Food preferences and nutrient composition in captive spider monkeys, Ateles geoffroyi

We assessed the occurrence of food preferences in captive spider monkeys an d analyzed whether their preferences correlate with nutrient composition. U sing a two-alternative choice test, we repeatedly presented 7 Ateles geoffr oyi with all possible binary combinations of 12 types of food that are part of their diet in captivity. They exhibited the following rank order of pre ference: avocado > sapodilla > pineapple, mango > papaya > melon > banana > apple > tomato > orange > carrot > cucumber. Correlational analyses reveal ed that this preference ranking is significantly positively correlated with total energy content, irrespective of the source of energy as neither tota l carbohydrate content nor protein or lipid content is significantly correl ated with food preference. Further, food preferences are significantly nega tively correlated with water content and positively correlated with the con tent of magnesium, copper and manganese. These results suggest that despite their high degree of frugivory and high taste sensitivity for soluble carb ohydrates, spider monkeys are opportunistic feeders with regard to maximizi ng net gain of energy.