DIET OF THE BROWN HOWLER MONKEY ALOUATTA-FUSCA IN A SEMI-DECIDUOUS FOREST FRAGMENT OF SOUTHEASTERN BRAZIL

The diet of a group of six brown howlers was studied weekly during 12 months in a reserve of 250 ha of secondary, mesophytic, semi-deciduous forest. The phenology of 186 trees of 72 species and 29 families was monitored simultaneously. Scan sampling was used to record the diet fr om dawn until dusk on a total of 60 days of observation, yielding 718 hr of animal-observer contact and 2,943 feeding scans. The diet was co mposed of leaves (73%), flowers (12%), and fruits (5%), from 68 identi fied plant species. Celtis iguanae, Cassia ferruginea, and Inga spp. w ere the main food sources, accounting for approximately 50% of the die t. Young leaves (59%) were preferred to mature leaves (31%), trees con tributing 56% and lianas 41% of the leaf diet. The ingestion of young leaves was correlated to the availability of these items, however, the correlations were not significant for flowers and fruits. The diet wa s poorer in fruits and richer in young leaves of lianas in comparison to other howler monkey species studied, probably as a consequence of t he liana abundance in this forest fragment.