灵长类动物食性研究的主要方法及其评价

Review and Evaluation on Major Methods for Primate Diet Study

国内外常见的灵长类动物食性研究方法主要包括实地观察法、粪便分析法、室内笼养饲喂法、胃内容物分析法和毛发中同位素含量测定法等。实地观察法虽然较为可靠,但在林栖胆怯的灵长类动物中难以开展;粪便显微分析法能精确地确定动物所摄入的食物种类,但在显微定量方面必须进行合理的修正才能使实验数据更为精准地反映动物的食性;室内笼养饲喂法可为粪便分析法提供修正参数;胃内容物分析法要以杀死动物作为代价,在目前灵长类动物食性研究中几乎不可行。文章对上述各种方法进行了分析和权衡,总结出应用于灵长类动物食性分析较为可靠的方法,即粪便分析法与室内笼养饲喂法相结合的分析法。

General methods for studies on primate diet at home and abroad mainly include direct observation,fecal analysis,artificial feeding,contents in stomach analysis and rumen analysis.Direction observation method is hard to be operated due to animal＇ s timidity although the method is reliable;decal analysis can precisely determine the food types which are eaten,but the experimental data must be reasonably rectified in the aspect of micro-quantity to reflect the animals diet correctly;artificial feeding can provide parameters for the rectification of decal analysis;contents analysis has to take cost of killing animals,which is almost impossible to be available.Finally,the paper concludes a comparative feasible method in primate diet study based on the consideration and assessment of each method above mentioned.