Sustained myrmecophagy in Nigerian chimpanzees: Preferred or fallback food?

Sommer, Volker; Buba, U.; Jesus, Goncalo; Pascual‐Garrido, Alejandra

doi:10.1002/ajpa.23122

Cited by 8 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Second, the finding that chimpanzee dense forest and forest mosaic sites sometimes overlap in forest cover percentage may indicate that different researchers use different approaches to classify their landscapes. For example, researchers at Mahale Mountains, Caiquene-Cadique, and Gashaka Gumti classify their sites as forest mosaics despite relatively high forest cover (Bessa et al 2015;Nakamura et al 2015;Sommer et al 2012Sommer et al , 2016. These sites fell relatively close to the researcher-classified dense forest sites in our scatterplots (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 53%

Classifying Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) Landscapes Across Large-Scale Environmental Gradients in Africa

2020

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Primates are sometimes categorized in terms of their habitat. Although such categorization can be oversimplistic, there are scientific benefits from the clarity and consistency that habitat categorization can bring. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) inhabit various environments, but researchers often refer to "forest" or "savanna" chimpanzees. Despite the wide use of this forest-savanna distinction, clear definitions of these landscapes for chimpanzees, based on environmental variables at study sites or determined in relation to existing bioclimatic classifications, are lacking. The robustness of the forest-savanna distinction thus remains to be assessed. We review 43 chimpanzee study sites to assess how the landscape classifications of researchers fit with the environmental characteristics of study sites and with three bioclimatic classifications. We use scatterplots and principal components analysis to assess the distribution of chimpanzee field sites along gradients of environmental variables (temperature, rainfall, precipitation seasonality, forest cover, and satellite-derived Hansen tree cover). This revealed an environmental continuum of chimpanzee study sites from savanna to dense forest, with a rarely acknowledged forest mosaic category in between, but with no natural separation into these three classes and inconsistencies with the bioclimatic classifications assessed. The current forest-savanna dichotomy therefore masks a progression of environmental adaptation for chimpanzees, and we propose that recognizing an additional, intermediate "forest mosaic" category is more meaningful than focusing on the ends of this environmental gradient only. Future studies should acknowledge this habitat continuum, place their study sites on the forest-savanna gradient, and include detailed environmental data to support further attempts at quantification.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 53%

Classifying Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) Landscapes Across Large-Scale Environmental Gradients in Africa

2020

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“…We report here the δ 13 C and δ 15 N values of termites belonging to the genus Macrotermes from six savanna woodland chimpanzee field sites in equatorial Africa. All sites except for Gashaka in Nigeria bear evidence that chimpanzees utilize these termites as a feeding resource [67]. We https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244685.g002…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Savanna woodland habitats are more likely to have substantial amounts of C 4 vegetation termites may rely on, as compared to forest habitats. We opportunistically collected 39 termite samples from fungus-growing mound builders at five savanna woodland chimpanzee field sites in West Africa (see Table 1 for further details and season of sampling), following a standardized sample and data collection protocol within the framework of the "Pan African Program-The Cultured Chimpanzee" project [69][70][71] [24,67]. We collected termites, predominantly of the major soldier caste, directly from mounds and recorded data on the habitat type surrounding the mound location following the protocol of the Pan African Programme [72,73].…”

Section: Sample Collection and Isotope Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…termites due to their status as the most commonly consumed genera among chimpanzees that termite-fish [24][25][26][27]. However, it is worth noting here that some populations do not termite-fish despite the presence of mound building termites, such as at the site of Gashaka, in Nigeria, that we report on here [67,68]. With this study we seek to address the following two questions:…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Limited evidence of C4 plant consumption in mound building Macrotermes termites from savanna woodland chimpanzee sites

et al. 2021

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Stable isotope analysis is an increasingly used molecular tool to reconstruct the diet and ecology of elusive primates such as unhabituated chimpanzees. The consumption of C4 plant feeding termites by chimpanzees may partly explain the relatively high carbon isotope values reported for some chimpanzee communities. However, the modest availability of termite isotope data as well as the diversity and cryptic ecology of termites potentially consumed by chimpanzees obscures our ability to assess the plausibility of these termites as a C4 resource. Here we report the carbon and nitrogen isotope values from 79 Macrotermes termite samples from six savanna woodland chimpanzee research sites across equatorial Africa. Using mixing models, we estimated the proportion of Macrotermes C4 plant consumption across savanna woodland sites. Additionally, we tested for isotopic differences between termite colonies in different vegetation types and between the social castes within the same colony in a subset of 47 samples from 12 mounds. We found that Macrotermes carbon isotope values were indistinguishable from those of C3 plants. Only 5 to 15% of Macrotermes diets were comprised of C4 plants across sites, suggesting that they cannot be considered a C4 food resource substantially influencing the isotope signatures of consumers. In the Macrotermes subsample, vegetation type and caste were significantly correlated with termite carbon values, but not with nitrogen isotope values. Large Macrotermes soldiers, preferentially consumed by chimpanzees, had comparably low carbon isotope values relative to other termite castes. We conclude that Macrotermes consumption is unlikely to result in high carbon isotope values in either extant chimpanzees or fossil hominins.

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“…Army ants in particular are often acquired by dipping a stick into the nest, mirroring termite soldier fishing (e.g. McGrew, 1974;Sanz and Morgan, 2013;Koops et al, 2015;Sommer et al, 2017;Hicks et al, 2019). This use of tools by chimpanzees in both termite and ant consumption means their dietary importance within specific groups also has implications for the relationship between resource preference, behavioural adaptations, and technological investment.…”

Section: Chimpanzee Colonial Invertebrate Consumptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal resource categorisation and behavioral adaptation among chimpanzees: Implications for early hominin carnivory

Clark¹,

Linares‐Matás²

2021

Preprint

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Seasonality plays a critical role in determining the yearly dietary variability of many nonhuman primates living in tropical and subtropical environments. Much previous research has emphasised the seasonal importance of both preferred resources—eaten whenever available—and fallback foods—eaten during periods of scarcity to compensate for an insufficient availability of preferred resources. However, previous discussions of this dichotomy have often overlooked why different populations of the same taxon may exhibit a different level of engagement with identical resources, especially those that require some degree of technological investment by virtue of being embedded. Similarly, not enough attention has been given to diachronic trends in the incorporation of novel resources to seasonal consumption patterns among non-human primates.In this paper, we present a framework for understanding the spatio-temporal relationships between preferred and fallback resources in a more systematic way, explicitly through the lens of landscape knowledge and seasonal fluctuations in quality and availability. We argue it is the interplay between resource quality and the available knowledge pertaining to its exploitation that will determine the categorisation of a resource. In this regard, the accumulation of further information through encounter, experimentation, and behavioural (including technological) innovation enables resources with high nutritional potential to attain preferred status. We end with an exploration of the gradual consolidation of the hominin carnivory niche in the Early Pleistocene of East Africa, to demonstrate the utility of our framework—specifically the interplay between seasonality and the concept of landscape knowledge—for understanding behavioural change in the archaeological record.

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Sustained myrmecophagy in Nigerian chimpanzees: Preferred or fallback food?

Cited by 8 publications

References 47 publications

Classifying Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) Landscapes Across Large-Scale Environmental Gradients in Africa

Classifying Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) Landscapes Across Large-Scale Environmental Gradients in Africa

Limited evidence of C4 plant consumption in mound building Macrotermes termites from savanna woodland chimpanzee sites

Seasonal resource categorisation and behavioral adaptation among chimpanzees: Implications for early hominin carnivory

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