| Golden snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana) is one primate’s species who exhibiting multi-level society (MLS) in the world. The basic unit of MLS is the one male multiple females unit (OMU), and multiple OMUs activity together forming breeding band. All male units formed all male band, and foraging and moving together with breeding band forming herd, and different herds formed troop. Ecological determined mechanism of fission-fusion between herds, and fission-fusion between breeding band and all male band within herd, as well as high-level social organization of MLS were poor understand. In this study, pattern of fission-fusion in west ride troop (WRT) of golden snub-nosed monkey was detected via GPS collars and individual identification. Ecological variables such as seasonal food availability, food abundance, pattern of food distribution, predation pressure, and number of female in herds were collected via behavioral ecological method. Relationship between ecological variables and pattern of fission-fusion were test, then evaluated ecological determined mechanism of fission-fusion in WRT. Feeding behaviors, mating system (female mated with AMU male), and scavengers prey on carcass of golden snub-nosed monkey were wrote in independent chapters.Data of fission-fusion pattern in WRT golden snub-nosed monkeys were collected via GPS collars from October 2012 to November,2014, four collars were deployed on four individuals from breeding band and all male band from two herds (GNG herd and DJF herd), residual male or adult female breeding band and young adult male from all male band were collared. Collar continued to work total 600 days via three time of deploying, three periods were set according to available collar data and excluding the time when the GNG herd activity around provision site. Period Ⅰ:Juanaury 9,2013 to April 1,2013. Period Ⅱ:Juanaury 9,2014 to April 1,2014. Period Ⅲ:May 25,2014 to September 3,2014. We found that most social components (such as band, OMUs, AMU, male dyad) are involving to fission-fusion of golden snub-nosed monkey in Qinling Mountains. Two fission-fusion events between herds were found in period Ⅰ, each of them last 4 days, and the interval between them was one week. There was no fission-fusion event in Period Hand Period Ⅲ, but home range overlapped during Period Ⅱ, and the overlapping area was nearby the place in period Ⅰ. Fission-Fusion between herds occurred in winter (February) during period of low food availability in suny slope. Mean hourly temperature in suny slope were higher than that in shady slope, siggnifiant of higher concentration of food species and primary food speices were found in the suny slope, and cluster index of primary food also higher in fusion area than that in control area. Higher concentration of primary food in sun slope and three main sun slopes in the study area, and the two herds frequently use the eastern and western sun slopes during autumn and early winter, and the last sun slopes would be the area of essential and ephemeral food resources of golden snub-nosed monkey. As a result, two herds fusion in period Ⅰ, and home range overlap (period Ⅱ) in the same place. Our finding was coincident with localized resource hypothesis. There was no seasonality of predation pressure during the study periods, and this indicated that predation pressure did not contribute to pattern of fission-fusion.Different pattern of fission-fusion in breeding band and all-male band was found between GNG herd and DJF herd. All-male band activity with breeding band was 86% of study period, and only 14% separated breeding band in GNG herd. In contrast, All-male band activity with breeding band only 11% of study period, and 89% of day that all-male band activity alone. There were different in number of OMUs and total number of adult female between GNG herd and DJF herd, previous study found that resident male takeover occurred year-round and male in all-male band have chance to mate with female in OMUs during mating season. Our result indicated that large number of OMUs and more females in GNG herd may benefit to all-male band activity with its breeding band.Diet data was collected using 5-mins interval scan sampling method from September, 2013 to January,2015 in Qinling Mountains. Total 45,734 feeding records were recorded, and the average of monthly record was 2,690±660 (n=17). The golden snub-nosed monkey totally used 129 food species,123 plant species that were identified belong to 43 families, including 58 trees,37 shrubs,20 vines,2 parasitic species,2 fungis,2 herbs and 2 lichens.Annual time percent spent on different food types are as follow, leaves 35.92%, fruit 21.42%, bud 18.44%, bark 8.07%, flower 7.52%, invertebrate 2.66%, lichen 0.95%, and other 5.04% (clay 4.24%, and fungus 0.8%). Lichen