Spore dispersal through mycophagy by Japanese macaques

蘑菇(子实体)是真菌的生殖器官。为了阐明化学成分，特别是毒素的生态意义，我们需要积累多面性哺乳动物吞噬真菌的基本自然历史信息。本研究的目的是(1)阐明日本猕猴在屋久岛野生食用菌的物种多样性和蘑菇选择的毒性；(2)从实验上证明日本猕猴通过真菌吞噬有效地传播真菌孢子。根据我们对屋久岛野生日本猕猴持续14个月的行为观察，猕猴食用菌67种31属。那些立即食用的蘑菇(没有检查行为)和那些猕猴全部吃掉(没有停止吃)的蘑菇，有毒蘑菇的比例往往较低。这表明猕猴对有毒蘑菇有先验知识，它可以避开有毒蘑菇，并根据味道进行现场判断。我们不能通过实验证明孢子散布，因为很难给圈养或供应的猕猴喂食蘑菇。

Mushroom (fruiting body) is a reproductive organ of fungi. To clarify the ecological significance of the chemicalcontent, in particular toxins, we need to accumulate basic natural historical information of mycophagy by generalist mammals. The aims of this study is(1) to clarify species diversity of mushroom eaten by wild Japanese macaques in Yakushima and mushroom selection with respect to toxicity and(2) to prove experimentally that Japanese macaques disperse fungi spore effectively through mycophagy. According to our behavioral observation of wild Japanese macaques in Yakushima lasting 14 months, macaques ate 67 species (31 genera) of mushrooms. The proportion of toxic mushroom tended to be lower for the mushrooms that were eaten immediately (without examining behavior) and those that macaques ate whole of them (without stopping eating it). This suggests that macaques have previous knowledge on the toxic mushroom and it works to avoid toxic mushrooms, along with the on-site judgment based on the taste. We could not prove spore dispersal by experiment because it was difficult to feed mushroom to captive or provisioned macaques.