Primate faunivores: Physical properties of prey items

Despite increasing interest in food texture and how it affects primate mast icatory systems, little quantitative work has been done in this area. We di scuss a method to quantify physical properties of primate food items. To de monstrate its utility, we performed fracture experiments on a sample of adu lt coleopterans (to approximate a "hard-object" insectivorous diet), larval lepidoterans (to approximate a "soft-object" insectivorous diet), and vert ebrate muscle tissue (to represent a more carnivorous feeding regime).