Abstract
The senses play critical roles in helping animals evaluate foods, including fruits that can change both in colour and scent during ripening to attract frugivores. Although numerous studies have assessed the impact of colour on fruit selection, comparatively little is known about fruit scent and how olfactory and visual data are integrated during foraging. We combine 25 months of behavioural data on 75 wild, white-faced capuchins (Cebus imitator) with measurements of fruit colours and scents from 18 dietary plant species. We show that frequency of fruit-directed olfactory behaviour is positively correlated with increases in the volume of fruit odours produced during ripening. Monkeys with red–green colour blindness sniffed fruits more often, indicating that increased reliance on olfaction is a behavioural strategy that mitigates decreased capacity to detect red–green colour contrast. These results demonstrate a complex interaction among fruit traits, sensory capacities and foraging strategies, which help explain variation in primate behaviour.
Highlights
The senses play critical roles in helping animals evaluate foods, including fruits that can change both in colour and scent during ripening to attract frugivores
We focus on variation in sniffing behaviour as a proxy for the reliance on olfactory cues to ask the following questions: (1) How much variation in sniffing behaviour is present across fruit species? We predict that if fruit scent is informative, capuchins will use sniffing behaviours more often when selecting fruits that: (a) shift the composition of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with ripening, (b) shift the overall amount of VOCs emitted with ripening
We found the sniffing behaviour was positively correlated with an increase in emitted VOCs between ripe and unripe fruits
Summary
The senses play critical roles in helping animals evaluate foods, including fruits that can change both in colour and scent during ripening to attract frugivores. Numerous studies have assessed the impact of colour on fruit selection, comparatively little is known about fruit scent and how olfactory and visual data are integrated during foraging. Monkeys with red–green colour blindness sniffed fruits more often, indicating that increased reliance on olfaction is a behavioural strategy that mitigates decreased capacity to detect red–green colour contrast. These results demonstrate a complex interaction among fruit traits, sensory capacities and foraging strategies, which help explain variation in primate behaviour. Several studies have assessed the importance of colour vision for frugivory[37,38] and monkeys possessing red–green colour vision have higher feeding efficiencies for reddish foods than do dichromatic (colourblind) conspecifics[24,39]
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