Observations on Food Sharing in Wild Lar Gibbons (Hylobates lar)

Nettelbeck, Anouchka Rebekka

doi:10.1159/000021658

Cited by 11 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Furthermore, our results are also in line with literature suggesting that there is no clear dominance of one sex over the other 53 and that gibbons engage in food sharing (i.e. tolerating others to actively take from them) in both captive 54 – 56 and natural settings 57 , 58 . Importantly, conflict avoidance does not seem to be relevant here either.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Gibbon strategies in a food competition task

Sánchez-Amaro

Ball

Rossano

2021

Sci Rep

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Social primates face conflicts of interest with other partners when their individual and collective interests collide. Despite living in small, primarily bonded, groups compared to other social primates, gibbons are not exempt from these conflicts in their everyday lives. In the current task, we asked whether dyads of gibbons would solve a conflict of interest over food rewards. We presented dyads of gibbons with a situation in which they could decide whether to take an active role and pull a handle to release food rewards at a distance or take a passive role and avoid action. In this situation, the passive partner could take an advantageous position to obtain the rewards over the active partner. Gibbons participated in three conditions: a control condition with no food rewards, a test condition with indirect food rewards and a test condition with direct food rewards. In both test conditions, five rewards were released at a distance from the handle. In addition, the active individual could obtain one extra food reward from the handle in the direct food condition. We found that gibbons acted more often in the two conditions involving food rewards, and waited longer in the indirect compared to the direct food condition, thus suggesting that they understood the task contingencies. Surprisingly, we found that in a majority of dyads, individuals in the active role obtained most of the payoff compared to individuals in the passive role in both food conditions. Furthermore, in some occasions individuals in the active role did not approach the location where the food was released. These results suggest that while gibbons may strategize to maximize benefits in a competitive food task, they often allowed their partners to obtain better rewards. Our results highlight the importance of social tolerance and motivation as drivers promoting cooperation in these species.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Gibbon strategies in a food competition task

Sánchez-Amaro

Ball

Rossano

2021

Sci Rep

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“…Offspring survival may be enhanced by the additional nutrition, and indeed most food transfers in primates usually occur from adults to young (Feistner and McGrew 1989). Food sharing is uncommon in gibbons (Nettelbeck 1998). In this study, only the FB-female was successful in predation and she shared primarily with her dependent infant and the juvenile.…”

Section: Food Sharingmentioning

confidence: 62%

Predation on giant flying squirrels (Petaurista philippensis) by black crested gibbons (Nomascus concolor jingdongensis) at Mt. Wuliang, Yunnan, China

Fan

Jiang

2008

Primates

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Predation on vertebrates is infrequent in gibbons. In a 14-month field study of the central Yunnan black crested gibbon (Nomascus concolor jingdongensis) at Mt. Wuliang, Yunnan, China, we observed gibbons attacking, killing and eating giant flying squirrels (Petaurista philippensis). During 845 h of observation on one study group, the gibbons attacked giant flying squirrels 11 times, and succeeded in 4 cases. Although all members of the group attempted to attack the squirrels, all four successful attacks were made by the same adult female. The victims were infants in three cases and a juvenile or sub-adult in one case. Black crested gibbons also attacked adult giant flying squirrels by grabbing their long tails and throwing them from the canopy, but they failed to catch or kill the prey in three cases observed. Passive meat sharing occurred in three out of four successful cases. Besides hunting giant flying squirrels, the black crested gibbons also ate eggs or chicks in two birds' nests and one lizard.

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“…Interbirth intervals would subsequently be reduced, increasing male fitness. Food sharing by adult males has been described for several socially monogamous species (titi monkeys, Callicebus torquatus torquatus [Starin, 1978]; beavers, Castor canadensis [Buech, 1995]; white-handed gibbons, Hylobates lar [Nettelbeck, 1998] wolves, Canis lupis [Mech et al, 1999]; owl monkeys, Aotus spp. [Wolovich et al, 2006]), and for cooperatively rearing species (Leontopithecus rosalia [Brown & Mack, 1978];…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food transfers to young and mates in wild owl monkeys (Aotus azarai)

Wolovich

Perea-Rodríguez²,

Fernández-Duque

2007

American J Primatol

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Accounts of food sharing within natural populations of mammals have focused on transfers to offspring or transfers of food items that are difficult to obtain (such as meat). Five groups of socially monogamous owl monkeys (Aotus azarai azarai) in Formosa, Argentina were observed during 107 hr to determine the pattern of food sharing under natural conditions. There were a total of 42 social interactions involving food with food being transferred on eight occasions. Adult males transferred food to young more often than did adult females. All types of food that were readily obtained and eaten by all age/sex classes were transferred to young. Adult females also transferred food to their mates. This type of food sharing is very rare among animals and may have social benefits specific to monogamous mammals with paternal care.

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Observations on Food Sharing in Wild Lar Gibbons (Hylobates lar)

Cited by 11 publications

References 12 publications

Gibbon strategies in a food competition task

Gibbon strategies in a food competition task

Predation on giant flying squirrels (Petaurista philippensis) by black crested gibbons (Nomascus concolor jingdongensis) at Mt. Wuliang, Yunnan, China

Food transfers to young and mates in wild owl monkeys (Aotus azarai)

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