Route-based travel and shared routes in sympatric spider and woolly monkeys: cognitive and evolutionary implications
Route-based travel and shared routes in sympatric spider and woolly monkeys: cognitive and evolutionary implications
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DOI：
10.1007/s10071-006-0067-y
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发表时间：
2007-07-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.7
通讯作者：
Suarez, Scott A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Di Fiore, Anthony;Suarez, Scott A.
许多野生灵长类动物占据很大的活动范围，每天都要长途跋涉。在这些范围内航行以找到足够的食物是一个巨大的认知挑战，但我们仍然远未了解灵长类动物如何在心理上表示空间信息或它们如何使用这些信息在自然条件下进行导航。在一项长期的社会生态学研究过程中，我们调查并比较了厄瓜多尔亚马逊河流域的同域蜘蛛猴（Ateles belzebuth）和绒毛猴（Lagothrix poeppigii）的旅行路径。在长达 8 年的几个野外季节中，我们连续多天跟踪这两个物种的焦点个体或群体，并详细绘制了它们的旅行路径。我们发现，这两种灵长类动物通常都会沿着重复使用的路径或“路线”穿越它们的活动范围。其中许多路线对于这两个物种来说都是常见的，并且在研究期间保持稳定。几条重要的路线似乎与不同的地形特征（例如山脊顶部）相关，这些特征可能构成易于识别的对空间导航有用的地标。这两个物种的大部分位置记录都沿着或靠近确定的路线，大多数用于水果喂养的树木也是如此。我们的结果有力地支持了这样的观点：毛猴和蜘蛛猴都使用基于路线的心理地图，类似于 Poucet 提出的思想地图（Psychol Rev 100: 163-182, 1993）。我们认为，蜘蛛和绒毛猴不必记住数千棵单独进食树的具体位置及其物候时间表，而是可以通过记忆一系列路线段来有效地觅食，在遵循这些路线时，它们可以与许多潜在的进食源接触以进行监测或访问。此外，由于吞咽和排泄的种子在路线上沉积的频率更高，几代人重复使用特定的旅行路径可能会对热带森林的结构和组成产生深远的影响，这增加了一种有趣的可能性，即这些和其他灵长类食果动物是构建自己的生态位的积极参与者。基于 Byrne（Q J Exp Psychol 31:147-154, 1979，Normality and pathology in Cognitive Functions。Academic，伦敦，第 239-264 页，1982）和 Milton（吼猴的觅食策略：灵长类经济学研究。哥伦比亚大学出版社，纽约，1980，在移动中：动物如何以及为何成群旅行。芝加哥大学出版社，芝加哥， pp 375-417, 2000），我们的结果强调了基于路线的旅行在非人类灵长类动物的记忆和觅食策略中可能具有的普遍重要性。
Many wild primates occupy large home ranges and travel long distances each day. Navigating these ranges to find sufficient food presents a substantial cognitive challenge, but we are still far from understanding either how primates represent spatial information mentally or how they use this information to navigate under natural conditions. In the course of a long-term socioecological study, we investigated and compared the travel paths of sympatric spider monkeys (Ateles belzebuth) and woolly monkeys (Lagothrix poeppigii) in Amazonian Ecuador. During several field seasons spanning an 8-year period, we followed focal individuals or groups of both species continuously for periods of multiple days and mapped their travel paths in detail. We found that both primates typically traveled through their home ranges following repeatedly used paths, or "routes". Many of these routes were common to both species and were stable across study years. Several important routes appeared to be associated with distinct topographic features (e.g., ridgetops), which may constitute easily recognized landmarks useful for spatial navigation. The majority of all location records for both species fell along or near identified routes, as did most of the trees used for fruit feeding. Our results provide strong support for the idea that both woolly and spider monkey use route-based mental maps similar to those proposed by Poucet (Psychol Rev 100: 163-182, 1993). We suggest that rather than remembering the specific locations of thousands of individual feeding trees and their phenological schedules, spider and woolly monkeys could nonetheless forage efficiently by committing to memory a series of route segments that, when followed, bring them into contact with many potential feeding sources for monitoring or visitation. Furthermore, because swallowed and defecated seeds are deposited in greater frequency along routes, the repeated use of particular travel paths over generations could profoundly influence the structure and composition of tropical forests, raising the intriguing possibility that these and other primate frugivores are active participants in constructing their own ecological niches. Building upon the insights of Byrne (Q J Exp Psychol 31:147-154, 1979, Normality and pathology in cognitive functions. Academic, London, pp 239-264, 1982) and Milton (The foraging strategy of howler monkeys: a study in primate economics. Columbia University Press, New York, 1980, On the move: how and why animals travel in groups. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 375-417, 2000), our results highlight the likely general importance of route-based travel in the memory and foraging strategies of nonhuman primates.