrony levels. Moreover, gibbons may make little benefit of distinguishing highly synchronous versus asynchronous fruit species, probably due to gibbons' heavy use of asynchronous figs. Our study provides an insight into how gibbon's foraging strategies may have been shaped in response to their ecological environment

Biology · Botany · Foraging · Frugivore · Habitat · Hylobates · Interspecific competition · Phenology · Rainforest · Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies · Plant and animal studies · Primate Behavior and Ecology · Ecology

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