Which quadrant of the habitat would the Coquerel Sifaka perform the most
diverse activities?
If we divide the habitat into four different quadrants then the Coquerel
Sifakas will always return to where there is more greenery because Sifakas
are most commonly found in the evergreens, jumping from tree to tree
and so the Sifakas are expected to do the most activities there.
(http://www.bronxzoo.com/)
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This divernal vertical clinger and leaper is most commonly found in mixed decidous
and evergreen forests
Sifakas spend most of their time in trees when foraging, they leap effortlessly from
tree to tree launching themselves vertically with their strong legs
Sifakas have a diet of bark, and leaves
Sifakas generally prefer elevation of 800 meter and above
They also prefer habitats with large trees and various forest types
The island of Madagascar is the only place lemurs exist in the wild. Some species
live exclusively in patches of dry forests near razor-sharp rock formations.
Lemurs travel the trees, looking for leaves. They need protein-rich leaves which
provide essential nutrients
They are only found in dry forest and isolated areas
1. Visit the Madagascar exhibit in the Bronx Zoo
2. Divide the habitat into four zones (A,B,C,D)
3. Create an ethogram with 15 second intervals starting at 0 and ending at 7
minutes
4. Use your stopwatch to keep time and every 15 seconds record what zone the
Sifaka is currently in at the time and their behavior during the 15 second interval
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for the second visit to the zoo
1. Pencil
2. 3 ethograms
3. Stopwatch
Time
A
B
C
D
15
0 2 grooming
0
0
30
0 2 grooming
0
0
45 1 jumping 1 grooming
0
0
1:00 1 jumping 1 grooming
0
0
15 1 pooping 1 grooming
0
0
30
0 1 sitting
1 swinging
0
45
0 1 resting 1 sitting
0
2:00 1 licking
0 1 resting
0
15
0
0 2 eating
0
30
0
0 2 eating
0
45 1 swinging
0
0 1 eating
3:00
0
0
0 2 climbing
15
1
0
0 1 resting
30 1 sitting 1 grooming
0
0
45 1 grooming 1 grooming
0
0
4:00 1 grooming 1 grooming
0
0
15 1 sitting 1 sitting
0
0
30 1 sitting 1 sitting
0
0
45 1 sitting I resting
0
0
5:00 1 grooming 1 resting
0
0
15 1 resting 1 resting
0
0
30 1 resting 1 resting
0
0
45 1 resting 1 resting
0
0
6:00 1 resting 1 resting
0
0
15 1 resting 1 resting
0
0
30 1 resting 1 resting
0
0
45 1 resting 1 grooming
0
0
7:00 1 resting 1 grooming
0
0
Total:
21
24
7
4
Time
A
B
C
D
15 2 grooming
0
0
0
30 2 wrestling
0
0
0
45 2 wrestling
0
0
0
1:00 2 grooming
0
0
0
15 1 sitting
1 climbing
0
0
30 1 climbing
0 1 sitting
0
45 1 climbing
0
0 1 sitting
2:00 1 sitting
0
0 1 sitting
15 1 sitting
0
0 1 sitting
30 1 climbing
0
0 1 sitting
45
0
0 1 climbing 1 sitting
3:00 1 climbing
0
0 1 climbing
15 1 climbing
0
0 1 hanging
30 1 grooming
0
0 1 climbing
45
0
0
0 2 grooming
4:00
0 1 sitting
0 1 sitting
15
0 1 hanging
0 1 hanging
30
0 1 sitting
0 1 sitting
45
0 1 grooming
0 1 eating
5:00
0 1 sitting
0 1 hanging
15
0 2 grooming
0
0
30
0 1 sitting
0 1 hanging
45
0 1 jumping
0 1 eating
6:00
0 1 jumping
0 1 eating
15
0 1 climbing
0 1 eating
30
0 2 (1 eating 1 climbing)
0
0
45 1 climbing 1 eating
0
0
7:00
0 1 eating
1 climbing
0
Total:
18
16
3
19
Time
A
B
C
D
15
0
0 1 eating 1 sitting
30
0
0 1 eating 1 hanging
45
0
0 1 eating 1 eating
1:00
0
0 1 eating 1 eating
15
0
0 1 eating 1 eating
30
0
0 1 eating 1 eating
45
0
0 1 sitting 1 eating
2:00
0
0 1 sitting 1 eating
15
0
0
0 1 climbing 1 sitting
30 1 climbing
0
0 1 sitting
45 1 climbing 1 climbing
0
0
3:00 1 poop
1 eating
0
0
15 1 sitting
1 eating
0
0
30 1 grooming 1 eating
0
0
45 1 grooming 1 eating
0
0
4:00 1 grooming 1 eating
0
0
15 1 grooming 1 eating
0
0
30
0 1 eating 1 sitting
0
45 1 sitting
1 sitting
0
0
5:00 1 sitting
1 sitting
0
0
15
0 1 sitting 1 sitting
0
30
0 1 sitting 1 sitting
0
45 2 grooming
0
0
0
6:00 2 grooming
0
0
0
15 1 grooming 1 jumping
0
0
0
30 2 grooming
0
0
0
45 2 mating
0
0
0
7:00 2 grooming
0
0
0
Total:
22
12
11
11
Average Number of Times an Action
by the Coquerrel Sifaka Takes Place
During a 7 Minute Time Period
Wrestling
Zone A
Licking
Jumping
Zone B
Resting
Hanging
Swinging
Zone C
Sitting
Eating
Grooming
Zone D
Mating
Pooping
0
2
4
6
Seconds
8
10
