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

我们的项目旨在通过比较分析影响原始人类进化的热带森林中同域性的环境因素，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（加蓬的Moukalaba-Doudou国家公园和刚果民主共和国的Kahuzi-Biega国家公园）的猿和人类进行了调查，这两个研究地点都被认为是过去冰川期的避难所森林。利用森林和习惯或半习惯组的大猩猩和黑猩猩的分布模式的数据收集和分析有关他们的饮食和食物条件。我们的研究结果表明，大猩猩，黑猩猩和人类已经制定了不同的觅食策略，而保持相似的食物偏好。大猩猩分布在西米的不同栖息地 ...更多信息 密度更大。它们的饮食因食物供应而变化很大，但在不同的栖息地范围大小是恒定的。相比之下，黑猩猩往往会根据水果的可用性改变关联模式和范围大小。采猎者采用基于食物共享系统的集中觅食策略。我们最近的研究结果表明，栖息在低地热带森林的大猩猩的觅食策略介于黑猩猩和栖息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进行进食和筑巢，这可能是由于作为食果黑猩猩的水果多样性和丰富性，而它们作为食叶大猩猩定期转移它们的范围。这些观察结果有力地表明，种间和种内的资源冲突是促进人类社会进化的主要因素在同域条件下。基于这一观点，我们将从2007年开始一个新的项目，题为“进化人类学对大猩猩和人类的冲突和解决”，作为一个大的科学研究援助（S）。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