Collaborative Research: The Ecological Basis of Hunting and Meat Sharing in Female Savanna Chimpanzees

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Hunting with tools may enable female chimpanzees to routinely ingest and share meat on a seasonal basis without the need for being provisioned by males. This project will capture the dietary impacts of female chimpanzee hunting with tools and compare these findings with other studies that have focused primarily on male chimpanzee hunting behaviors. The findings from this project will advance knowledge and broaden perspectives about primate models for understanding human behavioral evolution. This project increases capacity for chimpanzee research by fully engaging with and supporting local partners and students. The research is part of a long-term program that supports habitat preservation in protected and unprotected areas for the critically-endangered western chimpanzee. The research further engages in conservation activities through the active study of conservation genetics, development of conservation action plans, and support of local research and community services in the research area. The project provides exceptional research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, especially underrepresented minority and first-generation students to support diversity and inclusion efforts in biological anthropology and STEM, more broadly. This project also interfaces with Purdue University’s EPICS program (Engineering Projects in Community Service) to provide collaborative design experiences for undergraduate students.Sexual selection theory and patterns of male-biased hunting and meat eating for chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have been traditionally integrated with models of human behavioral evolution. While there is a well-documented understanding of these behaviors in forest chimpanzees, a significant gap exists on how chimpanzees hunt and eat meat in savannas. What little is known about hunting and meat-eating in savanna chimpanzees, however, starkly contrasts with the typical species pattern. In the hottest, driest, and most open landscapes inhabited by chimpanzees, tool use and female-biased hunting comprise a major component of hunting strategy. This study will test for environmental pressures that may explain this behavior. Little is known about female-biased hunting because these timid chimpanzees are not habituated for intensive behavior sampling, and are not being habituated due to their conservation status combined with risk of infant poaching for the pet trade. To confront this challenge, the project combines behavioral, isotopic, nutritional, genetic, visual analytic, and geographic approaches to compare hunting and meat ingestion between females and males, and in relation to climate and food availability. This interdisciplinary and multi-site study is a part of the HUNTRESS project on HUnting, Nutrition, Tool-use, Reproductive Ecology, and meat Sharing in Savanna chimpanzees to holistically assess female-biased hunting. The project will measure meat ingestion with stable isotope and feeding trace analyses, and compare these signatures to direct observations of hunting and meat ingestion in a reference group of habituated adult males. Furthermore, the project will compare meat ingestion to annual climate trends as well as food and macronutrient availability. A molecular component will enable sex-determination and individualization information from hair and feces. The video analytics component will measure mammal (prey) availability remotely from camera-trap videos and still images. At the same, the research will advance machine-learning capabilities by incorporating domain knowledge to improve accuracy and precision of mammal localization.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.