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Arboreal Lemur Terrestriality is Influenced by When and Where Predators are Present

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Abstract

It is thought arboreal species avoid foraging on the ground due to perceived predation risk, making the study of when and where arboreal species use the ground key in understanding foraging versus safety tradeoffs. We used publicly available, opportunistic, camera-trap observations from surveys across Madagascar to examine whether arboreal lemur ground use was spatially and temporally related to fosa (Cryptoprocta ferox), a native predator, and human presence. We observed 14 species of diurnal lemur (n = 287 individual observations) and six species of nocturnal lemur (n = 105 individual observations). With static two-species occupancy models and kernel density estimation, we found diurnal and nocturnal lemur ground use was spatially and temporally related to fosa presence. Diurnal lemurs used the ground less at camera locations where fosa were present compared to camera locations where they were absent, particularly if those camera locations lacked other native carnivores. Nocturnal lemurs used the ground more at camera locations fosa were observed at within the past 5 days compared with camera locations where fosa were not observed at within the past 5 days. Despite humans and diurnal lemurs being active at the same time 80% of the diel cycle (temporal overlap Δ = 0.80; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.75–0.85), diurnal lemur spatial or temporal use of the ground and human presence were unrelated. Diurnal lemur temporal overlap with humans at camera locations where fosa were uncommon was higher (Δ = 0.79; 95% CI: 0.71–0.86) compared with where fosa were common (Δ = 0.57; 95% CI: 0.46–0.66). Future research on how arboreal lemurs navigate ground use in a multipredator landscape should include behavioral observations to better understand animal decision-making.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Wampole et al. (2022) for providing open access to the camera trap surveys across Madagascar and the Malagasy researchers who helped to collect the data. They also thank the UC Santa Cruz Science Internship Program for connecting the two authors and providing the funding to conduct the analyses.

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  1. American High School, Fremont, CA, USA

    Kennesha Garg

  2. Department of Environmental Sciences, UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA

    Asia Murphy

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  1. Kennesha Garg
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K.G. conceived the project and hypotheses and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. A.M. ran the analyses and revised the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Asia Murphy.

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Garg, K., Murphy, A. Arboreal Lemur Terrestriality is Influenced by When and Where Predators are Present. Int J Primatol 44, 1166–1181 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-023-00394-3

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