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Run, hide, or fight: anti-predation strategies in endangered red-nosed cuxiú (Chiropotes albinasus, Pitheciidae) in southeastern Amazonia

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Abstract

Although primate predation is rarely observed, a series of primate anti-predation strategies have been described. Energetic costs of such strategies can vary from high-cost mobbing, via less costly alarm calling, to low-cost furtive concealment. Here we report the anti-predation strategies of red-nosed cuxiú, Chiropotes albinasus, based on direct observations from four study sites in southeastern Brazilian Amazonia. Over a collective period of 1255 fieldwork hours, we observed nine direct interactions between raptors (all potential predators) and red-nosed cuxiús. Of these, one (11%) resulted in predation. Raptors involved were: Harpia harpyja (four events), Leucopternis sp. (two events), Spizaëtus tyrannus (one event), and unidentified large raptors (two events). Predation attempts occurred in flooded-forest and terra firme rainforest, were directed at both adult and non-adult cuxiús, and involved both adult and juvenile raptors. Anti-predation strategies adopted by the cuxiús included: (1) group defence and mobbing behaviour (two occasions), (2) dropping into dense sub-canopy (seven occasions), (3) alarm calling (eight occasions), and (4) fleeing to, and hiding in, dense vegetation (eight occasions). During each encounter at least two of these behaviours were recorded. These are the first published records of predation, predation attempts, and anti-predator behaviour involving red-nosed cuxiú.

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Acknowledgements

AAB, JMS thank Maracajá Ecological Consulting (MEC) for the invitation to conduct the survey work. TdeO wishes to thank CNEC/WorleyParsons and ELETROBRÁS for financial support of the mammal survey in the Tapajós river basin. We also thank MEC’s Gitana Cavalcanti for retrieving essential data. LPP and EZS thank Ibama and TNF coordinators, field guides Herrison and Adailson, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (03/06256-5), Fundação O Boticário de Proteção à Natureza, and the Primate Action Fund of Conservation International. RFSS thanks Ana C Mendes and Liza Maria Veiga (in memoriam), Cristalino Jungle Lodge, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi/Universidade Federal do Pará, fieldguide Leandro Pereira, and CNPQ for financial support. Collectively, we thank Stuart Semple (Roehampton U.) for comments on call type phylogeny. Adrian Barnett dedicates this paper to the memory of Donald Petrie (1958–2014), a fine and dedicated birder. This paper is contribution 12 from the Amazon Mammal Research Group, and contribution number 23 from the Igapó Study Project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nucleo de Biodiversidade, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia (INPA), Manaus, AM, 69067-375, Brazil

    Adrian A. Barnett & Wilson R. Spironello

  2. Long-term Ecological Research Program, INPA, Manaus, AM, Brazil

    Adrian A. Barnett

  3. Amazon Mammals Research Group, INPA, Manaus, AM, Brazil

    Adrian A. Barnett & Wilson R. Spironello

  4. Rua Humberto Borssato, 68, Jardim Ângelo Maggi, Ibiporã, PR, Brazil

    João M. Silla

  5. Departamento da Biologia, Universidade Estadual do Maranhão, São Luis, MA, 65055-970, Brazil

    Tadeu de Oliveira

  6. Department of Biology, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN, 38112, USA

    Sarah A. Boyle

  7. Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, PE, 50670-420, Brazil

    Bruna M. Bezerra

  8. Instituto da Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, 13083-862, Brazil

    Eleonore Z. F. Setz

  9. Post-graduate Studies, Departamento de Zoologia, Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, Belém, PA, 66060-281, Brazil

    Rafaela F. Soares da Silva

  10. Post-graduate Studies, Centre for Research in Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Roehampton, London, SW15 4JD, England

    Samara de Albuquerque Teixeira & Lucy M. Todd

  11. Post-graduate Studies, Instituto da Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, 13083-862, Brazil

    Liliam P. Pinto

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  1. Adrian A. Barnett
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Barnett, A.A., Silla, J.M., de Oliveira, T. et al. Run, hide, or fight: anti-predation strategies in endangered red-nosed cuxiú (Chiropotes albinasus, Pitheciidae) in southeastern Amazonia. Primates 58, 353–360 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-017-0596-9

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