Fluctuations of population density in Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus morio) related to fruit availability in the Danum Valley, Sabah, Malaysia: a 10-year record including two mast fruitings and three other peak fruitings

Kanamori T 1 , Kuze N 2 , Bernard H 3 , Malim TP 4 , Kohshima S 5

Affiliations 

  • 1 Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi, 484-8506, Japan. SNA44616@nifty.com
  • 2 Department of Anthropology, The National Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba, Japan
  • 3 Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
  • 4 Sabah Wildlife Department, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
  • 5 Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
Primates, 2017 Jan;58(1):225-235.
PMID: 27848156 DOI: 10.1007/s10329-016-0584-5

Abstract

We investigated the population density of Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus morio) and fruit availability for 10 years (2005-2014), in primary lowland dipterocarp forests in the Danum Valley, Sabah, Malaysia. During the research period, two mast fruitings and three other peak fruiting events of different scales occurred in the study area. The orangutan population density, estimated every 2 months by the marked nest count method, changed between 0.3 and 4.4 ind/km(2) and the mean population density was 1.3 ind/km(2) ± SE 0.1 (n = 56). The population density increased markedly during mast and peak fruiting periods. A significant positive correlation was observed between the population density and fruit availability in the study period (Spearman, R = 0.3, P 

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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