Primates are known to feed on a diverse array of both plant items and animal material to meet their nutritional needs. However, most primate species are highly selective in their food choices in order to optimize their nutritional intake. Food choices of primates can be based on different factors, and in the case of plants this includes the nutritional content of the plant part in question and/or the concentrations of plant secondary compounds 

A number of studies reported previously that food choices of primates correlate negatively with the content of plant secondary compounds that can be toxic or inhibit the digestion of nutrients.  On the other hand, only few studies on non-human primates so far assessed positive correlations between food selection and the content of specific nutrients that should be beneficial to the animal

It was therefore the aim of the present study to determine food preferences in a group of zoo-housed ring-tailed lemurs for a variety of cultivated fruits and vegetables as well as foods of animal origin which differ markedly in their contents of macronutrients and/or micronutrients. I also assessed whether these food preferences correlate with the abundance of macro- or micronutrients. My hypothesis was that the lemurs will show a preference for specific food options based on nutrient composition.