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Reproductive Strategies of Trachypithecus pileatus in Arunachal Pradesh, India

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Abstract

We studied reproductive behavior of free-ranging capped langurs (Trachypithecus pileatus) in the Pakhui Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Four species of primates —Trachypithecus pileatus, Macaca mulatta, M. assamensis, and Nycticebus bengalensis— live there. We studied the mating seasons, mating frequency, copulatory attempts, time spent in copulation, and interval between 2 successive copulations, gestation length, and interbirth interval of 4 groups of capped langurs during 2001–2003. We observed 2 mating seasons in a year. The first was larger, comprising 5 months (September–January), and the second was short, April and May. Mating was intensive in the morning session (0600–1000 h); 57% of total mating events occurred then. The average gestation period was 200 d. November was the most favorable month for breeding. In a year, 107 mating events occurred involving 5 adult females. Average time per mounting attempt is 12 s. Duration of mounting was the maximum in November. Interbirth interval was 23 months and 10 d. The birth season was 129 days, December–April; 53% of births occurred in February and March. Average birth rate is 0.386 birth/female/yr.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Ministry of Environment & Forest, Government of India for providing financial support. We also thank Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh for necessary permission and facilities to work in Pakhui Wildlife Sanctuary and also the officials of the sanctuary for logistic and other support. We thank the authorities of the North Eastern Regional institute of Science & Technology, Nirjuli, Arunachal Pradesh for extending administrative and moral support and encouragement for research activities in general. We thank Dr. S. D. Baral, Department of English, Mizoram University for linguistic suggestions for improvement in the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forestry, North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology, Nirjuli-791 109, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India

    G. S. Solanki & Awadhesh Kumar

  2. Department of Zoology, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong—, 793 022, Meghalaya, India

    B. K. Sharma

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  1. G. S. Solanki
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Solanki, G.S., Kumar, A. & Sharma, B.K. Reproductive Strategies of Trachypithecus pileatus in Arunachal Pradesh, India. Int J Primatol 28, 1075–1083 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-007-9204-y

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