Matsuda, Ikki and Murai, Tadahiro and Clauss,, Marcus and Yamada, Tomomi and Tuugu, Augustine and Henry Bernard and Higashia, Seigo (2011) Regurgitation and remastication in the foregut-fermenting proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus). Biology Letters, 7 (5). pp. 786-789. ISSN 1744-9561
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Abstract
Although foregut fermentation is often equated with rumination in the literature, functional ruminants (ruminants, camelids) differ fundamentally from non-ruminant foregut fermenters (e.g. macropods, hippos, peccaries). They combine foregut fermentation with a sorting mechanism that allows them to remasticate large particles and clear their foregut quickly of digested particles; thus, they do not only achieve high degrees of particle size reduction but also comparatively high food intakes. Regurgitation and remastication of stomach contents have been described sporadically in several non-ruminant, non-primate herbivores. However, this so-called 'merycism' apparently does not occur as consistently as in ruminants. Here, to our knowledge we report, for the first time, regurgitation and remastication in 23 free-ranging individuals of a primate species, the foregut-fermenting proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus). In one male that was observed continuously during 169 days, the behaviour was observed on 11 different days occurring mostly in the morning, and was associated with significantly higher proportions of daily feeding time than on days when it was not observed. This observation is consistent with the concept that intensified mastication allows higher food intake without compromising digestive efficiency, and represents an expansion of the known physiological primate repertoire that converges with a strategy usually associated with ruminants only.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Keyword: | Food intake, Foregut fermentation, Herbivory, Merycism, Rumination, Comparative study, Food intake, Herbivory, Physiological response, Primate, Ruminant, Stomach content, Animal, Fermentation, Haplorhini, Lryngopharyngeal reflux, Male, Mastication, Physiology, Camelidae, Nasalis larvatus, Primates, Tayassuidae |
| Subjects: | Q Science > QL Zoology > QL1-991 Zoology > QL605-739.8 Chordates. Vertebrates > QL700-739.8 Mammals |
| Department: | INSTITUTE > Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation |
| Depositing User: | ADMIN ADMIN |
| Date Deposited: | 13 Sep 2012 17:36 |
| Last Modified: | 17 Oct 2017 15:21 |
| URI: | https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/4866 |
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