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Received: July 20, 1999
Accepted after revision: April 26, 2000
Key Words
Sichuan snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana) * Colobine * Home range size * Seasonal change * Habitat utilization * China
Abstract
The seasonal changes in home range and habitat use of the Sichuan snubnosed monkey, Rhinopithecus roxellana, have been studied by radio tracking and direct observation in the Qinling Mountains of China. The home range size was 14.1 km^sup 2^ in spring, 9.5 km^sup 2^ in summer, 12.1 km^sup 2^ in autumn and 12.3 km^sup 2^ in winter; the total area used was 22.5 km^sup 2^. The area of the home range is closely correlated with the distribution and abundance of food resources. Seasonal change in the home range area is correlated with the phenology of the vegetation. An unusually large home range is a unique characteristic of this monkey.
Copyright (C) 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel
Introduction
Home range studies provide important information for habitat evaluation and conservation. Relative to other primates, members of the Colobinae are adapted to be heavily folivorous, which provides the foundation for several trends in colobine range use [1, 2]. For instance, a diet abundant in leaves allows and requires many colobines to have small home ranges relative to non-colobines of similar weight [1,3]. However, there is much variation within these broad trends of colobine behaviour. For example, home ranges for colobines are rarely larger than 1 km^sup 2^, but they can approach 10 km^sup 2^ in some populations of the proboscis monkey Nasalis larvatus [4] and Hanuman langurs, Presbytis entellus [5], while the range size of the Wuyapiya troop of the Yunnan snubnosed monkey Rhinopithecus bieti and the Fanjiangshan troop of the Guizhou snubnosed monkey R. brelichi is 16-25 and 12-35 km^sup 2^, respectively [6, 7].
The Sichuan snub-nosed monkey (R. roxellana Milne-Edwards) lives exclusively in temperate forests in mountains of central and south-western China at elevations of 1,500-3,400 m above sea level [8-10]. Its natural social groups range in size from small groups of 5-10 individuals up to bands of more than 600. Previous studies on this species are preliminary and of short duration [8, 9,11-14]. Although the habitat, group size and forage of the species in the Qinling Mountains have been...