Data for Behavioral Responses of Assamese macaques (<i>Macaca assamensis</i>) to Variation in Food Availability and Climatic factors in Longrui, Guangxi, China

Habitat adaptation of animals depends on their ability to adjust their behaviors to environmental changes. Studying animal adaptive responses to different environmental variables sheds light on how individuals survive in a particular environment. From October 2021 to September 2022, we examined the changes in diet and activity budgets of Assamese macaques (<i>Macaca assamensis</i>) in a limestone forest in response to variations in food availability and climate. Assamese macaques fed on 157 food items obtained from 99 plant species. Dietary diversity may have resulted from the relative shortage of fruit resources in limestone forests. Assamese macaques were primarily folivorous. Their diet comprised five categories of foods: young leaves (58.5% ± 20.4%), mature leaves (6.8% ± 8.2%), fruits (30.3% ± 25.3%), flowers (3.6% ± 5.7%) and stems (0.8% ± 0.9%). Seasonal variation in dietary composition and activity budgets interpreted species’ foraging adaptations to the variation in food availability. They spent most of their time feeding and moving during the rainy season, whereas the resting time was significantly reduced. This pattern enabled to maximize the feeding benefits using a “high-cost, high-yield” strategy as food resources were relatively abundant during the rainy season. Conversely, the macaques reduced their moving time and increased their resting and grooming times, using a “low-cost, low-yield” strategy to conserve energy when food quality decreased during the dry season. Moreover, the macaques responded to climate variations by decreasing their moving time and increasing their grooming time, thus conserving energy when temperatures decreased. These findings suggested that Assamese macaques exhibited high behavioral flexibility in response to fluctuations in food availability and climate associated with particular limestone habitats.