ABSTRACT
Usually the seasonal differences in diet and feeding behavior reflect primate adjustments to seasonal differences in available foods. Primates also adjust their diets and behavior to the spatial distribution of their food resources. Together, differences in the temporal availability and spatial distribution of food resources can account for much of the dietary variation observed across populations of the same species. The variance in female primate reproductive success is greatest, however, whenever food resources are especially scarce. The stage of maturity of primate plant foods is an important determinant of an item’s nutrient content and its digestibility, and, thus, its attractiveness as a food resource. In the equations of foraging economics, time and energy expenditures for locating food and handling food are the costs, and the energy and other nutrients obtained from these foods are the benefits.
