ABSTRACT
A significant component of my study entailed examining the feeding behavior of vervets and patas monkeys. Because species differences in processing foods or in diet composition could result in differences in monkeys’ perception of the availability of the same foods, they could ultimately influence female contest competition over food. Variables such as body size and food-processing apparatus (teeth and guts) constrain a primate’s feeding behavior. Subsequently, differences in feeding behavior between species may be related to physiological and morphological differences (Richard 1985). For example, the African and Asian colobines possess a sacculated stomach that aids in fermentation of food as well as providing considerable volume to allow a large amount of food to be processed. This trait permits the colobines a largely folivorous and, presumably, low-quality diet. Accurately assessing primate food availability in the absence of information on how primates interact with food sources does little to advance theories of primate behavior and ecology. Therefore, in order to understand feeding competition, detailed data on primate feeding and foraging behavior are necessary (Janson 1988).
