What digestive adaptation is necessary due to their high-fruit and moderate-leaf diet?
Answer
Optimization for fermentation to extract energy from fiber and rapid sugar absorption
The staple diet, being heavy in fruit (sugars) and containing moderate amounts of leaves (cellulose/fiber), demands a sophisticated digestive system. This system must be adept at bulk feeding. Specifically, it is optimized to handle two different demands simultaneously: utilizing gut fermentation processes to extract maximum available energy from fiber-rich materials like leaves when necessary, while also ensuring the efficient and rapid absorption of the high concentration of sugars derived from ripe fruit pulp.
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