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Received: September 20, 2002
Accepted after revision: October 30, 2002
Key Words
Owl monkeys [middot] Aotus [middot] Self-anointing [middot] Millipedes
Introduction
Many mammals wipe their pelage with or rub against fruits, arthopods or other scent-bearing materials. Chemicals appropriated as a result of self-anointing are hypothesized to deter ectoparasites and/or microbial pathogens [Baker, 1996; Valderrama et al., 2000].
Self-anointing among primates is best known in the Neotropical genus Cebus. Linnaeus [1754] provided an early account of this behaviour in a tufted capuchin monkey (C. apella) that scattered tobacco powder on its back. Other reports confirm self-anointing by C. apella [Nolte, 1958; Hill, 1960; Gilbert et al., 1998] and document it in white-faced capuchin (C. capucinus) [Baker, 1996; Oppenheimer, 1968; Longino, 1984] and wedge-capped capuchin monkeys (C. olivaceus) [Valderrama et al., 2000]. Among the anointing materials used are some fruits and leaves, onion, garlic, ants and millipedes. Two compounds from the segmental gland secretions of benzoquinone-producing millipedes, 2-methyl-1,4-benzoquinone (toluquinone) and 2-methoxy-3-methyl-1,4-benzoquinone, elicit self-anointing in C. apella and C. capucinus [Weldon et al., in press]. These compounds also deter biting mosquitoes.
We report here that owl monkeys (Aotus spp.), the only nocturnal Neotropical primates, self-anoint with plants, millipedes and millipede-derived benzoquinones. Aotus contains at least 10 species that range in forests from Panama to northeastern Argentina. They are chiefly frugivorous, but also consume leaves, arthropods, small vertebrates and bird eggs [Wright, 1981].
Methods
We tested 4 A. azarae boliviensis, 2 A. lemurinus griseimembra and 35 A. nancymaae for self-anointing behaviours. Subjects ranged from 20 months to about 20 years in age. They were maintained singly or in groups of up to 4 in wiremesh enclosures ranging from 0.6 x 1.2 x 1.2...