Browsing by Author "Williamson, Rachel Elaine"

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    Intraspecific niche divergence in foraging and habitat use in wild Costa Rican capuchin monkeys
    (2019-09-20) Williamson, Rachel Elaine; Melin, Amanda D.; Fedigan, Linda Marie; Pavelka, Mary McDonald; Neuhaus, Peter
    Permanent social grouping, while rare among mammals, is routine in primates. Group-living increases intraspecific foraging competition, but niche divergence, i.e. differences in food selection and microhabitat use, may help mitigate competition. I investigated whether niche divergence occurs in wild white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus imitator) based on their age and/or sex classes and found that: 1) immature monkeys spent more foraging time on fruits and embedded invertebrates than adults. Females spent more time on fruits than males, but males foraged more on embedded invertebrates and difficult-to-process fruits; 2) immatures and males foraged more in the lower canopy; 3) adults and males foraged more on the forest floor; 4) immatures and females foraged more on small branches; and 5) immatures foraged more on angled branches. These results indicate that age- and sex-specific patterns are present. This likely reduces the experience of intraspecific foraging competition and may help facilitate group-living.