When we went to the zoo we divided the Sifaka’s habitat into 4
quadrants, A, B, C, and D. We wanted to know how the quadrant location
would affect the behavior of the Sifaka. The habitat wouldn’t change but
the way the Sifaka behaves depends on its environment and where it feels
most comfortable. The quadrant A was the upper left hand side which was
full of tree top branches, quadrant B was the upper right hand side and
was a clearing with rock lining the side. Quadrant C was the lower left
hand side of the habitat and had rock formations and small bushes on the
ground, and lastly quadrant D was the lower right hand side and was filled
with greenery, which the Sifaka’s got there food from. The constants of the
experiment were the habitat, amount of lemurs, time intervals, and the
temperature.
The Coqurel Sifaka prefers to be in elevated areas as opposed to zones on
the ground. Our hypothesis is supported by our data. The lemurs were mainly
in zones A, and B which were more elevated than zones C and D. The most
diverse behaviors were observed in quadrants A and B. It can be inferred that
the areas the lemurs are mostly in, are the ones they prefer.
From the data collected the average amount of times the two lemurs were in
zone A is 20 seconds and for zone B is 17 seconds. To prove that the lemurs prefer
elevated areas, the average amount of times that the lemurs went into zone C is 7
seconds and for zone D is 11 seconds. Zone A was the most frequently used zone
during the 15 second intervals. It had the most greenery meaning it had more bark
to eat and more branches to swing on and off of. The least used zone in the habitat
was zone C which was filled with large rock formations and small bushes. The rock
formations didn’t give the lemurs access to swing on anything. The bushes also
wouldn’t give the lemurs much nutrients since it would be harder to eat the leaves
and there isn’t any bark to eat as well. In quadrant A the activities of licking,
jumping, resting, wrestling, swinging, sitting, eating, grooming mating and pooping
were observed and in quadrant be we observed actions such as resting, hanging.
Swinging sitting, eating, grooming and pooping similar to quadrant A. in quadrant C
actions that were observed were sitting and eating while sitting, swinging, and
eating were observed in quadrant D which proves the more activity was performed
in the elevated areas.
Coquerrel Sifakas are diurnal meaning they are active during the day and
rest at night. Half their waking hours are spent foraging for food. Lemurs
choose to sleep higher up in the trees since the fossa takes lemurs that it can
snatch out of trees. They hide in trees from predators such as hawks and
eagles. Sifakas are aboreal which means they mostly live in trees and have
adapted habitat by constantly jumping around. They live in social groups and
spend a majority of their time sleeping, grooming and feeding.
Our hypothesis was supported by our data. Possible limitation
could be who controlled the stopwatch, the person who recorded
the information, an inaccuracy in the time intervals. If we were to
able to change something about the experiment we would lengthen
the amount of time spent at the zoo to take more trials. The more
trials would give us a better understanding of the preferable zones
of the Coquerel Sifaka. Another possible change we would make is
to ignore interruptions such as visitors of the zoo. We also noticed
that the behavior of the Sifaka changes due to the actions of the
visitors. For example when there were many people present, the
Siafakas tend to hide. To extend the experiment we can observe
their activity in the daytime and night and compare their behavior
to see which zones are preferred at different times. Another way to
extend this experiment we could observe the Sifakas over an hours
time as oppose to 7 minutes.
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http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Propithecus_candidus/
http://www.bronxzoo.com/
http://eol.org/pages/326524/details
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/saving-the-silky-sifaka9586309/
• http://www.marylandzoo.org/animals-conservation/mammals/coquerelssifaka/