Discrimination of Paternal Kin in Wild Chimpanzees

该项目调查野生黑猩猩（Pan troglodytes）是否与其他个体不同地识别和对待父系亲属。 亲属关系可以对动物和人类的社会行为产生深远的影响。 通过帮助和避免伤害他们的亲属，个人将通过亲属选择过程中受益，增加他们在后代中的遗传表现。 然而，为了实现这些利益，个人必须能够区分亲属和非亲属。 在灵长类等群居哺乳动物中，个体已经被证明能够区分母系亲属和非亲属，梳理它们，帮助它们进行侵略性的竞争，避免与它们交配，从而避免近亲繁殖的有害后果。 虽然个体也会通过辨别父系亲属而受益，但直到最近出现可以识别父系亲属的非侵入性基因检测，才能在野生种群中探索这种能力。 本研究将探讨坦桑尼亚贡贝国家公园黑猩猩的三个父系亲属歧视问题：（1）父亲是否歧视和偏爱他们的遗传婴儿？(2)离开母亲加入成年男性群体的青少年男性是否更倾向于与父亲交往并得到父亲的保护？(3)女性是否会歧视并避免与父亲和父系兄弟姐妹以及母系亲属交配？ 将通过分析从粪便样本中采集的DNA中检测到的遗传标记来建立遗传关系。 有关行为互动的数据将从珍·古道尔博士研究贡贝黑猩猩期间收集的44年现场记录档案中提取，并储存在明尼苏达大学珍·古道尔研究所灵长类动物研究中心，以及项目期间收集的新现场数据。 证明黑猩猩的父系亲属歧视将为亲属关系在社会行为中的普遍重要性提供支持，这是目前争论的问题。这项研究将填补一个重要的空白，在我们的理解影响我们最近的生活亲属的行为的因素。 生活在父系社会中的黑猩猩的父系亲属歧视的证据将补充最近从母系社会中获得的证据，扩大了这种现象的普遍性。 这项研究还将促进今后对亲属歧视机制的研究，就其更广泛的影响而言，该项目将有助于对大学生和公众的教育。它将雇用研究生和本科生，积极从代表性不足的群体中招募，并向他们介绍与理解人类进化相关的物种研究的兴奋。 灵长类动物研究中心网站www.discoverchimpanzees.org上的一个互动页面将允许公众阅读有关正在进行的实地研究的最新信息，并向研究人员提出问题。 网络活动将被开发来解释亲属选择和亲子鉴定，游戏将说明亲属识别和包容性健身。 展示该项目研究的教育项目也将与林肯公园动物园（芝加哥）一起开发，并提供给明尼苏达州动物园。 坦桑尼亚的研究活动将雇用和教育当地人民，并为保护一个重要的濒危物种作出贡献。

This project investigates whether wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) recognize and treat paternal relatives differently from other individuals. Kinship can have a profound effect on the social behavior of animals and humans. By helping and refraining from harming their kin, individuals will benefit through the process of kin selection by increasing their genetic representation in future generations. However, to achieve these benefits, individuals must be able to discriminate kin from non-kin. In group-living mammals such as primates, individuals have been shown to discriminate maternal kin from non-kin, grooming them, aiding them in aggressive contests, and avoiding mating with them, thus avoiding the deleterious consequences of inbreeding. Although individuals will also benefit by discriminating paternal kin, this ability could not be explored in wild populations until the recent advent of non-invasive genetic testing that can now identify paternal relatives. This study will investigate three questions about paternal kin discrimination in the chimpanzees of Gombe National Park, Tanzania: (1) Do fathers discriminate and favor their genetic infants? (2) Do adolescent males that have left their mothers to join the adult male group preferentially associate with and receive protection from their fathers? (3) Do females discriminate and avoid mating with their fathers and paternal siblings as well as their maternal relatives? Genetic relationships will be established by analysis of genetic markers detected in DNA collected from fecal samples. Data on behavioral interactions will be extracted from the 44 year archive of field notes collected during Dr. Jane Goodall's study of the Gombe chimpanzees and stored in the Jane Goodall Institute's Center for Primate Studies at the University of Minnesota, as well as new field data collected during the project. Demonstration of paternal kin discrimination in chimpanzees will provide support for the general importance of kinship in social behavior, a matter of current debate. The study will fill an important gap in our understanding of the factors influencing the behavior of our closest living relative. Evidence of paternal kin discrimination in chimpanzees that live in patrilineally based societies will complement recent evidence from matrilineally based societies, extending the generality of the phenomenon. The study will also stimulate future research on the mechanisms involved in kin discrimination.In terms of its broader impact, the project will contribute to the education of both university students and the general public. It will employ both graduate and undergraduate students, actively recruited from underrepresented groups, and introduce them to the excitement of research on a species relevant to understanding human evolution. An interactive page on the Center for Primate Studies website www.discoverchimpanzees.org will allow the general public to read updates about ongoing field research and pose questions to the researchers. Web activities will be developed to explain kin selection, and paternity determination, and games will illustrate kin recognition, and inclusive fitness. Educational programs showcasing the project's research will also be developed with Lincoln Park Zoo (Chicago) and made available to Minnesota zoos. Research activities in Tanzania will employ and educate local people, and contribute to the conservation of an important endangered species.