Vertical Clingers and Sleepers1: Seasonal Influences on the Activities and Substrate Use of Lepilemur leucopus at Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve, Madagascar

Lepilemur leucopus was the subject of an 11-month field study at Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve, Madagascar. Radio-tracking provided point samples of activities and foods eaten for the 5 subjects (4 males, 1 female) across the hot, wet season and the cool, dry season. Across all seasons and animals, about 50% of the time was spent resting and/or self-grooming and about 30% of the time feeding. The majority of foods eaten were leaves and species diversity of the diet was low. During the cooler season, all 5 subjects rested significantly more and travelled significantly less than in the warmer season. Across seasons, feeding time did not change significantly. This species appears to cope with a poor quality diet through inactivity which increases during times of thermoregulatory stress. Substrates used were primarily more vertical and of small (<5 cm) diameter. Substrates did not change markedly across seasons.