RESEARCH ARTICLE Obligate Exudativory Characterizes the Diet of the Pygmy Slow Loris Nycticebus pygmaeus

摘要: Few primatespecies are knownto excavate plant sources toprocure exudates andotherfoods viaactivegouging.Itisnowapparentthatslowlorisesbelongtothisrareguildofobligateexudativorousprimates.We investigate the diet of pygmy loris (Nycticebus pygmaeus) in a mixed deciduous forest theSeima Protection Forest, Eastern Cambodia, and attempted to determine importance thisresource their diet. Feeding behaviors six females seven males were observed using radio‐tracking facilitate follows, nine fecal samples collected February–May January–March 2008 2009 respectively. We 168 feeding bouts, during which animals ateexudates (76); fruits (33); arthropods (27); flower parts (21); fungi (3); bamboo culms (7); andreptiles (1). filmed 19 bouts exudativory, consuming anorthograde posture, or standing quadrupedally over exudate source. Pygmy lorises also gougedbambootocollectlichenandfungi,orbrokeopendeadculmstoaccessinvertebrates.Feedingoccurredonterminal tree branches (24), trunks (21), (13), middle (7), theundergrowth(1).Thefecalsamplescontainedplantparts,small‐sizedarthropods(primarilyColeopteraand Lepidoptera), reptile scales, animal bones, hairs. slow aremorphologically specialized for processing digesting exudates, displaying small body sizes,specializeddentitions,elongated,andnarrowtongues,largecaecums,shortduodenums,expandedvolarpads, modified hindlimbs. These features, combined with prevalence dietacross seasons, ill health when missing from captivity, points thisspecies being an obligate exudativore. Am. J. Primatol. 9999:1–8, 2013.