吃綠色蔬菜絕對是一件很累的事，特別當(dāng)你是一只以高纖維植物為食的猴子時,。
通過在消化道中寄存大量微生物以分解不易咀嚼的樹葉——就像牛那樣,，一些靈長類動物克服了它們的消化困境,。
為了最有效地利用每一頓飯，牛和其他反芻動物通過反芻和再咀嚼其胃容物從而使這種共生關(guān)系最大化,。
這種行為曾被認(rèn)為是四足食草動物所特有的,。如今，研究人員證實(shí)，棲息在婆羅洲紅樹林與沼澤中的長鼻猴（如上圖）也有相同的行為,。
這是靈長類動物反芻的首個證據(jù),，并且其中的科學(xué)價值很值得人們仔細(xì)玩味。
研究人員在3月29日的《生物學(xué)快報》網(wǎng)絡(luò)版上報告了這一發(fā)現(xiàn),。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦英文摘要：
Biol. Lett. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2011.0197
Regurgitation and remastication in the foregut-fermenting proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus)
Ikki Matsuda1,*, Tadahiro Murai1, Marcus Clauss2, Tomomi Yamada3, Augustine Tuuga4, Henry Bernard5 and Seigo Higashi6
Although foregut fermentation is often equated with rumination in the literature, functional ruminants (ruminants, camelids) differ fundamentally from non-ruminant foregut fermenters (e.g. macropods, hippos, peccaries). They combine foregut fermentation with a sorting mechanism that allows them to remasticate large particles and clear their foregut quickly of digested particles; thus, they do not only achieve high degrees of particle size reduction but also comparatively high food intakes. Regurgitation and remastication of stomach contents have been described sporadically in several non-ruminant, non-primate herbivores. However, this so-called ‘merycism’ apparently does not occur as consistently as in ruminants. Here, to our knowledge we report, for the first time, regurgitation and remastication in 23 free-ranging individuals of a primate species, the foregut-fermenting proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus). In one male that was observed continuously during 169 days, the behaviour was observed on 11 different days occurring mostly in the morning, and was associated with significantly higher proportions of daily feeding time than on days when it was not observed. This observation is consistent with the concept that intensified mastication allows higher food intake without compromising digestive efficiency, and represents an expansion of the known physiological primate repertoire that converges with a strategy usually associated with ruminants only.
