Body weights of wild and captive lemurs

Abstract

The mean body weight of a species is often used as a summary measure of size in evolutionary and functional studies. Additionally, body weight is often used to assess the health of captive animals. Contrasts of the captive and wild body weights of a species can be used to examine the effects of captivity on the species. We provide an analysis of adult body weight in nine taxa of Malagasy lemurs. We compare weights of wild and captive lemurs and provide analyses of relationships between captive weight variation and management actions. Body weights are derived from a number of sources, the majority from the Duke University Primate Center (DUPC) capture and husbandry records. Captive animals are, on average, heavier than wild conspecifics. However, the difference is significant in only three taxa (Hapalemur griseus griseus, Eulemur coronatus, E. macaco flavifrons). Based on a retrospective analysis of DUPC records, we assess patterns of adult weight relative to caging conditions and evaluate changes in mean weight over a period of approximately 20 years. Cage type appears to have no effect on body weight. Mean weight has decreased for some taxa housed at the DUPC over time. We calculate a weight‐based criterion for identifying obese animals and demonstrate that obesity is not currently a prevalent condition in DUPC lemurs. Examinations of the physiological correlates of excessive weight, and especially relationships between weight and reproductive success, await further analysis. These analyses need to be based, in part, on reliable measures of body weight. We suggest that systematic weighing of wild and captive animals is important for further examinations of the overall health of captive animals as well as for studies ranging in scope from evolutionary to clinical. Zoo Biol 16:17–30, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Teeth, brains, and primate life histories

“…Body mass values based on V. v. variegata. Brockman et al (1987), Cartmill et al (1979), Eaglen (1985), Foerg (1982), Garbutt (1999), Miller (1997, Smith et al (1994), Terranova and Coffman (1997), and records of Duke University Primate Center and Parc Tsimbazaza.…”

Functional dental correlates of food properties in five Malagasy lemur species

“…After consideration of both surrogates, lower molar area was chosen because it was a better predictor (higher correlation coefficients) of size when both were tested against actual body masses derived from a smaller sample of captive lemurs and field animals [skull length: r ϭ .601; lower molar area: r ϭ .881] (Glander et al, 1992;Terranova and Coffman, 1997).…”

The influence of growth patterns on sexual size monomorphism in lemurs

“…Other studies have shown some evidence of sexual size dimorphism in P. coquereli, P. edwardsi (Ravosa et al, 1993), Propithecus diadema and M. murinus (Kappeler, 1990), although dimorphism in the latter may actually fluctuate throughout the year according to independent changes in male and female body mass (Schmid & Kappeler, 1998). Although the captive environment does not affect adult body mass in lemurs (Terranova & Coffman, 1997), it is unknown whether captivity influences ontogenetic trajectories. However, O'Mara et al (2012) note that whereas absolute growth parameters of captive lemurs may differ from their wild counterparts, relative comparisons among species and between the sexes of a given captive population presumably do not differ from comparisons made on wild populations.…”

“…Data on chronological age and body mass were obtained from the Duke Lemur Center's long-term records (Zehr et al, 2014) (Table S1; see King et al, 2005King et al, , 2011 for age estimation methods in the wild population). Studies have found tight correlations between wild and captive primate weights, including those measured at the Duke Lemur Center (Strum, 1991;Leigh, 1994;Terranova & Coffman, 1997). Leigh (1994) reported that across 53 haplorhine species, variation in body weights between wild and captive individuals of the same species was no greater than the variation among wild body weights reported by different sources.…”