Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: Development of Efficient Foraging Behavior in Aye-Ayes

本计画将探讨杜克大学灵长类动物中心（DUPC）未成熟的狐猴（马达加斯加岛猴）发展有效采水觅食技能的限制因素。 使用实验方法，本研究将评估成年觅食能力达到的年龄，并将确定是否缺乏经验，体型小，和/或神经肌肉控制不良，防止年轻的aye-ayes有效地觅食。 结果将测试是否需要时间来学习复杂的觅食技能可以解释显着缓慢的发展aye-aye.Study狐猴觅食效率的个体发育对于理解缓慢发展的进化，或缓慢的生活史，在其他灵长类动物，包括人类的重要意义。 人类的生活史特征，包括较长的幼年期和寿命，可能是由于饮食转向更专门的、难以获得的食物（如肉类、幼虫）。 此外，人类行为，如与后代分享食物，可能与慢生活史有关。 最近，人类学家开始用狩猎采集群体的长期数据来检验这一假设，特别关注经验和规模对觅食效率的相对重要性。 在这种情况下，拟议的项目将是第一个实验性测试生命史进化假设的项目。 由于指狐猴和人类一样，也具有相对缓慢的生活史和专门的营养丰富的饮食，因此这项研究与我们对人类生活史特征的理解直接相关。更广泛地说，这项研究项目将为促进教育和参与研究提供多种机会。 初步数据已收集的帮助下，三名学生的研究助理培训的行为观察和数据收集技术，使用手持计算机。 拟议的研究将继续为学生研究助理的教育和培训提供机会。 此外，DUPC是一个教育设施，每年向成千上万的游客提供有关狐猴及其生态系统的信息。 参观者将有机会观察数据收集过程，并通过教育材料了解这项研究项目。这项研究也更广泛地适用于了解人类饮食发展。 像非人类灵长类动物和其他哺乳动物一样，人类也被观察到通过社交来学习食物。 饮食模式，包括肥胖和节食，似乎在整个童年时期逐渐发展。 了解非人灵长类动物觅食行为的发展可以帮助我们了解人类饮食发展的基本阶段，并可能为食物相关疾病的预防性治疗提供见解。最后，这项研究将为将aye-ayes和其他哺乳动物重新引入野外提供有用的信息，从而对保护具有重要意义。 虽然在目前或以前的范围内释放动物在保护和野生动物管理中变得越来越重要，但灵长类动物的恢复似乎比其他哺乳动物更不成功。 了解灵长类动物如何学习觅食将有助于我们预测年幼动物在多大年龄达到足以独立生存的觅食能力，以及重新引入的动物是否能够在新的环境中觅食。 这对指猴来说尤其重要，因为它们受到栖息地丧失和狩猎的严重威胁。

This project will investigate the factors that limit the development of efficient tap-foraging skills in immature aye-ayes (Daubentonia madagascariensis) at the Duke University Primate Center (DUPC). Using experimental methods, this study will assess the age at which adult-level foraging proficiency is reached, and will determine whether lack of experience, small body size, and/or poor neuromuscular control prevent young aye-ayes from foraging efficiently. Results will test whether the time needed to learn complex foraging skills can explain the remarkably slow development of the aye-aye.Study of the ontogeny of lemur foraging efficiency has important implications for understanding the evolution of slow development, or slow life history, in other primates, including humans. Human life history features, including a long juvenile period and lifespan, may be explained by a dietary shift towards more specialized, hard-to-obtain foods (e.g. meat, larvae). Additionally, human behaviors, such as food sharing with offspring, can be associated with slow life history. Recently, anthropologists have begun to test this hypothesis with long-term data from hunter-gatherer groups, with specific attention to the relative importance of experience and size to foraging efficiency. Following in this vein, the proposed project will be among the first to experimentally test hypotheses for life history evolution. Because aye-ayes, like humans, are also characterized by a relatively slow life history and a specialized, nutrient-rich diet, this study is directly relevant to our understanding of derived human life history traits.More broadly, this research project will provide multiple opportunities for promoting education and participation in research. Preliminary data have been collected with the help of three student research assistants trained in behavioral observations and data collection techniques using hand-held computers. The proposed research will continue to provide opportunities for education and training of student research assistants. Additionally, the DUPC is an educational facility that provides information about lemurs and their ecosystems to thousands of visitors annually. Visitors to the center will have the opportunity to observe data collection sessions and to learn about this research project via educational materials.This research is also more broadly applicable to understanding human dietary development. Like non-human primates and other mammals, humans have been observed to learn about food socially. Eating patterns, including obesity and dieting, appear to develop gradually throughout childhood. Understanding the development of foraging behaviors in non-human primates can help us understand the underlying stages of human dietary development, and may provide insight into preventative treatment of food-related disorders.Finally, this research will provide helpful information for the reintroduction of aye-ayes and other mammals into the wild, and thus has important implications for conservation. While the release of animals within their current or former range is becoming increasingly important in conservation and wildlife management, primates in particular appear to rehabilitate less successfully than other mammals. Discerning how primates learn to forage will help us predict at what age young animals reach foraging proficiency adequate for independent survival, and whether reintroduced animals will be able to forage in a novel environment. This is particularly relevant for the aye-aye, which is highly threatened by habitat loss and hunting.