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P A G E 7
V O L . 3 , N O . 3
D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 4
ongoing, but results presented here are from this five month period. Data books were not used. All data was recorded
digitally on Garmin GPSMAP 64s handheld gps units. A GPS point was taken every five minutes while in close proximity
to the group. GPS error was always less than 8m, and generally between 4m and 6m. Feeding and activity budget
codes were entered as digital notes. Plant foods were identified by a professional botanist (Richard Randrianaivo)
from Missouri Botanical Garden who also formally assessed the reserve’s habitat through 9 botanical plots. Home
ranges analyses were conducted with the software package Ranges 9 v1.1 (Anatrack, Ltd.). Fresh fecal samples were
collected for parasite analysis and
stored in Meridian Bioscience Para-Pak parasitology transport vials from Fisher Sci-
entific (Catalog Number: 14910129). High-definition videotape was collected using a Canon 32GB Vixia HF R52 full HD
camcorder.
94.4 hours of feeding data were obtained and over 6000 GPS points were recorded. For the home range analyses,
to minimize spatial autocorrelation, only points every 25 minutes were analyzed. Results of the dietary study are dis-
played in Table 1. Remarkably, 80.2% of their feeding time was spent feeding on
Phyllostachys aurea
which is a non-
native Chinese bamboo known more commonly as dwarf bamboo or fishpole bamboo. The second most preferred
food,
Dendrocalamus strictus
(which accounted for 5.2% of feeding time) is also not native to Madagascar, but rather is
of Indian origin. Plant parts consumed from these two most preferred foods included the young stalks, new branches,
new shoots, and the base of leafs, but the large leaves themselves were never eaten, nor were the mature stalks.
These two species of bamboo have not before been documented as part of the diet of any wild bamboo lemurs in
Madagascar. Geophagy or soil consumption was regularly observed and thus far ranks as the third most preferred
food! Many other bamboo lemur studies have observed soil consumption. It may rank unusually high in our case due
to a limited number of observation hours.
Analyses of their ranging patterns further confirmed the importance of
Phyllostachys aurea
in their diet. 93.1% of
their ranging points were inside two large patches of
Phyllostachys aurea
(see Figure 1 on page 8)! Indeed, their entire
50% kernel core home range (.28 hectares) is deep inside the northern patch of dwarf bamboo (see Figure 2 on page
Remarkable Dependence on Non-Native Bamboo
Continued
Table 1. Percentage feeding time on all H. occidentalis foods from July 1 to December 10, 2014