Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T06:09:07.378Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Food choices of the mountain gorilla in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda: the influence of nutrients, phenolics and availability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2009

Jessica Ganas ,
Sylvia Ortmann  and
Martha M. Robbins
Jessica Ganas*
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
Sylvia Ortmann
Affiliation:
Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred Kowalke Strasse 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany
Martha M. Robbins
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
*
1Corresponding author. Current address: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Gola Forest Programme, 133 Dama Road, Kenema, Sierra Leone. Email: jessica.ganas@rspb.org.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

The factors that influence food choice have implications for animal survival, reproduction and population growth. We conducted a 1-y study of food choice by four mountain gorilla groups that consumed herbs and fruit at two locations differing spatially and temporally in food availability in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. We collected data on 45 important foods consumed by the gorillas, the availability of those foods in each gorilla group's home range and their corresponding nutrient and phenolic concentrations. Employing a linear multiple regression, we tested three hypotheses regarding the influence of food availability and the nutritional and phenolic concentrations of food on food choice. Regardless of changes in herb availability, the choice of herbs was positively influenced by their abundance and sugar concentrations and negatively influenced by their fibre, condensed tannin and protein concentrations. Furthermore, regardless of changes in fruit availability, the choice of fruit was positively influenced by its abundance and negatively influenced by its condensed tannin concentrations. During periods of low fruit availability, the gorillas did not increase the consumption of herbs high in fibre and sugar. The choice of herbs low in fibre had less of an influence on food choice at the location with lower fruit availability than the other location. Our results underscore the importance of incorporating both availability and nutrient concentrations into studies of food choice; by doing so we found Bwindi gorillas were able to choose abundant, relatively high-quality foods year round.

Keywords

dietfibrefood availabilityGorilla beringei beringeinutritional ecologyproteintannin
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 25 , Issue 2 , March 2009 , pp. 123 - 134
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

