Feeding and vocal behaviours of black gibbons (Hylobates concolor) in Yunnan: a preliminary study.

Abstract

Feeding and vocal behaviours of wild black gibbons (Hylobates concolor) were observed from 1987 to 1989 in southwestern Yunnan, notably H. concolor jingdongensis at Mt. Wuliang (24 degrees 18-42' N, 100 degrees 30-50' E) in the early spring of 1989. 12 plant species were observed to have been eaten by the gibbons; these included tree species, lianas and epiphytes. Approximately 21% of feeding time was devoted to eating fruits, 61% to leaf buds and shoots, 7% to flowers and 11% to leaves. The gibbons preferred fruits to leaves even though they commonly ate leaves. In this study, the morning songs (duet and solo), responsive (territorial) songs, alarm calls and communication calls were recorded. The gibbons sang their morning songs mainly in the early morning, with a single bout lasting more than 10 min on average. The singing of a group would trigger other groups, and all groups in an area tended to sing sequentially. The morning duet song bout was dominated by an adult male. The male emitted booms, aa notes, early multimodulated figures, intermediate multimodulated figures and codas, the latter occurring only in duets following the female's great call. The female uttered great calls and abortive great calls. The subadults or juveniles also took part in the morning songs. Lone males were heard to utter solos which lasted longer than the duets of the pairs.