A leopard ate a chimpanzee: First evidence from East Africa

Nakazawa, Nobuko; Hanamura, Shunkichi; Inoue, Eiji; Nakatsukasa, Masato; Nakamura, Michio

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.04.003

Cited by 60 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…As the specimen was collected in the southeastern forests of Côte d'Ivoire, it is most likely that this chimpanzee's habitat was also occupied by leopards. Alongside published behavioral studies which indicate leopards commonly prey on smaller primates and occasionally prey on chimpanzees (Jenny & Zuberbühler, ; Nakazawa et al, ; Zuberbühler & Jenny, ), we conclude that leopards are the most likely cause of the tooth marks on this cranium. However, as there are no published studies of tooth marks on adult chimpanzee skeletal material inflicted by other chimpanzees, we cannot rule out the possibility that some tooth marks were inflicted by other chimpanzees.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 76%

“…Leopards, on the other hand, are the most significant predators of common chimpanzees due to their largely overlapping habitat distributions (Nakamura et al, ). Leopards are known to prey on primates in the Taï Forest of Côte d'Ivoire (Zuberbühler & Jenny, ) as well as chimpanzees at Mahale, Tanzania (Gandini & Baldwin, ; Nakazawa et al, ) and bonobos in Central Africa (D'Amour et al, ). Jenny and Zuberbühler () observed leopards actively avoiding adult chimpanzees while hunting and scavenging juveniles.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The predation and scavenging of large‐bodied apes by carnivores has been documented repeatedly, albeit largely anecdotally (e.g., D'Amour, Hohmann, & Fruth, ; Furuichi, ; Gandini & Baldwin, ; Henschel, Abernethy, & White, ; Nakazawa, Hanamura, Inoue, Nakatsukasa, & Nakamura, ; Nishie, ; Pierce, ; Tsukahara, ). These observations, mostly interactions between leopards and chimpanzees, have been made through analysis of predator behavior (Gandini & Baldwin, ; Nishie, ; Pierce, ), scat (Henschel et al, ), and ape skeletal remains (Furuichi, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A chomped chimp: New evidence of tooth marks on an adult chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus)

Eller

Pobiner

Friend

et al. 2020

American J Phys Anthropol

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Objectives: To describe and interpret previously unreported marks on the dry cranium of an adult chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) from Côte d'Ivoire at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History (USNM 450071). Materials and Methods:All marks on the cranium were documented and assessed through physical examination of the specimen, photography, micro-computed tomography (micro-CT), and 3D laser scanning. Pits and punctures were measured with digital calipers for comparison with published carnivore tooth mark measurements.Results: The cranium shows perimortem or postmortem damage to the temporal, occipital, and maxillary regions that is not recent. Size and color variation in the marks suggest two damage events, possibly involving chewing by different animals, at least one of which was a large-bodied mammal. The 22 tooth pits and punctures (0.89-8.75 mm in maximum length and 0.88-6.63 mm in breadth) overlap in size with those inflicted by wild leopards, the most significant predators of common chimpanzees due to their largely overlapping ecological distributions.Conclusions: Based on qualitative and quantitative evidence, we conclude that leopards are the most likely cause of the most prominent marks on the cranium. However, we cannot rule out the additional possibility of other chimpanzees, although there are no published studies of chimpanzee tooth marks for direct comparison. This study is the most extensive documentation to date of a modern adult chimpanzee skull exhibiting tooth marks by a large mammal, thus providing new evidence to help identify and interpret other events of predation and scavenging of large-bodied apes in the modern and fossil records. K E Y W O R D S chimpanzee, predation, scavenging, taphonomy, tooth marks

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 76%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A chomped chimp: New evidence of tooth marks on an adult chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus)

Eller

Pobiner

Friend

et al. 2020

American J Phys Anthropol

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“…Leopard predation has been documented at Taï (Boesch, 1991) and examination of leopard scat has documented feeding on chimpanzees at other sites (Furuichi, 2000; Nakazawa et al, 2013). Radio-collared leopards at Taï did not approach chimpanzee parties after hearing the chimpanzees call (Zuhberbuhler and Jenny, 2002), and a single leopard might have made all the attacks documented there (Boesch and Boesch-Achermann, 2000).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Radio-collared leopards at Taï did not approach chimpanzee parties after hearing the chimpanzees call (Zuhberbuhler and Jenny, 2002), and a single leopard might have made all the attacks documented there (Boesch and Boesch-Achermann, 2000). While this might imply that leopards do not commonly attack chimpanzees, Nakazawa et al (2013) suggested that the frequency of leopard predation has been underestimated. The attacks at Taï targeted individuals of all age/sex classes and at least temporarily had a major impact on mortality and the pattern of survivorship (Boesch, 1991; Boesch and Boesch Achermann, 2000).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Favorable ecological circumstances promote life expectancy in chimpanzees similar to that of human hunter-gatherers

Wood

Watts

Mitani

et al. 2017

Journal of Human Evolution

122

136

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Demographic data on wild chimpanzees are crucial for understanding the evolution of chimpanzee and hominin life histories, but most data come from populations affected by disease outbreaks and anthropogenic disturbance. We present survivorship data from a relatively undisturbed and exceptionally large community of eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda. We monitored births, deaths, immigrations, and emigrations in the community between 1995 and 2016. Using known and estimated ages, we calculated survivorship curves for the whole community, for males and females separately, and for individuals ≤2 years old when identified. We used a novel method to address age estimation error by calculating stochastic survivorship curves. We compared Ngogo life expectancy, survivorship, and mortality rates to those from other chimpanzee communities and human hunter-gatherers. Life expectancy at birth for both sexes combined was 32.8 years, far exceeding estimates of chimpanzee life expectancy in other communities, and falling within the range of human hunter-gatherers (i.e., 27–37 years). Overall, the pattern of survivorship at Ngogo was more similar to that of human hunter-gatherers than to other chimpanzee communities. Maximum lifespan for the Ngogo chimpanzees, however, was similar to that reported at other chimpanzee research sites and was less than that of human-hunter gatherers. The absence of predation by large carnivores may contribute to some of the higher survivorship at Ngogo, but this cannot explain the much higher survivorship at Ngogo than at Kanyawara, another chimpanzee community in the same forest, which also lacks large carnivores. Higher survivorship at Ngogo appears to be an adaptive response to a food supply that is more abundant and varies less than that of Kanyawara. Future analyses of hominin life history evolution should take these results into account.

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Feeding in fear? How adult male western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) adjust to predation and savanna habitat pressures

Lindshield

Danielson

Rothman

et al. 2017

American J Phys Anthropol

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Adaptations that minimize predation risk are widespread in mammalian prey species, but these traits are poorly understood in chimpanzees. Great apes encounter few nonhuman predators capable of successfully capturing and killing them; thus, such events are rarely observed. Although people rarely hunt chimpanzees in Senegal, we found that adult males perceived humans as predators and adjusted their behavior while foraging in risky habitats. From an applied perspective, risk-taking behavior is important for understanding and mitigating the problem of crop-feeding in locations where chimpanzees and humans live in sympatry.

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A leopard ate a chimpanzee: First evidence from East Africa

Cited by 60 publications

References 17 publications

A chomped chimp: New evidence of tooth marks on an adult chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus)

A chomped chimp: New evidence of tooth marks on an adult chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus)

Favorable ecological circumstances promote life expectancy in chimpanzees similar to that of human hunter-gatherers

Feeding in fear? How adult male western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) adjust to predation and savanna habitat pressures

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