**6. Acknowledgements**

38 Zoology

capuchin monkeys (*Cebus capucinus*) demonstrate a foraging advantage when feeding on ripe figs. Conspicuous figs were more common than cryptic figs at the research site, and were fed on much more frequently. Trichromatic monkeys had a higher acceptance index of conspicuous figs than did dichromats, suggesting an ability to select riper figs based on visual cues. Dichromats, on the other hand, used longer and more diverse foraging sequences (e.g. frequent sniffing) when assessing figs. While the variation in foraging behaviour did not result in a net variation of fig intake rate, the authors suggest that it is possible that the improved discrimination ability of trichromats may lead to higher feeding rates under conditions where ripe fruit is less available and quickly depleted. Additionally, trichromatic monkeys seemed better able to select the ripest figs, while dichromats

consumed mid-ripe (yellowish) figs more often (A.D Melin, pers. obs).

**Census Date** 

**N species** 

Korup, Cameroon 50 1998 N/A 3 0.06 STRI

Yasuni, Ecuador 50 2003 12 30 0.60 STRI BCI, Panama 50 2005 8 42 0.84 STRI Cocoli, Panama 4 1998 4 9 2.25 STRI Sherman, Panama 6 1999 3 3 0.50 STRI

\* 8 species of *Ficus* are known in Sector Santa Rosa (Melin et al., 2009) however only 2 species have been

\*\* If only those fig trees with a DBH of 10cm or greater are included, then the number of individuals

Table 1. Number of species and individuals of the genus *Ficus* in African and neotropical

While most hypotheses for the variation in colour vision capabilities of catarrhines and platyrrhines posit the importance of either the ability to detect ripe fruit (Regan et al., 2001) or young leaves (Dominy et al., 2003) there is evidence that this variation stems from visual

**N Individuals**

20 2000 2 2 0.10 STRI

20 2000 4 6 0.30 STRI

24.13 2006 4\* 59 2.45 Tweheyo and

2.66 2010 8\* 4 1.5\*\* Parr et al, In

8.3 1996 6 81 9.76 Serio-Silva et al.

25 2003 7 289 11.56 STRI

**N Individuals per hectare** 

**Source** 

Babweteera 2007

Press

2002

**Site Plot Size** 

Edoro, Democratic Republic of Congo

Lenda, Democratic Republic of Congo

Budongo Forest Reserve, Uganda

> La Planada, Columbia

Sector Santa Rosa, Costa Rica

Agaltepec Island, Mexico

forests.

**5. Conclusion** 

**(hectares)**

encountered to date in transects (Parr et al., In Press).

drops to three, and density drops to 1.13 (N.Parr, pers. comm.).

We would like to thank the staff of the Área de Conservación Guanacaste, especially Roger Blanco, Maria Marta Chavarria and the administration of the Sector Santa Rosa, for help and for permission to conduct research in the park. We also thank the STRI Center for Tropical Forest Science: all *Ficus* data denoted as being from STRI came from their website: www.ctfs.si.edu. The authors gratefully acknowledge Adrián Guadamuz, John Addicott, Mike Lemmon, Barbara Kowalsic and Nigel Parr for contributions to the *Ficus* project, as well as Linda Fedigan, Carl Toborowsky, Adrienne Blauel, Mackenzie Bergstrom, Brandon Klug, Laura Weckman, Fernando Campos and Valerie Schoof for their assistance. We thank

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