Eco-ethology of West-African Chimpanzees and Other Primates

1. 在研究期间，我们在几内亚Bossou的主要研究区域发现了以下三个新的野生黑猩猩使用工具的例子：1)捡藻；黑猩猩用大约50厘米长的棍子舀取和摄取漂浮在池塘里的藻类（池塘浮渣）。黑猩猩选择薄而轻的草或蕨类植物的茎作为棍子，在使用它们之前，它们会去除阻碍它们的侧枝。他们一只手拿着它们，把加工过的树枝尽可能地从池塘边缘伸出来舀藻类。2)叶垫；黑猩猩在地上摆放几片大树叶，在地面潮湿的时候坐在上面，以免被弄湿。3)捕白蚁；黑猩猩在打破白蚁丘的表面后，将细草茎插入白蚁丘的洞中。白蚁叮咬侵入的茎，并因此被抬出土丘，随后被黑猩猩吃掉。在贡贝、东非和非洲南部，捕猎白蚁在黑猩猩中很普遍，但在西非却很少见到。我们对藻类铲和叶垫的观察构成了这些新发现的野生黑猩猩工具的第一次报告。这些发现导致了一种说法，即在所有被研究的野生群落中，博苏的黑猩猩拥有最多的工具。到目前为止，在野生黑猩猩中总共观察到27种工具，其中18种可以在博苏看到。我们现在正在对生态因素进行分析，以解释为什么Bossou的黑猩猩使用如此多的工具。我们测量了研究地点，并制作了调查地图作为研究的基础。我们还调查了博苏的植物区系、主要水果的可得性及其季节变化。这些数据被用来分析水果可用性的季节变化与工具使用频率之间的相关性。后一种分析现在开始表明，黑猩猩在水果匮乏的时期经常使用工具来获取其他方式无法获得的食物。我们观察了一位15岁的女性分娩。这一事实以及累积的种群动态数据表明，在Bossou的野生黑猩猩中，初产年龄比以前在东非报道的要低，生育间隔也更短。少

1. During this study period, we found the following three new examples of tool use among wild chimpanzees at the main study area of Bossou, Guinea : l) Algae-scooping ; Chimpanzees use sticks approximately 50 cm long to scoop and ingest algae (pond scum) floating in ponds. Ghimpanzees select thin, light grasses or stems of ferns as sticks, and they remove hampering side-branches before utilizing them. Holding them in one hand, they extend the processed sticks as far as possible from the edge of ponds to scoop algae. 2) Leaf-cushion ; Chimpanzees arrange several large leaves on the ground and sit on them when the ground is moist in order to avoid getting wet. 3) Termite-fishing ; Chimpanzees insert thin stems of grasses into holes of termite mounds after breaking open the surface of the latter. Termites bite the intruding stems, and are thus lifted out of the mounds and subsequently eaten by chimpanzees retracting the stems. Termite, -fishing is widespread among chimpanzees in Gombe, Ea … More st Africa, but it has rarely been seen in West Africa. Our observations of Algae-scooping and Leaf-cushion constitute the first ever reports of these newly-found tools among wild chimpanzees. These discoveries lead to a claim that chimpanzees at Bossou have the largest repertoire of tools among all wild communities studied. There have so far been a total of 27 tools observed among wild chimpanzees, 18 of which can be seen at Bossou. We are now conducting an analysis of ecological factors to explain why chimpanzees at Bossou use such a large number of tools.2. We measured the study site and made a survey map for the basis of research. We also investigated the flora of Bossou, the availability of main fruits, and their seasonal changes. This data was used to analyze the correlation between seasonal changes in fruit availability and the frequency of tool use. The latter analysis is now beginning to indicate that chimpanzees frequently use tools during fruit scarcity to gain access to foods that could not be acquired otherwise.3. We observed parturition in a l0.5-year-old female. This fact along with accumulated data on population dynamics demonstrate that in wild chimpanzees at Bossou, the age of primiparity is lower and the inter-birth interval shorter than previously reported from East Africa. Less