| "Pose-action-environment" coding system(PAE coding system),a behavioral classification system that indicates the association between hierarchy of animal behavioral structure and behavioral elements,is the basis for in-depth research on animal ecoethology.Diversity of behavior,as an essential part of biodiversity,is closely related to the ex situ conservation and behavior management of rare animals.Fran(?)ois' langurs(Trachypithecus francoisi)is a rare primate in Karst limestone hills.At present,the study of ecoethology in Fran(?)ois' langurs is still limited,and the research on Ethogram of Fran(?)ois' langurs has not been systematically quantified.So,between December 2019 and January 2020 and between June 2020 and November 2020,Instantaneous scan sampling and Ad-libitum sampling were used to research the ecoethology of the langur in the Rare Animal Reproduction Center,Wuzhou,Guangxi.A total of 17 individuals from three typical family group in three cages were selected as observation objects to study the behavior of Fran(?)ois' langurs.By formulating ethogram of Fran(?)ois' langurs based on PAE coding system and comparing behavioral differences of different postures,sex,age and different cage regions,as well as their correlations with ambient temperature,the behavioral adaptive mechanisms of Fran(?)ois' langurs were discussed.Results are as follows:1.A total of 16 postures,98 acts and 87 behaviors were recorded and recognized.Based on the ecological function of behaviors,these recorded behaviors were divided into 12 categories,including foraging behavior,eliminating behavior,thermoregulatory behavior,affinitive behavior,agonistic behavior,aggregating behavior,communicating behavior,resting behavior,locomotive behavior,reproductive behavior,abnormal behavior and miscellaneous behavior.2.Daily time budget of captive Fran(?)ois' langurs were as followings,thermoregulatory behavior(26.74±5.11 %),affinitive behavior(23.42±4.78 %),foraging behavior(18.16±1.61 %),locomotive behavior(6.95±1.09 %),resting behavior(6.27±2.67 %),aggregating behavior(6.22±3.41 %),miscellaneous behavior(5.55±1.18 %),abnormal behavior(2.04±0.66 %),communicating behavior(1.78±0.47 %),agonistic behavior(1.67±0.42 %),reproductive behavior(0.78±0.33 %),and eliminate behavior(0.42±0.18 %).Stable and sufficient food sources was most likely to be relate to high proportion of time spent in thermoregulatory behavior and affinitive behavior and low proportion of time in foraging behavior of the captive langurs.There were seasonal variation in the daily time budgets of main activity in langurs,foraging behavior budget during dry season(19.46±0.90 %)was significantly higher than during rainy season(16.86 ± 1.00 %)(Z =-2.31,n = 8,P = 0.03).Proportion of foraging behavior budget was significantly negatively associated with mean temperature(R =-0.81,n = 8,P = 0.02).Aggregating behavior budget was significantly negatively correlated with the mean temperature(R =-0.85,n = 8,P =0.01),indicating that temperature was most likely to influence the time budgets of captive langurs.When the temperature decreases,Fran(?)ois' langurs increased foraging behavior and aggregating behavior,it seems that it is an adaptive thermoregulatory strategy to low temperature environments.Seasonal differences in foraging behavior in captive Fran(?)ois' langurs were mainly influenced by differences in ambient temperature between dry and rainy seasons.3.Walking(34.07±7.71 %)was the most frequent moving posture of captive Fran(?)ois' langurs,followed by jumping(27.38±6.49 %),running(24.74±6.54 %),climbing(8.61±3.31 %),brachiating(4.74±1.95 %)and mounting(0.45±0.45 %).Jumping budget was lower than that of walking,and climbing budget was significantly lower than that of running,indicating the lack of abundance facilities for jumping and climbing in the cage.Sitting(80.89±2.21 %)was the most common static posture,followed by hanging(10.79±1.70 %),groveling(3.01±0.85 %),lying(2.80±0.85 %),standing(1.74±0.44 %),rearing(0.75±0.29 %)and crouching(0.02±0.04 %).The time proportion of standing was significantly and negatively correlated with mean temperature(R =-0.83,n = 8,P = 0.01),indicating that temperature was likely to influence the time budgets of static postures of captive langurs.When the temperature increases,Fran(?)ois' langurs decreased standing,it is an adaptive behavioral strategy to high temperatures.4.The index of behavioral diversity of captive Fran(?)ois' langurs were calculated on the basis of PAE coding system: infants had the highest index of relative behavioral diversity(0.80±0.04),followed by juvenile(0.79±0.02),subadult(0.76±0.03),adult female(0.76±0.02),and adult male(0.65±0.04).Adult male has a lower index of behavioral diversity than that of adult female.There were gender and age differences.With the highest relative behavioral diversity index of locomotive behavior(0.70±0.09),followed by thermoregulatory behavior(0.63±0.09),followed by foraging behavior(0.42±0.13),followed by resting behavior(0.38±0.14)and affinitive behavior(0.38±0.10),and finally by miscellaneous behavior(0.30±0.15)and aggregating behavior(0.25±0.26),the relative behavioral diversity index in varied primary activities of Fran(?)ois' langurs were differences..5.Area accessible to animals included platform area,visit area,cement ground area,enrichment area and celling area.The platform area(57.33±4.06 %)was most frequently used region of captive Fran(?)ois' langurs,foraging,eliminating,affinitive and aggregating were mainly occurred on the platform.The visit area,the main area where individuals interact with the outside cage,was the second frequently used area(21.59±2.47 %),where foraging and resting occurred.The cement ground area was the third frequently used area,accounting for 13.97±3.38 %,which was the main site where Fran(?)ois' langurs move.The time budget of the remain areas were as the followings,the enrichment area(5.98±0.84 %)and the ceiling area(1.13±0.40 %).The proportion of spatial utilization of visit area(R =0.81,n = 8,P = 0.02)and cement ground area(R = 0.73,n = 8,P = 0.04)was significantly and positively correlated with the mean temperature,and that of platform area(R =-0.83,n= 8,P = 0.01)and enrichment area(R =-0.90,n = 8,P < 0.01)were significantly and negatively correlated with the mean temperature,indicating that temperature was most likely to influence the proportion of spatial use of captive langurs.When the temperature decreases,Fran(?)ois' langurs decreased resting behavior in the visit area and locomotive behavior in the cement ground area,as well as increasing foraging behavior and aggregating behavior in platform area and enrichment area,it was a behavioral strategy to low temperature environments. |
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