Relationships among dietary diversity, food properties, and masticatory morphology in Lemurs
Anatomy & Morphology
Yamashita N; Vinyard C; Tan C
Journal of Morphology
2007
2007-12
Journal Article
n/a
Do the number of daily jaw loading cycles help explain food resource partitioning among three sympatric species of Hapalemur in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar?
Anthropology; Evolutionary Biology
Yamashita N; Cooley M; Tan C L; Vinyard C J
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
2006
2006
Journal Article
n/a
Food properties and jaw performance in three sympatric specks of Hapalemur in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar
Anthropology; Evolutionary Biology
Yamashita N; Vinyard C J; Tan C L
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
2004
2004
Journal Article
n/a
Applying Extreme Value Analysis in assessing the material properties of the most challenging foods consumed by primates
Anthropology; Evolutionary Biology
Wright B W; Vinyard C J; Yamashita N; Vogel E R
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
2013
2013
Journal Article
n/a
Do food material properties predict jaw and tooth morphology in primates?
Anthropology; Evolutionary Biology
Vogel E R; Coiner-Collier S; Scott R S; Chalk J; Constantino P; Glowacka H; Loyola L; Ossi-Lupo K; Raguet-Schofield M; Talebi M; Vinyard C J; Wright B W; Yamashita N; Dominy N J; Lucas P W
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
2013
2013
Journal Article
n/a
Semi-Quantitative Tests of Cyanide in Foods and Excreta of Three Hapalemur Species in Madagascar
bamboo; bamboo lemur; cyanide; Cyantesmo test strips; diet; lemurs; plants; ranomafana national-park; secondary compounds; Zoology
Three sympatric Hapalemur species (H. g. griseus, H. aureus, and H. (Prolemur) simus) in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar are known to eat bamboo food parts that contain cyanide. How these lemurs avoid cyanide poisoning remains unknown. In this study, we tested for the presence/absence of cyanide in bamboo lemur foods and excreta to (1) document patterns of cyanide consumption among species with respect to diet, (2) identify routes of elimination of cyanide from the gastrointestinal tract, and (3) determine whether cyanide is absorbed from the diet. We tested 102 food, urine, and fecal samples for hydrogen cyanide (HCN) during two "pre-dry" seasons (April 2006, May 2007) using commercially available Cyantesmo test strips. The test strips changed color in the presence of HCN and we recorded color change on a scale of 0 (no change) to 5 (cobalt) at preset intervals with a final score taken at 24 hr. We detected cyanide in bamboo food parts and urine of all three Hapalemur species. Time to color change of the test strips ranged from almost instantaneous to > 12 hr incubation. Of the foods tested, only bamboo contained cyanide, but results differed among bamboo species and plant parts of the same species. Specifically, branch shoot and culm pith of the giant bamboo produced strong, immediate reactions to the test paper, whereas parts of liana bamboos produced either weak or no color change. Cyanide was present in almost all urine samples but rarely in fecal samples. This suggests that dietary cyanide is absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract of the Hapalemur species and excreted, at least in part, by the kidneys. Samples from H. griseus exhibited lower, though still detectable, cyanide levels compared with H. simus and H. aureus. Differences among lemur species appear to be related to the specific bamboo parts consumed. Am. J. Primatol. 72:56-61, 2010. (C) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Yamashita N; Tan C L; Vinyard C J; Williams C
American Journal of Primatology
2010
2010-01
Journal Article
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.20751" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.1002/ajp.20751</a>
Food Mechanical Properties in Three Sympatric Species of Hapalemur in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar
Anthropology; bamboo lemur; diet; evolution; Evolutionary Biology; fracture-toughness; genus cebus; hardness; macaca-fascicularis; mechanical properties; morphology; patterns; primates
We investigated mechanical dietary properties of sympatric bamboo lemurs, Hapalemur g. griseus, H. aureus, and H. (Prolemur) simus, in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar. Each lemur species relies on bamboo, though previous behavioral observations found that they specialize on different parts of a common resource (Tan: Int J Primatol 20 [1999] 547-566; Tan: PhD dissertation [2000] State University of New York, Stony Brook). On the basis of these earlier behavioral ecology studies, we hypothesized that specialization on bamboo is related to differences in mechanical properties of specific parts. We quantified mechanical properties of individual plant parts from the diets of the bamboo lemur species using a portable tester. The diets of the Hapalemur spp. exhibited high levels of mechanical heterogeneity. The lemurs, however, could be segregated based on the most challenging (i.e., mechanically demanding) foods. Giant bamboo culm pith was the toughest and stiffest food eaten, and its sole lemur consumer, H. simus, had the most challenging diet. However, the mechanical dietary properties of H. simus and H. aureus overlapped considerably. In the cases where lemur species converged on the same bamboo part, the size of the part eaten increased with body size. Plant parts that were harvested orally but not necessarily masticated were the most demanding, indicating that food preparation may place significant loads on the masticatory apparatus. Finally, we describe how mechanical properties can influence feeding behavior. The elaborate procurement processes of H. simus feeding on culm pith and H. griseus and H. aureus feeding on young leaf bases are related to the toughnesses of protective coverings and the lemurs' exploitation of mechanical vulnerabilities in these plants. Am J Phys Anthropol 139:368-381, 2009. (C) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Yamashita N; Vinyard C J; Tan C L
American Journal of Physical Anthropology
2009
2009-07
Journal Article
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.20992" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.1002/ajpa.20992</a>
Linking Laboratory and Field Approaches in Studying the Evolutionary Physiology of Biting in Bamboo Lemurs
bamboo; bite force; biting; bone strain; galago crassicaudatus; indian anolis; jaw functional morphology; lizard sceloporus-merriami; lizards; load resistance; locomotor performance; macaca-fascicularis; mandibular function; periodontal mechanoreceptors; ranomafana national-park; Zoology
A realistic understanding of primate morphological adaptations requires a multidisciplinary approach including experimental studies of physiological performance and field studies documenting natural behaviors and reproductive success. For primate feeding, integrative efforts combining experimental and ecological approaches are rare. We discuss methods for collecting maximum bite forces in the field as part of an integrated ecomorphological research design. Specifically, we compare maximum biting ability in 3 sympatric bamboo lemurs (Hapalemur simus, H. aureus, and H. griseus) at Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar to determine if biting performance contributes to the observed partitioning of a shared bamboo diet. We assessed performance by recording maximum bite forces via jaw-muscle stimulations in anesthetized subjects from each species. Behavioral observations and food properties testing show that the largest species, Hapalemur simus, consumes the largest and most mechanically challenging foods. Our results suggest that Hapalemur simus can generate larger bite forces on average than those of the 2 smaller species. However, the overlap in maximum biting ability between Hapalemur simus and H. aureus indicates that biting performance cannot be the sole factor driving dietary segregation. Though maximum bite force does not fully explain dietary segregation, we hypothesize that size-related increases in both maximum bite force and jaw robusticity provide Hapalemur simus with an improved ability to process routinely its more obdurate diet. We demonstrate the feasibility of collecting physiological, ecological, and morphological data on the same free-ranging primates in their natural habitats. Integrating traditionally laboratory-based approaches with field studies broadens the range of potential primate species for physiological research and fosters improved tests of hypothesized feeding adaptations.
Vinyard C; Yamashita N; Tan C
International Journal of Primatology
2008
2008-12
Journal Article
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-007-9178-9" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.1007/s10764-007-9178-9</a>