Coquerel's Sifaka (Propithecus coquereli) Fact Sheet: Diet & Feeding

Primarily folivores (from Mittermeier et al. 2010; Mittermeier et al. 2013)

• Leaves compose the majority of the diet
• Also consume flowers, fruit, bark, and dead wood
• Diverse diet
  • Feed on nearly 100 different plant species

Principal plants consumed (from Richard 1974)

• Drypetes sp.
• Cedrelopsis sp.
• Capurodendron microlobum
• Commiphora pervilleana
• Combretum sp.
• Protorhus deflexa

Incidentally consume insects (Richard 1974)

Seasonally variable diet (from Mittermeier et al. 2010; Richard 1978)

• Wet season
• Young leaves, flower, fruit, bark, and dead wood
• Dry season
• Mature leaves and buds

Food acquisition (from Richard 1978)

• Secure most food with teeth
  
  • Gouge bark and dead wood with toothcomb
  • Molars and premolars tear off pieces
• Hands bring branches within reach of the mouth
• Body postures
  • Sit on or cling (vertically) to tree branches; most common feeding posture
  • Hang from branches with various combinations of fore- and hindlimbs
    • Dangle from all four limbs
    • Suspend upside down by the hindfeet
  • Lie, "spread-eagle" over a network of fine twigs

Consume food where found, most often (Richard 1978)

• Rarely carry food; observed following theft attempt

Uncommonly forage on the ground (Richard 1978)

Most foods are consumed where they are found.

Sifaka often sit on or dangle from tree branches while having a meal.

Image credit: © F Vassen from Flickr. Some rights reserved.

Mittermeier et al. (2010)
Mittermeier et al. (2013)
Richard (1974)
Richard (1978)