Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: Fallback Foods in the Ecology of an Endangered Cercocebus Mangabey, the Sanje Mangabey of the Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania

University Of Texas At San Antonio, San Antonio TX

Investigators

Abstract

Primates are challenged to achieve a balanced diet that meets nutritional requirements and can be consumed without excessive risks. In tropical environments, survival may be contingent on finding alternatives to high-energy, high-nutrition foods such as ripe fruit that are only seasonally available. These crucial seasonal alternatives, referred to as fallback foods, are hypothesized to be nutritionally low, high in toxins, and physically difficult to process, but may be essential for survival of individuals and may have selected for particular morphological and behavioral traits. This proposition, however, has not been well studied under natural conditions. This project examines fallback food usage by endangered Sanje mangabeys, primates confined to highly seasonal forests of the Udzungwa Mountains of Tanzania, located in one of the world's biodiversity hotspots. Behavioral and dietary data are collected over 12 months on a habituated group, examining their adaptive responses to seasonal fluctuations in food availability. It is predicted that they alter their diet, switching from high quality fruits to foods of lower quality with high levels of toxins, such as seeds and nuts (fallback foods), representing significant ecological challenges. The nutritional and physical aspects of fallback foods are analyzed monthly at the Sokoine University in Tanzania for fat, protein, fiber, sugars, toxin content, and the force required to process each food item (a measure of food hardness). These data examine how these primates respond to food shortages while maintaining the nutritionally balanced diet essential to survival and reproductive success. This research also represents capacity transfer through in-field training of Tanzanian collaborators and establishes a partnership with a Tanzanian educational institution. The project assists in conservation management for the highly threatened Sanje mangabey by identifying the ecological requirements of this species, knowledge vital for sound management policies in the Udzungwa Mountains National Park.