Sleep-related behavioural adaptations in free-ranging anthropoid primates (2000)

Anderson, J. R.

Abstract

From a socioecological perspective, the first principle underlying sleeping on non-human primates ... is that safety from predators is paramount. .. Sleeping sites must afford the primates some measure of security. Most primates are arboreal, and they sleep as well as move, forage and socialize in trees. Although semi-terrestrial species such as chimpanzees, baboons (Papio spp.) and some populations of macaques (Macaca spp.) may rest on the ground or on low vegetation during the day, they will almost always sleep in elevated locations at night. .. For tree-sleeping primates, height and cover appear to be major antipredator factors determining the location of 'dormitories'.