Feeding strategy of François' langur and white-headed langur at Fusui, China.

We investigated the diet of a group of François' langur inhabiting a forest fragment between August 2002 and July 2003 to add to our knowledge of behavior and ecology of this langur. Our objective was to study whether the François' langur would adopt a feeding strategy similar to the white-headed langur in the same nature reserve. Data indicated that a total of 37 plant species were eaten by François' langur; however, only ten species accounted for 90% of the total feeding time. Four species belong to the ten most dominant tree species within the vegetation quadrats. Ninety-four percent of feeding time of François' langur was spent on leaves, whereas the remaining 6% of time was spent on fruits, flowers and twigs. Results also demonstrated that François' langur are similar to white-headed langur in being predominantly folivorous and that Francois' langur adopted a similar strategy to white-headed langur in diet, dietary variation and time spent on feeding. François' langur exhibited a habitat use preference for the middle zone of the forest, whereas the white-headed langur utilized the bottom zone of the forest. Further analysis indicates that human interference and habitat fragmentation caused by agriculture also impact habitat use.