Prey foraging behavior, seasonality and time-budgets in black lion tamarins, Leontopithecus chrysopygus (Mikan 1823) (Mammalia, Callitrichidae)

ABSTRACT

Foraging behavior, seasonality and time-budgets in the Black Lion Tamarin (L. chrysopygus) was observed in the Caetetus Ecological Station, South-eastern Brazil, during 83 days between November 1988 to October 1990. For the full dry season we found that animal prey represented 11.2 percent of the black lion tamarin diet, while during the wet season they represented 1.9 percent. Foraging behavior made up 19.8 percent of their total activity in the dry season and only 12.8 percent in the wet season. These results point out that animal prey are relatively more important during the dry season, due to reduced availability of other resources, e.g. fruits, and that a greater foraging effort is required when a larger proportion of the diet is animal prey