Male Chest-Genital Scentmark Video
Marojejy National Park (Camp 2): 2003
Adult male and female silky sifakas deposit genital scentmarks (see below), but only males mark trees with chest and the combined chest-genital scentmarks, seen in this video. Notice the gouging of the tree, in this video, performed by the male immediately prior to the chest-genital scentmark which is placed directly over the gouge. It is unknown why male sifakas gouge trees (although we have some ideas why they do it …). Eastern sifaka males are the only group of primates in the world that routinely gouge trees exclusively for non-nutritive reasons. Eastern sifakas do not gouge during any sort of extractive foraging. They do not eat bark or gum. |
