ABSTRACT
To assess the influence of food availability on vervet and patas monkey feeding behavior, contest competition, and dominance relationships, I collected data on the abundance and distribution of their foods. Food availability is invoked by primatologists to explain primate behavior such as feeding and foraging, ranging, grouping behavior, and social interaction; therefore, to better understand the relationship between food availability and such behaviors, researchers should establish which methods are most accurate under particular conditions (e.g., in tropical forests versus savanna habitats). Hence, I appraise the utility of different methods in estimating food availability for vervet and patas monkeys in the habitats they use on Segera. Finally, I assess whether differences in food availability exist within the environment used by vervets (whistling-thorn and fever-tree habitats) and between the whistling-thorn woodland habitats used by vervet and patas monkeys.
