Prey foraging behavior, seasonality and time-budgets in black lion tamarins, Leontopithecus chrysopygus (Mikan 1823) (Mammalia, Callitrichidae)

Abstract

Foraging behavior, seasonality and time-budgets in the Black Lion Tamarin (L. chrysopygus) was observed in the Caetetus Ecological Station, South-eastern Brazil, during 83 days between November 1988 to October 1990. For the full dry season we found that animal prey represented 11.2% of the black lion tamarin diet, while during the wet season they represented 1.9%. Foraging behavior made up 19.8% of their total activity in the dry season and only 12.8% in the wet season. These results point out that animal prey are relatively more important during the dry season, due to reduced availability of other resources, e.g. fruits, and that a greater foraging effort is required when a larger proportion of the diet is animal prey.

Keywords

• Leontopithecus chrysopygus
• foraging behavior
• seasonality
• time-budgets
• Callitrichidae