Abstract
The relationship among time spent feeding, number of feeding bouts, feeding bout length, and the amount of food ingested was determined in a study of 18 hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas) at the German Primate Center (DPZ). There was considerable within- and between-subject variation in all four variables. Feeding time and number of feeding bouts could explain only 30% and 40%, respectively, of the variation in the ingested amount of food. No relationship was found between feeding bout length and amount of food ingested. The reason for these weak relationships is the high within- and between-subject variation in ingestion rate. If the amount of ingested food is estimated by multiplying mean ingestion rates of various subject categories by feeding time, deviations from true amounts range from 8% to 50%. A prediction of feeding success solely by measuring feeding time or number of feeding bouts is therefore not recommended and an estimation of food intake from ingestion rates and feeding time has to be treated with caution. Zoo Biol 18:495–505, 1999. © 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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