Types of Diets for Primates

The primate family is a diverse and prolific group of highly intelligent animals, ranging from tiny mouse lemurs to half-ton gorillas. Primates live primarily in the tropics, and eat a wide variety of foods. Many primates do not clearly fit into a single category, eating opportunistically and omnivorously, but there are 4 main categories into which primate diets can be classified.

  1. Insectivores

    • An insectivore is an animal that eats primarily or exclusively insects. To sustain themselves, they must eat large quantities of insects, as this high protein food causes high metabolism. Many insectivores are small in size, possessing long, nimble fingers and are nocturnal, hunting at night. Some possess sharp teeth for boring into tree trunks to get insect larvae. Almost all Prosimians are at least partially insectivores. Examples include pygmy marmosets and cotton-top tamarins.

    Frugivores

    • A frugivore is an animal that eats a large quantity of fruits, and prefers fruits when having an option to choose food. Many species will learn the cycle of fruit production for a variety of species of trees, to ensure that they can always find fresh fruit within their environment. Frugivores often have special techniques for peeling or removing barbs from fruit. Frugivores are often important in seed dispersal, by eating fruits and then spreading the seeds to new locations in feces. Examples include orangutans and owl monkeys.

    Folivores

    • An folivore is an animal that eats almost exclusively the leaves, pith and stalks of green plants. These plants are low in nutritional value, so many folivores are large, slow primates that do not move quickly. They spend most of their time eating and sleeping, digesting as they sleep. As plant material is harder to digest, many folivores have grinding molars, large stomachs and elongated intestinal tracks to aid in the breaking down of plant cells. Examples include gorillas.

    Carnivores/Omnivores

    • A carnivore is an animal that only eats meat. Tarsiers are the only example in the primate order, as most meat-eating primates are omnivores, eating a mix of meat, plant, and fruit material. Omnivores can live in a wide variety of environments, and are more adaptable to ecological change. Some even develop tools or special techniques to eat hard-to-process foods. A few omnivores hunt, while others only scavenge meat. Examples include tarsiers, ring-tail lemurs and humans.