Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-xxrs7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T04:05:23.065Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Unexpected locomotor behaviour: brachiation by an Old World monkey (Pygathrix nemaeus) from Vietnam

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2004

Craig D. Byron
Affiliation:
Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA 30912-2000, U.S.A.
Herbert H. Covert
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, CB 233, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0233, U.S.A.
Get access

Abstract

More than 70 h of positional behaviour data were collected on the red-shanked douc langur Pygathrix nemaeus, Delacour's langur Trachypithecus delacouri, Hatinh langur Trachypithecus laotum, and the white-cheeked crested gibbon Hylobates leucogenys in January and February of 2001 at the Endangered Primate Rescue Center of Cuc Phuong National Park, Ninh Binh Province, Vietnam. Equal amounts of instantaneous and continuous bout data were collected for each of the four species. All animals were housed in enclosures of 10×5×3.5 m with similar substrates, and lived in small, species-appropriate social groups. The positional behaviour of white-cheeked crested gibbons was as expected with >80% of locomotor bouts and 60% of postures being suspensory in nature. The positional behaviour of the Delacour's and Hatinh langurs was similar to that reported in the literature for other Asian colobines with >90% of the locomotor bouts being quadrupedal walking, running, and bounding on tops of arboreal supports. Postures were dominated by sitting in and sitting out with forelimb suspension associated with <10% of these behaviours. The positional behaviour of the red-shanked douc langur is intermediate in nature between the Delacour's and Hatinh langur and the white-cheeked crested gibbon. Locomotion is nearly evenly divided between arm-swinging (46%) and quadrupedal walking and running bouts (54%). Forelimb suspensory postures were three times more frequent for the red-shanked douc langur than they were for the Delacour's langur.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2004 The Zoological Society of London

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.)