AIKEN, L. S. & WEST, S. G. 1991. Multiple regression: testing and interpreting interactions. Sage, Newbury Park. 212 pp.Google Scholar
BOESCH, C., BERTIN GONE BI, Z., ANDERSON, D. & STAHL, D. 2006. Food choice in Taï Chimpanzees: are cultural differences present? Pp. 181–199 in Hohmann, G., Robbins, M. M. & Boesch, C. (eds.). Feeding ecology of apes and other primates. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
CALVERT, J. J. 1985. Food selection by western gorillas (Gorilla g. gorilla) in relation to food chemistry. Oecologia 65:236–246.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
CHAPMAN, C. A., CHAPMAN, L. J., RODE, K. D., HAUCK, E. M. & MCDOWELL, L. R. 2003. Variation in the nutritional value of primate foods: among trees, time periods, and areas. American Journal of Primatology 24:317–333.Google Scholar
CHESSON, J. 1983. The estimation and analysis of preference and its relationship to foraging models. Ecology 64:1297–1304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
COOPER, S. M. & OWEN-SMITH, N. 1985. Condensed tannins deter feeding by browsing ruminants in a south African savannah. Oecologia 67:142–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DOMINY, N. J., LUCAS, P. W., OSORIO, D. & YAMASHITA, N. 2001. The sensory ecology of primate food perception. Evolutionary Anthropology 10:171–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DORAN, D. M., MCNEILAGE, A., GREER, D., BOCIAN, C., MEHLMAN, P. & SHAH, N. 2002. Western lowland gorilla diet and resource availability: new evidence, cross-site comparisons, and reflections on indirect sampling methods. American Journal of Primatology 58:91–116.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
FIELD, A. 2005. Discovering statistics using SPSS. Sage Publications, London. 779 pp.Google Scholar
FREELAND, W. J. & JANZEN, D. H. 1974. Strategies in herbivory by mammals: the role of plant secondary compounds. American Naturalist 108:269–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GANAS, J., NKURUNUNGI, J. B., ROBBINS, M. M., KAPLIN, B. A. & MCNEILAGE, A. 2004. Dietary variability of mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. International Journal of Primatology 25:1043–1072.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GANAS, J., ORTMANN, S. & ROBBINS, M. M. 2008. Food preferences of wild mountain gorillas. American Journal of Primatology 70:1–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
GANAS, J., NKURUNUNGI, J. B. & ROBBINS, M. M. in press. A preliminary study of the temporal and spatial biomass patterns of herbaceous vegetation consumed by mountain gorillas in an afromontane rainforest. Biotropica.Google Scholar
GREIG-SMITH, P. 1983. Quantitative plant ecology. University of California Press, Berkeley. 278 pp.Google Scholar
JANSON, C., STILES, E. W. & WHITE, D. W. 1986. Selection on plant fruiting traits by brown capuchin monkeys: a multivariate approach. Pp. 83–92 in Estrada, A. & Fleming, T. H. (eds). Frugivores and seed dispersal. Dr. W. Junk, Dordrecht.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
JOHNSON, D. H. 1980. The comparison of usage and availability measurements for evaluating resource preference. Ecology 61:65–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KOOL, K. M. 1992. Food selection by the silver leaf monkey, Trachypithecus auratus sondaicus, in relation to plant chemistry. Oecologia 90:527–533.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
LAMBERT, J. E. 1998. Primate digestion: interactions among anatomy, physiology, and feeding ecology. Evolutionary Anthropology 7:8–20.3.0.CO;2-C>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LEIGHTON, M. 1993. Modeling dietary selectivity by Bornean orangutans: evidence for integration of multiple criteria in fruit selection. International Journal of Primatology 14:257–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MAKKAR, H. P. S., BLUEMMEL, M., BOROWY, N. K. & BECKER, K. 1993. Gravimetric determination of tannins and their correlations with chemical and protein precipitation methods. Journal of Science Food and Agriculture 61:161–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MANLY, B. F. J. 1997. Randomization, bootstrap and Monte Carlo methods in biology. Chapman & Hall, New York. 428 pp.Google Scholar
MCNEILAGE, A. 1995. Mountain gorillas in the Virunga Volcanoes: ecology and carrying capacity. PhD dissertation. Bristol University.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MCNEILAGE, A., ROBBINS, M. M., GRAY, M., OLUPOT, W., BABAASA, D., BITARIHO, R., KASANGAKI, A., RAINER, H., ASUMA, S. & MUGIRI, G. 2006. Census of the mountain gorilla Gorilla beringei beringei population in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. Oryx 40:419–427.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MILTON, K. 1981. Food choice and digestive strategies of two sympatric primate species. American Naturalist 117:476–495.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NKURUNUNGI, J. B., GANAS, J., ROBBINS, M. M. & STANFORD, C. B. 2004. A comparison of two mountain gorilla habitats in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. African Journal of Ecology 42:289–297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PORTER, L. J., HRSTICH, L. N. & CHAN, B. G. 1986. The conversion of procyanadins and prodelphinidins to cyanidin and delphinidin. Phytochemistry 25:223–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
REMIS, M. J. 1997. Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) as seasonal frugivores: use of variable resources. American Journal of Primatology 43:87–109.3.0.CO;2-T>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
REMIS, M. J., DIERENFELD, E. S., MOWRY, C. B. & CARROLL, R. W. 2001. Nutritional aspects of western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) diet during seasons of fruit scarcity at Bai Hokou, Central African Republic. International Journal of Primatology 22:807–836.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ROBBINS, M. M., NKURUNUNGI, J. B. & MCNEILAGE, A. 2006. Variability of the feeding ecology of Eastern Gorillas. Pp. 25–47 in Hohmann, G., Robbins, M. M. & Boesch, C. (eds). Feeding ecology of apes and other primates. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
ROGERS, M. E., MAISELS, F., WILLIAMSON, E. A. & FERNANDEZ, M. 1990. Gorilla diet in the Lopé Reserve, Gabon: a nutritional analysis. Oecologia 84:326–339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ROGERS, M. E., ABERNATHY, K., BERMEJO, M., CIPOLLETTA, C., DORAN, D. M., MCFARLAND, K., NISHIHARA, T., REMIS, M. & TUTIN, C. E. G. 2004. Western gorilla diet: a synthesis from six sites. American Journal of Primatology 64:173–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ROTHMAN, J. M., PLUMPTRE, A. J., DIERENFELD, E. S. & PELL, A. N. 2007. Nutritional composition of the diet of the gorilla (Gorilla beringei): a comparison between two montane habitats. Journal of Tropical Ecology 23:673–682.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ROTHMAN, J. M., DIERENFELD, E. S., HINTZ, H. F. & PELL, A. N. 2008. Nutritional quality of gorilla diets: consequences of age, sex and season. Oecologia 155:111–122.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
SCHALLER, G. B. 1963. The mountain gorilla: ecology and behaviour. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 276 pp.Google Scholar
SUN, C., KAPLIN, B. A., KRISTENSEN, K. A., MUNYALIGOGA, V., MVUKIYUMWAMI, J., KAJONDA, K. & MOERMOND, T. C. 1996. Tree phenology in a tropical montane forest in Rwanda. Biotropica 28:668–681.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
VAN SOEST, P. J., ROBERTSON, J. B. & LEWIS, B. A. 1991. Symposium: carbohydrate methodology, metabolism, and nutritional implications in dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Science 74:3583–3597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WATERMAN, P. G., CHOO, G. M., VEDDER, A. L. & WATTS, D. P. 1983. Digestibility, digestion-inhibitors, and nutrients of herbaceous foliage and green stems from an African montane flora and comparison with other tropical flora. Oecologia 60:244–249.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
WATTS, D. P. 1983. Foraging strategy and socioecology of Mountain gorillas (Pan gorilla beringei). PhD dissertation. University of Chicago.Google Scholar
WATTS, D. 1984. Composition and variability of mountain gorilla diets in the central Virungas. American Journal of Primatology 7:323–356.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
WESTOBY, M. 1974. An analysis of diet selection by large generalist herbivores. American Naturalist 108:290–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WRANGHAM, R. W., CONKLIN, N. L., CHAPMAN, C. A. & HUNT, K. D. 1991. The significance of fibrous foods for Kibale forest chimpanzees. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, series B 334:171–178.Google ScholarPubMed