Ebook: The Evolution of Exudativory in Primates

The Evolution of Exudativory in Primates is the first edited volume to offer a comprehensive overview of this rare dietary niche in the primate order. Leading researchers in the field of primatology synthesize our current knowledge of the behavioral, socioecological, nutritional, morphological, and evolutionary aspects of exudate-feeding in primates. The Evolution of Exudativory in Primates covers exudate-feeding in callitrichines, callimicos, mouse lemurs, lorises, and galagos. Advances in our understanding of how these animals obtain their food and digest it, how this food resource affects social relationships, and how morphology is related to exudate-feeding are presented in subsequent essays. The final chapter synthesizes current data on what role exudate-feeding may have played in the earliest primates, the plesiadapiforms, and what exudate-feeding signals may be present in the fossil record. Ideal for upper-level undergraduate and graduate primatology courses, The Evolution of Exudativory in Primates can also be used for courses in biology, comparative mammalogy, and conservation. About the Editors: ANNE M. BURROWS is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at Duquesne University and a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh. She has worked on the functional and evolutionary morphology of the primate craniofacial complex with a focus on strepsirrhines. LEANNE T. NASH is a Professor of Anthropology in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University. She has worked extensively with a captive colony of Galago senegalensis held previously at ASU for 20 years. She has also done fieldwork in Africa and Madagascar on baboons, galagos, and sportive lemurs. Other collaborations have been on captive chimpanzee behavior with the Primate Foundation of Arizona.

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This volume covers aspects of primate exudativory, one of the least common dietary niches among primates. While all primates are generally omnivorous animals, most species, depending on body size, acquire the majority of their energy from fruit, leaves or insects and the majority of their protein from insects or leaves. However, some specialize their caloric intake around the acquisition, processing, and break-down of exudates, the saps and gums produced by trees in response to mechanical or insect damage. Compared to leaves, insects or fruits, these compounds have a unique combination of challenges to the dentition for acquisition and processing and to the gut for digestion. This volume brings together our current knowledge on the morphological, physiological, and evolutionary aspects of being a primate exudativore and to fit these into an evolutionary context. Included in this work are comparisons to marsupial exudates-feeders and the chemical characteristics of exudates.