Dissertation Research: Food-associated Calls and Social Foraging Decisions in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

此前的研究发现，黑猩猩在找到食物时经常发出与食物相关的叫声，这些叫声可能会为其他黑猩猩提供有关已发现食物的数量和质量的信息。这项研究将通过对圈养黑猩猩的实验和对野生黑猩猩的观察相结合的方式来解决一个长期存在的难题：鉴于黑猩猩经常争夺食物，它们为什么要向其他黑猩猩提供它们发现的关于食物的这样的信息？这项研究将检验一个中心假设，即黑猩猩从发出这些呼唤中受益，不是通过分享食物，而是通过与有价值的群体成员协调它们的旅行。用圈养的黑猩猩进行的实验将测试黑猩猩听到其他黑猩猩食物相关发声的录音是否会增加它们自己的觅食努力。对野生黑猩猩的观察预计会显示，当黑猩猩与其群体中有价值的成员，如配偶和盟友一起时，它们会更频繁地呼叫，当黑猩猩听到这样的呼叫时，它们会花更多的时间在给定的地点寻找食物。这项研究将使人们更好地理解与食物相关的交流在黑猩猩的社会觅食决策中所起的作用。通过从社会决策的角度探讨食物相关呼叫产生的谜题，这些研究将改变我们对这种呼叫行为的理解，同时为沟通在社会决策过程中所扮演的角色提供新的见解。

Previous studies have found that chimpanzees often give food-associated vocalizations when they find food, and that these vocalizations may provide other chimpanzees with information about the amount and quality of the food that has been discovered. This study will use a combination of experiments with captive chimpanzees and observations of wild chimpanzees to solve a long-standing puzzle:given that chimpanzees often compete over food, why should they provide other chimpanzees with such information about food that they have found? This study will test the central hypothesis that chimpanzees benefit from giving these calls, not by sharing food, but by coordinating their travel with valued group members. Experiments with captive chimpanzees will test whether chimpanzees that hear recordings of food-associated vocalizations from other chimpanzees increase their own foraging effort. Observations of wild chimpanzees are expected to show that chimpanzees call more frequently when with valued members of their group, such as mates and allies, and that when chimpanzees hear such calls, they spend more time searching for food in a given spot. This research will result in a greater understanding of the role food-associated communication play in the social foraging decisions of chimpanzees. By approaching the puzzle of food-associated call production from a social decision-making perspective, these studies will transform our understanding of this calling behavior while simultaneously providing novel insight into the role communication plays in social decision-making processes.