Nutritional and Digestive Challenges to Being a Gum-Feeding Primate

Abstract

This volume covers aspects of primate exudativory, one of the least common dietary niches among primates. While all primates are generally omnivorous animals, most species, depending on body size, acquire the majority of their energy from fruit, leaves or insects and the majority of their protein from insects or leaves. However, some specialize their caloric intake around the acquisition, processing, and break-down of exudates, the saps and gums produced by trees in response to mechanical or insect damage. Compared to leaves, insects or fruits, these compounds have a unique combination of challenges to the dentition for acquisition and processing and to the gut for digestion. This volume brings together our current knowledge on the morphological, physiological, and evolutionary aspects of being a primate exudativore and to fit these into an evolutionary context. Included in this work are comparisons to marsupial exudates-feeders and the chemical characteristics of exudates.