Behavioral Ecology of Pan Paniscus

这笔拨款允许苏斯曼博士和他的同事们继续在扎伊尔中部洛马科森林对侏儒黑猩猩(>Pan> >paniscus>)>>>>进行研究。由于难以长时间定位和追踪单个动物，该团队之前的工作受到了阻碍。本种生于野外，植被茂密。在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，无线电项圈将被放置在焦点动物身上。这些项圈已经经过了安全性测试，不会妨碍动物，在接收器的帮助下，研究人员可以确定单个动物的位置。因此，研究小组将获得个体和群体运动的准确记录，以计算出它们的活动范围并评估它们的活动行为。然后，这些变量将与资源分布和可用性相关联。动物活动范围的大小和形状以及群体之间的空间关系往往是理解社会生态学的起点。在研究体型、群体大小、饮食和社会组织的适应意义时，家园范围大小一直是一个焦点变量。要了解活动范围区域的大小和形状，需要已知个体活动的长期数据。没有这些数据，家园范围只能估计。不幸的是，大多数对森林灵长类动物的研究依赖于拼凑在一起的范围数据，这些数据通常来自于对许多个体在长时间研究期间的不连续观察。这个项目将至少对一个物种来说，改善这种状况。这项研究很重要，因为它将揭示人类发展的最初阶段。在现存的类人猿中，侏儒黑猩猩的体型最接近早期人科动物。因此，它提供了最好的基线，可以与独特的人类特征进行比较。这项工作也应该有助于保护这种极其稀有的物种。

This grant permits Dr. Susman and his colleagues to continue their research on the pygmy chimpanzee (>Pan> >paniscus>)>>>> in the Lomako Forest of Central Zaire. Previous work by the team has been hampered because of the difficulty of locating and tracking individual animals for extended periods of time. The species is aboreal and the vegetation thick. With NSF support radio collars will be placed on focal animals. These collars, which have been tested for safety, do not hamper the animals, and with the aid of a receiver, will allow researchers to pinpoint the location of individual animals. Thus the team will acquire an accurate record of individual and group movements to calculate home range areas and assess ranging behavior. These variables will then be correlated with resource distribution and availability. The size and shape of an animal's home range and the spatial relationships between groups are often the starting points for understanding socioecology. Home range size has been a focal variable in studies of the adaptive significance of body size, group size, diet, and social organization. To understand the size and shape of home range areas requires long term data on the movements of known individuals. Without these data home ranges can only be estimated. Unfortunately, most studies of forest primates rely on ranging data that is pieced together, often from discontinuous observations on a number of individuals over an extended study period. This project will, for one species at least, remedy this situation. This research is important because of the light it will shed on the earliest stages of human development. Of the extant great apes, the pygmy chimpanzee is nearest in size to early hominids. Thus it provides the best baseline against which uniquely human triats can be compared. This work should also aid in the protection of this extremely rare species.