I investigated the daily activity pattern, diet and daily path length (DPL) of silky sifaka (Prop... more I investigated the daily activity pattern, diet and daily path length (DPL) of silky sifaka (Propithecus candidus) in Marojejy National Park, northeastern Madagascar, between April 12th and April 21st through daytime focal animal observations. Also, using Global Positioning System (GPS) data from periods between July 2009 to July 2010 and July 2012 to April 2013, I found the monthly and seasonal changes in home range size by using 100% minimum convex polygon (MCP), 95% kernel and 50% kernel. My findings verified that the P. candidus dedicate most of their daytime to resting, followed by feeding, social behavior and travel in a descending order. The study animals were observed to be consuming 34 different plants encompassing 24 genera. Young leaves constituted for 57% of the feeding time. The average DPL was equal to 876 meters, which is more than the known annual average equaling 528 meters. However, it supports observations of Patel (2011), that the silky sifakas have longer DPL between the months of January to April. There was no significant difference in monthly and seasonal differences in home range size. More data is necessary to fully comprehend if there are any statistically significant variations in the annual home range size.
I investigated the daily activity pattern, diet and daily path length (DPL) of silky sifaka (Prop... more I investigated the daily activity pattern, diet and daily path length (DPL) of silky sifaka (Propithecus candidus) in Marojejy National Park, northeastern Madagascar, between April 12th and April 21st through daytime focal animal observations. Also, using Global Positioning System (GPS) data from periods between July 2009 to July 2010 and July 2012 to April 2013, I found the monthly and seasonal changes in home range size by using 100% minimum convex polygon (MCP), 95% kernel and 50% kernel. My findings verified that the P. candidus dedicate most of their daytime to resting, followed by feeding, social behavior and travel in a descending order. The study animals were observed to be consuming 34 different plants encompassing 24 genera. Young leaves constituted for 57% of the feeding time. The average DPL was equal to 876 meters, which is more than the known annual average equaling 528 meters. However, it supports observations of Patel (2011), that the silky sifakas have longer DPL between the months of January to April. There was no significant difference in monthly and seasonal differences in home range size. More data is necessary to fully comprehend if there are any statistically significant variations in the annual home range size.
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