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Hanya G & Bernard H (2016) Seasonally consistent small home range and long ranging distance in Presbytis rubicunda in Danum Valley, Borneo. International Journal of Primatology: 37:390-404.

Abstract
Seasonal fluctuation in food availability is a universal problem for wild animals. One common response to this is to modify ranging patterns. We studied the ranging pattern of one group (8-12 individuals) of red leaf monkeys (Presbytis rubicunda) in the lowland dipterocarp forest of Danum Valley, Borneo from December 2006 to December 2008. The seasonal availability of fruits varies significantly in this forest due to mast fruiting. We tested the hypothesis that changes in ranging pattern are linked with seasonal changes in diet in this species. We recorded activity, foods eaten and location every ten minutes from around 06:00 until 16:00, 5-10 days per month. The home range size was 21.4 ha over the 25 month study (95% kernel contour). There were no statistically significant relationships between feeding time on the four major non-exclusive dietary components (all species of seeds, all species of young leaves, young leaves of Spatholobus macropterus and other species of young leaves) and either the home range (95% kernel contour) or the core area (50% kernel contour). The areas used in the seed-eating and non-seed eating seasons overlapped to a large extent. The daily path length was 1160±340 m (mean±SD, range: 550-2140 m). Neither daily path length nor monthly mean travel rate were significantly related to feeding time on any of the four major dietary components. The group’s ranging patterns may be related to the unusual fallback strategy of this population, which depends on the young leaves of an abundant liana (Spatholobus macropterus), which are available in small patches. The monkeys need only a small home range because of the high abundance of these leaves. However, they range a relatively long distance because the patches of S. macropterus are easily depleted, thus the ranging distance does not decrease in non-seed eating periods.

Key words: colobus monkey; daily path length; home range; mast fruiting; Spatholobus macropterus

<Written by: Goro Hanya (hanya.goro.5z<atmark>kyoto-u.ac.jp)>
<Contact: Goro Hanya (hanya.goro.5z<atmark>kyoto-u.ac.jp)>
<Last update: September 5, 2016>