Foraging behaviour data for sympatric Ateles geoffroyi, Alouatta palliata, and Cebus imitator

Senses form the interface between animals and environments, and their form and function provide a window into the ecology of past and present species. However, research on the senses used during foraging (e.g. smell, vision, touch, taste) by wild terrestrial frugivores is sparse. Here, we combine 26,094 fruit foraging sequences recorded from three wild, sympatric primates (Cebus imitator, Ateles geoffroyi, Alouatta palliata) with data on within- and between-species variation in colour vision, olfaction, taste, and hand anatomy. We hypothesize that dietary and sensory specialization shape foraging behaviours. We find that frugivorous spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) sniff fruits most often, that omnivorous capuchins (Cebus imitator), the species with the highest measure of manual dexterity, uses manual touch most often, and that main olfactory bulb volume is a better predictor of sniffing behaviour than nasal turbinate surface area. We also identify an interaction between colour vision ...