Abstract
Howler monkeys (Alouatta spp.) have long been considered strongly vegetarian primates. Their occasional ingestion of invertebrates has largely been interpreted as unintentional. Recent observations of the consumption of bird eggs by Alouatta caraya living in small and resource-impoverished habitat patches in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Brazil help to confirm that such behavior by howler monkeys is at times intentional. We report the findings of an experimental study on artificial nest predation by free-ranging Alouatta guariba clamitans in RS and third-party unpublished observations of intentional feeding on animal matter by Alouatta arctoidea in Venezuela and Alouatta palliata in Mexico. A nest station composed of ten artificial nests baited daily with two quail eggs each was placed at six study sites. Each site was monitored from dawn to dusk during 10–12 consecutive days. Individuals (juvenile males and an adult female) from two of the six study groups inspected the nests and ate eggs once. Study subjects from these two groups were the only ones to be supplemented with food (basically fruit) by local inhabitants, a habit that may have decreased their level of neophobia and facilitated their visit to the artificial nests. We suggest that faunivory is an opportunistic and infrequent, but intentional howler monkey feeding behavior.
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Acknowledgments
We thank João Vieira, Marília Weingaertner, Emerson Chassot, Oivar Giacobbo, Paulo Souza de Lima, Cesar Hoffmann, Rafael Sittoni Goelzer, and Ana Lúcia de Souza Rangel for logistical support and permission to conduct this research at the study sites; the Brazilian National Research Council for financial support (CNPq, proc. PQ #306090/2006-6 and 303154/2009-8 and PIBIC/PUCRS #897/2009 and 1831/2010); Carolyn M. Crockett, Alejandro Estrada, Dorothy M. Fragaszy, and Marie-Claude Huynen for sharing and giving permission to publish their observations; Paul A. Garber and Katharine Milton for making excellent critical suggestions and revising the text; and Lilian Alves Schmitt for field assistance in one study site.
Ethical standards
The research complied with protocols approved by the Scientific Committee of the Faculdade de Biociências/PUCRS (project FABIO #3477), and it adhered to the legal requirements of Brazil. JCBM has a license issued by the federal environmental protection agency—Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (SISBIO #23748) to conduct research with free-ranging primates in Brazil.
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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Bicca-Marques, J.C., Silveira, I.R.R.I., de Souza Martins, L. et al. Artificial nest predation by brown howler monkeys (Alouatta guariba clamitans). Eur J Wildl Res 60, 109–112 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-013-0756-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-013-0756-1