was supposed as the primary food resource for golden snub-nosed monkeys in many previous studies, and the monkeys spent more than half of feeding time on lichen in cold winter. Contrast to previous study, Leaves, fruit and bud was primary food resource, and golden snub-nosed monkey spent only 1% of their feeding time on lichen. The golden snub-nosed monkey like to eating lichen very much, eve though very low density of lichen in Qinling Mountains. As a consequence, golden snub-nosed monkey alternatively rely on fruit of Fagaceae as fallback food in winter when fruit was abundance, and like other temperature primates, golden snub-nosed monkey take bark and bud as fallback food in winter when fruit was scaricity. Overall, climate change, low regenerate rate of and heavy depletion by golden snub-nosed monkey may contribute to those differences of dietary variation. Food choice of golden snub-nosed monkey was consistent with previous study from the same species or other species form Rhinopithecus, most of food species that selected by golden snub-nosed monkeys were families of Rosaceae, Sabiaceae, and Fagaceae. The highest of time percent of golden snub-nose monkey spent on food species from Fagaceae may due dominant of Fagaceae in botany community in Qinling Mountains. Our findings suggested that diet and food selection of golden snub-nosed monkey were suitable to its habitat.Most mating behaviors were occurred in OMU as golden snub-nosed monkey exhibiting MLS. However, extra-OMU copulation was report in many studies, and more than half of immature individuals (57%) were sired by extra-unit males based on paternity exclusion. Moreover, less than half of immature individuals were confirmed to be sired by the resident male from other OMUS, and more than half immature individuals were not sired by the resident males in the breeding band. In order to detect mating behaviors of male in all-male band, and understand its function and evolution of female mate with male in all-male band. Data of copulation between female and male in all-male band were collected using focus-animal sampling and all-occurrence recording method. We want to test the following hypothesis,1) Female mating" competition hypothesis.2) Good genes hypothesis.3) Infanticide avoidance hypothesis. We totally recorded 19 cases of copulation between female and male in all-male band,7 cases were interfered by other individual,8 of 12 completing copulation with ejaculation.10 females from 7 OMUs that existing more than one female will give birth mated with 14 male in all-male band, and high frequency of two females’soliciated their resident males were observed as well as females gave birth in the same week. This indicated that female mating completion may contributd to female mating with male in all-male band, and the finding was consistent with female completion hypothesis. Female did not select special male in all-male band for mate, some of them mate with more than one male, and this suggested that our finding did not supported the good genetic hypothesis. Only three case of copulation occured as female may concept, and most of are out of female conception period, and this suggested that female mated with male in AMU was function of infanticide avoid.There exists very limited information on scavengers that feed on the carcasses of wild primates. Here, we describe, based on information collected using a remote camera trap, carnivores consuming/scavenging the carcass of a wild golden snub-nosed monkey in the Laohegou Nature Reserve, Sichuan, China. During a 3 month behavioral and ecology study of a band of golden snub-nosed monkeys (March through May 2013), we encountered the carcass of an adult male (male golden snub-nosed monkeys weigh approximately 12-16 kg). After examining the dead monkey, we returned it to the death site and set out a camera trap to record the behavior and identity of scavengers. Over the course of 25 days, we collected 4145 photographs taken by the camera trap. Scavengers identified from these photographs include a masked civet (Paguma larvata), Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus), large-billed crow (Corvus macrorhynchos) and the chestnut rat(Rattus fulvescens). No member of the golden snub-nosed monkey’s social group, which was composed of approximately 120 individuals, was found to return to the general area of the death site. The masked civet fed principally on the face and intestines of the corpse at night, while the black bear consumed most of the body of the dead monkey during both the daytime and nighttime. These two taxa consumed virtually the entire carcass in one week. We suggest that the use of camera traps offers a powerful research tool to identify the scavenger community of a given ecosystem. |
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