Diurnal Resting Site Selection and Daytime Feeding Behaviour of Wild Malayan Flying LemurGaleopterus variegatusin Western Java, Indonesia

Abstract

The Malayan flying lemur (Galeopterus variegatus) belongs to the Order Dermoptera, and is mainly distributed in the southern parts of Thailand, Indochina, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and the islands nearby (Lim 2007). It inhabits both lowland and mountainous areas, and is found in a large variety of habitats, including primary and secondary forests, coconut groves, and rubber plantations (Lim 2007; Baba 2008). Recent data on mitochondrial DNA of the flying lemurs have shown that this species is closely related to primates, likely related to our distant relatives (Schmitz et al. 2002; Lim 2007). Feeding, ranging, social, and reproductive behaviour data are fundamental information on animal ecology. However, to the best of our knowledge, information on habitat utilisation by flying lemurs and its determinants remains limited, and basically, we only know that flying lemurs are arboreal and nocturnal animals (Byrnes et al. 2011), that during the daytime they can be found in tree holes or hollows (Yasuma 1994), hanging from branches, or holding onto tree trunks, and that they are active at dusk (Lim 2007). Recent studies have reported about their home range size, nocturnal activity, and habitat preference (Baba 2008; Lim et al. 2013). With regard to feeding behaviour, information about Malayan flying lemur is fragmental (Agoramoorthy et al. 2006; Lim 2007; Baba 2008; Dzulhelmi and Abdullah 2009), compared to its sister Philippine species (Wischusen and Richmond 1998). In this study, we investigated diurnal resting site selection by the wild Malayan flying lemurs inhabiting West Java, Indonesia, at the plant-species and landscape level. We focused on forest structure, such as the extent of concealed areas and canopy cover, as these often influence resting site selection in other mammal species (Heymann 1995; Di Bitetti et al. 2000; Tsuji 2011). Lim et al. (2013) reported that flying lemurs in Singapore preferred forested areas with higher coverage; therefore, we aimed to confirm this finding in our study site. Besides we record several food items eaten in daytime. The relative importance of the daytime feeding seems lower than nocturnal one, but providing fundamental information on diet of the rarely studied-mammalian species would be meaningful.