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Life in Unpredictable Environments: First Investigation of the Natural History of Microcebus griseorufus

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Abstract

The dry spiny forest of southern Madagascar is a highly unpredictable environment in terms of the amount and distribution of rainfall. The region is also subject to marked El Niño oscillations. One of the inhabitants of the region is Microcebus griseorufus (Kollman, 1910), the reddish-grey mouse lemur. During the 4 yr of the study, the focal population underwent marked fluctuations in size and exhibited a relatively long reproductive season: September–May. Subjects used daily torpor and expressed opportunistic seasonal fattening when food availability was high. They fed mainly on gum, especially during periods of drought. The estimated sex-ratio of the population is 54% female. Young males dispersed. Females and less frequently, males, associated in same-sex pairs that sometimes joined to form larger sleeping groups. I observed both erratic and resident males, the latter sometimes associated with females in sleeping groups. Mating occurred from September to January and involved mate-guarding. Individual female home ranges (N = 14) overlapped with, on average, 2.8 ± 0.3 male home ranges (range 2–5), whereas individual male home ranges (N = 12) overlapped with 4.7 ± 0.4 female home ranges (range 2–7). Female estrus was not synchronized, even within the female pairs, allowing alloparental care. Gestation lasted 52 d in 1 female, and litter size could be as high as 3; 20 reproductive females out of 37 adult females raised only 1 or 2 young per year.

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Acknowledgments

The Fyssen Foundation (2003–2004), the French Museum of Natural History (2000, 2005–2006), the Société Francophone de Primatologie (2005–2006), and the South African National Research Foundation (2007) funded this work. I thank Jörg Ganzhorn (Zoologishes Institut und Zoologishes Museum, Hamburg, Germany), Bruno Simmen (CNRS, France), Prosper (PBZT, Madagascar), Mike Perrin (University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa), Thibault Dieuleveut and the Projet Ifotaka (Tandroy Conservation Trust, Fort Dauphin, Madagascar) for their support, and Jim Hansen and the students of the School of International Training of Fort Dauphin for their help in the field in 2004. I thank J. de Heaulme for his welcome in the Berenty Private Reserve and for providing rainfall data. I thank Judith Masters and 2 anonymous reviewers for their contributions to the improvement of the manuscript.

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  1. Fabien Génin

    Present address: Department of Zoology, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, Alice, 5700, South Africa

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zoologisches Institut und Zoologisches Museum, 20146, Hamburg, Germany

    Fabien Génin

  2. MNHN Département d’Ecologie et de Gestion de la Biodiversité, 91800, Brunoy, France

    Fabien Génin

  3. School of Biological and Conservation Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X01, Scottsville, 3209, South Africa

    Fabien Génin

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  1. Fabien Génin
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Génin, F. Life in Unpredictable Environments: First Investigation of the Natural History of Microcebus griseorufus . Int J Primatol 29, 303–321 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-008-9243-z

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