3. RESULTS
Food composition
The GGS found to be feeding on different plant parts including the
leaves, seeds, flowers and sap of different trees and other vegetation
(Table 1).
A total of 1314 minutes (in 10 months) in 42 encounters of feeding
observation were taken during the study. A total of 30 different species
of plants per se , which included 22 tree species, four climbers,
one liana, one paraphyte, one shrub and one cactus species, formed the
diet. The maximum duration of feeding was observed on Bauhinia
racemosa (19.79%), followed by Tamarindus indica (14.08%),Nothopegia beddomei (9.89%), Strychnos potatorum (7.23%)
and Terminalia arjuna (6.47%; Table 1).
The feeding varied by the food availability in various months. The GGS
fed on Terminalia arjuna (January, April and September) andTamarindus indica (May, November and December) in three different
months, followed by Bauhinia racemose (February and March),
Ficus macrocarpa (February and November) and Syzygium cumini(August, May) in two different months. However, the other species were
found fed only once during the study period. The climbers that formed
part of the diet were Derris brevipes, Diplocyclos palmatus andCayratia trifolia . The GGS also used shrubs like Hibiscus
rosa-chinensis , cacti - Euphorbia trigona, and liana -Entada rheedii for feeding. These species come under 18 different
families. Among them, the most preferred family was Fabaceae, with eight
species found to be part of the GGS diet. This was followed by Moraceae,
four species, and Anacardiaceae, two species.
3.2 Contribution of different vegetation parts
The total feeding incidence across the whole study period was found to
be 62. Out of it, 30 incidences were on leaf feeding (48.39%), followed
by seed feeding (27.32%), flower feeding (16.13 %), and sap-feeding
(8.06 %) (Figure 2. A). The duration of feeding on different items is
on seeds (52.12 %), followed by leaves (32.55 %), flowers (10.58 %)
and sap (4.76 %) (Figure 2. B).
3.3 Diurnal variation in feeding
habit
The feeding recorded for the whole study period was 1314 minutes,
including 915 feeding bouts. 42% of the total feeding duration was
contributed by forenoon observation and the rest 58% by afternoon
observation, sampling hours are equal for both times of the day. when
the feeding bout took into consideration forenoon hours, 321 bouts,
while the afternoon had around twice the value, 594 bouts. However, the
GGS was found to be inactive in a food source for some time before
commencing the feeding or after feeding, before going elsewhere in
search of a new source or for other activities. In some cases, the GGS
was found to be inactive or resting at a food source between periods of
intensive feeding. The GGS were not significantly different in the
duration of feeding between the forenoon and afternoon (U = 189.5 p
=0.319) as well as in the feeding bout (U = 205.50 p =0.542).
3.4 Seasonal variation in
diet
The feeding incidence on all food items was maximum in the summer,
followed by the North-East and South-West monsoon. Univariate analysis
was done in the absence of a correlation between different variables
under consideration; there was no effect of season and time of the day
on the duration of feeding and the feeding bouts. To check if the animal
prefers food items with respect to different seasons,ᵡ 2 test for association was performed.
However, no significant association (ᵡ 2=
6.32, p= 0.70), could be observed.
The canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) (Figure 3) to check the
association of species and season is also done for selected species
based on maximum incidences and duration of feeding and found no
significant association. The food species choice of the GGS was found
not affected by the seasons, but it is based on the availability of
various food resources across different seasons.
Feeding technique
The GGS were found to be highly selective in picking the food items. The
selection of food items appears to be done by the smell of the items
(Figure 4A). The GGS was found to be handling its food with both mouth
and forelimbs (Figure 4B). The GGS goes to the tip of the branch or
other areas of the crown of the tree according to the availability of
food sources and cuts the pod, fruit, leaves or flower with its mouth
(Figure 4C). Occasionally the food item was brought to the mouth with
the help of the forelimbs. Holding the fruit in the mouth, the squirrel
then moves to the thick horizontal branch to sit firmly, sometimes the
feeding started at the place of harvest itself. The squirrel holds the
branch with the help of the claws of the hind limbs and the tail hanging
down, which gives further balance to the body (Figure 4D). It then gnaws
the epicarp of the fruit to extract the seed to be consumed. During
feeding, the forelimbs were used effectively to manipulate food items,
whether long pods of Bauhinia racemosa or small fruit of