Abstract
Studies on positional behavior and canopy use are essential for understanding how arboreal animals adapt their morphological character-istics and behaviors to the challenges of their environment. This study explores canopy and substrate use along with positional behavior in adult black snub-nosed monkeys Rhinopithecus strykeri, an endemic, critically endangered primate species in Gaoligong Mountains, southwest China. Using continuous focal animal sampling, we collected data over a 52-month period and found that R. strykeri is highly arboreal primarily using the high layers of the forest canopy (15–30 m), along with the terminal zone of tree crowns (52.9％), medium substrates (41.5％), and oblique substrates (56.8％). We also found sex differences in canopy and substrate use. Females use the termi-nal zones (56.7％ versus 40.4％), small/medium (77.7％ versus 60.1％), and oblique (59.9％ versus 46.5％) substrates significantly more than males. On the other hand, males spend more time on large/very large (39.9％ versus 22.3％) and horizontal (49.7％ versus 35.2％) substrates. Whereas both sexes mainly sit (84.7％), and stand quadrupedally (9.1％), males stand quadrupedally (11.5％ versus 8.3％), and bipedally (2.9％ versus 0.8％) more often than females. Clamber, quadrupedalism, and leap/drop are the main locomotor modes for both sexes. Rhinopithecus strykeri populations never enter canopies of degenerated secondary forest and mainly use terminal branches in the middle and upper layers of canopies in intact mid-montane moist evergreen broadleaf forest and hemlock coniferous broadleaf mixed for-ests across their habitat.
基金项目
国家自然科学基金(31860168)
Zoological Society for the Conservation of Species and Populations(Germany,Rhinopithecus.MMR.2015)()
Australian National University Fieldwork Funding for Higher Degree Research Students(R61250FW)
Young talents program of ten thousand talents plan of Yunnan(YNWRQNBJ-2019-262)
NETL
NSTL
万方数据