Evaluating risk preferences in captive ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta): a research study

The risk-sensitive foraging theory hypothesizes that animals on a positive energy budget should be risk-averse, whereas animals on a negative energy budget should be risk-prone. Species living in a stable environment with consistent food sources are thus predicted to be risk-averse, whereas when resources are not sufficient to satisfy energetic requirements risk-aversion should decrease to enhance chance of survival. Numerous studies have evaluated risk tolerance in monkeys and apes, but only a few have been conducted on prosimians. The present project investigates risk preferences in ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) , a prosimian species adapted to stressful and energetically scarce habitats. Our project aims to analyse lemurs’ risk preferences in different conditions and to evaluate if they are able to flexibly modify their attitudes toward risk as the probability to obtain the larger reward changes. Preliminary trials were carried out to determine lemurs’ quantity discrimination skills, before evaluating their risk preferences in experimental trials. The study is performed in accordance with the European Directive 2010/63/EU