Coexistence and co-evolution of the great apes and humans in the African tropical forest

研究结果我们的项目旨在通过对影响类人猿（大猩猩和黑猩猩）和人类（狩猎采集者）在古人类祖先进化的热带森林中的共生关系的环境因素的比较分析，阐明类人猿（大猩猩和黑猩猩）和人类（狩猎采集者）的共存和社会进化。我们监测了气候和食物供应的季节性和年度变化，并对两个研究地点（加蓬Moukalaba-Doudou国家公园和刚果民主共和国Kahuzi-Biega国家公园）的猿类和人类进行了调查，这两个地点在过去的冰川时期都被视为保护区森林。收集和分析了习性或半习性大猩猩和黑猩猩群体的森林利用和分布模式的数据，并与它们的饮食和食物条件有关。我们的研究结果表明，大猩猩、黑猩猩和人类在保持相似的食物偏好的同时，发展了不同的觅食策略。大猩猩分布在不同的栖息地，但密度更大。它们的饮食随着食物的供应而变化很大，但它们的活动范围在不同的栖息地是恒定的。相比之下，黑猩猩倾向于根据水果的可得性改变联想模式和范围大小。狩猎采集者使用基于食物共享系统的中央觅食策略。我们最近的研究结果表明，生活在低地热带森林的大猩猩的觅食策略介于黑猩猩和生活在山地森林的大猩猩之间。它们倾向于重复使用特定的区域来觅食和筑巢，这可能是由于作为食果黑猩猩的高多样性和丰富的水果，而作为食果大猩猩，它们会周期性地转移它们的活动范围。这些观察结果有力地表明，在同域条件下，种间和种内对资源的争夺是促进人类社会进化的主要因素。基于这一观点，我们将从2007年开始作为科学研究资助项目，启动名为“类人猿与人类的冲突与解决的进化人类学”的新项目。少

RESEARCH RESULTSOur project aims to clarify the coexistence and social evolution of the great apes (gorillas and chimpanzees) and humans (hunter-gatherers), through comparative analysis of environmental factors influencing their sympatry in the tropical forests where the ancestral hominin evolved. We have monitored seasonal and annual changes in climate and food availability and conducted surveys on the apes and humans in the two study sites (Moukalaba-Doudou National Park, Gabon and Kahuzi-Biega National Park, DRC), both of which are regarded as refuge forests during the past glacial periods. Data on utilization of forests and ranging patterns of habituated or semi-habituated groups of gorillas and chimpanzees were collected and analyzed in relation to their diet and food conditions. Our results suggest that gorillas, chimpanzees and humans have developed different foraging strategies while keeping the similar food preference. Gorillas are distributed in different habitats at the simi … More lar density. Their diet is varied drastically with food availability, but range size is constant across habitats. By contrast, chimpanzees tend to change association patterns and range size according to fruit availability. Hunter-gatherers use the central foraging strategies based on food sharing system. Our recent findings suggest that the foraging strategy of gorillas inhabiting the lowland tropical forest is intermediate between chimpanzees and gorillas inhabiting the montane forest. They tend to reuse the particular areas for feeding and nesting possibly due to high diversity and abundance of fruits as frugivorous chimpanzees, while they periodically shift their range as folivorous gorillas. These observations strongly suggest that inter-and intra-specific conflicts on resources constitute major factors promoting hominin social evolution under the sympatric conditions. Based on this view point, we will start a new project entitled "Evolutionary anthropology on conflicts and resolution of the great apes and humans" as a Grand-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S) from 2007. Less