The activity patterns of a group of Cantor's dusky leaf monkeys (Trachypithecus obscurus halonifer)

Abstract

This study describes the activity budget of a group of Cantor's dusky leaf monkeys (Trachypithecus obscurus) in Penang Botanical Garden, Malaysia. The main objective is to investigate the daily activity budget of T. obscurus in the field. Scanning sampling was employed as the observation method from June 2006 to December 2006. Behavioral observation of 18 individuals were conducted for 8 hours per day, from 0700 h to 1630 h. On average, T. obscurus spent most of their time on feeding (40.02%), followed by the resting (23.96%), moving (22.51%), autogrooming (6.52%), vocalization (3.89%), allogrooming (1.33%), allomothering (0.97%) and the least in playing (0.80%). Chi-square test showed that there is a significant difference among every behavior category of Cantor's dusky leaf monkeys. The habitat and canopy used of Cantor's dusky leaf monkeys in Penang Botanical Garden were also described. © 2011 Academic Journals Inc.