. The Ecology of arboreal folivores : a symposium held at the Conservation and Research Center, National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Institution, May 29-31, 1975. Folivores; Forest ecology; Leaves; Mammals; Mammals. and the activity of the phosphorylating enzymes in the liver are functionally more important. In this respect the liver of ruminants is well equipped to syn- thesize glucose and release it into the blood. The enzymic activities in the Colobinae liver have not been examined. An additional feature of ruminant animals is the "stearic-rich" nature of the depot fats which res
. The Ecology of arboreal folivores : a symposium held at the Conservation and Research Center, National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Institution, May 29-31, 1975. Folivores; Forest ecology; Leaves; Mammals; Mammals. and the activity of the phosphorylating enzymes in the liver are functionally more important. In this respect the liver of ruminants is well equipped to syn- thesize glucose and release it into the blood. The enzymic activities in the Colobinae liver have not been examined. An additional feature of ruminant animals is the "stearic-rich" nature of the depot fats which result from microbial hydrogenation in the rumen of dietary unsaturated fatty acids. The fatty acid composition of Colobinae lipids has not been determined although the result would be of considerable interest. There are many gaps in our knowledge of the nutrition, digestion, and physiology of the members of the Colobinae. However, the high numbers of cellu- lose-digesting bacteria in the langur stomach suggest that plant structural carbohydrates serve as an im- portant energy source. Moreover, regardless of the food ingested it is clear that microbial fermentation plays a major role in digestion. It was suggested that bacteriol biosynthetic capacity might benefit the vita- min and nitrogen economy of the host (Bauchop and Martucci, 1968). This view is supported by results of Oxnard (1966) who found that langurs (P. obscurus and P. entellus) have blood serum levels of vitamin B12 which are several-fold greater than those of other primates. Although there is no direct information on nitrogen metabolism in langurs, urea recycling, via the stom- ach, would be expected to affect profoundly the water balance of these animals. In this regard there are a number of pertinent observations from field work. In India, langurs and rhesus monkeys frequently exist in close association, but in the dry season langurs continue to exist in areas where rhesus monkeys could not survive (Jay, 1965). In
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