The Research On Behavior Of Captive White-cheeked Gibbon

The research on behavior of captive White-cheeked gibbons (Hylobates leucogenys) was carried out from November 2007 to December 2008 in Nanjing Hongshan Forest Zoo through"All Occurrences Sampling","Focal Animal Sampling"and"Instantaneous Scan Sampling", the result is as follows: (1) Among seven major behaviors of captive White-cheek gibbons in daytime, resting accounted for the largest proportion by 55.06%; for the feeding next is about 17.82%; followed by moving, grooming and playing occupied 14.35%, 7.97% and 3.49% respectively; while proportions of calling and other behaviors were rarely, 1.31% in all. (2) The daily activity of White-cheeked gibbons in captive had a certain rhythmic: feeding peak occurred at 10:30-11:30 everyday; two peaks of moving appeared at 8:30-9:30 and 15:30-16:30 respectively; and there was a resting peak at 11:30-14:30 in the afternoon, which extended to 15:30 during summer and advanced to 10:30 during winter. (3)The behavior allocation of captive White-cheeked gibbons was content with the gender: the proportion of female's feeding and playing were 19.61% and 4.46%, significantly higher than that of male 16.03% and 2.52%; while the proportion of male's moving and calling were 17.94% and 0.89%, firmly higher than that of female 10.76% and 0.61%. (4)The behavior allocation of female white-cheeked gibbons in different social structures was also significantly different, besides grooming, other behaviors had remarkable difference compared with each other. (5) In holidays with much disturbance by human, the proportion of resting decreased clearly from 57.39% to 52.73%; the proportion of feeding increased greatly from 16.01% to 19.63%; while moving, grooming and playing had no obvious difference. (6)Captive White-cheeked gibbons compared with the wild ones, the proportion of feeding decreased greatly from 41.2% to 17.8%; the proportion of resting and moving had increased. Under the condition of captive,the White-cheeked gibbons also appeared mating across the cages, abandoned, stereotypes and other special behaviors.