Comportamento e dieta de Chiropotes albinasus (I. Geoffroy & Deville, 1848) - cuxiú-de-nariz-vermelho

Abstract

The red-nosed cuxiú, Chiropotes albinasus, is a poorly understood neotropical primate that is listed at ‘Threatened with Extinction’ by the IUCN. The current study was conducted on a group of C. albinasus at RPPN Cristalino, MT, Brazil. Activity budget, use of space and feeding ecology were studied using Simultaneous Scan methods. The study group was monitored for six months (two months in the rainy season, four in the dry season). The behavioural categories Moving, Feeing and Paused accounted for 81.17% of the activity records. Most activity was recorded in the middle strata of the forest (between 16 and 20m). Diet was principally frugivorous (82.52%), but invertebrates were also eaten. Representatives from some 18 plant families were consumed. Arrabidaea spp. and Brosimum latescens were the taxa most commonly consumed. During the dry season there was an increase in the consumption of such nonfruit items as invertebrates and flowers. Group size varied between 1 and 19 throughout the study. The sex-ration of groups also varied greatly. Parental care was observed by male C. albinasus, as well as interspeciic agonistic interactions between the cuxius and Ateles marginatus and between Sapajus apella.