Primate Adaptations to Predation Pressure: Modelling Hominin Behaviour and Transforming Wildlife Conservation

捕食者-猎物相互作用的动态进化军备竞赛在塑造复杂的动物行为中起着重要作用，因为它对捕食者和猎物的包容性适应性产生了直接和严重的影响。在同样动态的生态系统中运行，进化史上充斥着动物灭绝和物种形成的事件。最近的古生物学进展为我们提供了越来越详细的快照，这些事件在我们自己的进化史;例如，一个明显的回合食肉动物灭绝发生在1.5 Ma 2，3，随后是一个戏剧性的气候变化（1.2 Ma）4，这两者都与人类进化的一个非常重要的时期相吻合。化石记录表明，两个东非人种和一个南非人种--能人、鲍氏傍人和粗壮傍人--在1.5到1.2 Ma之间灭绝，留下了一个单一的谱系，直立人，他们首先在非洲繁荣，然后作为现代智人的祖先分散在欧亚大陆5 - 8。1977-1992年莫桑比克内战后，在戈龙戈萨，大型哺乳动物，包括食肉动物的数量大大减少21。掠食者的缺乏意味着其他动物的繁荣，最引人注目的是225群尚未被研究的狒狒，它们广泛生活在公园的马赛克栖息地18。然而，恢复项目正在努力恢复食肉动物的数量;狮子的数量在战争结束后从200只下降到10只以下，在2016年上升到80只18，一个新建立的项目将很快重新将豹子引入公园（Susana Carvalho，pers. commun.）。这些项目的轨迹为监测狒狒对低和变化的捕食压力的行为适应提供了一个独特的窗口，该研究将对我们理解灵长类动物进化、人类起源和有效的野生动物管理产生深远的影响。这项研究还将为2015年启动的戈龙戈萨古灵长类动物项目的到来做出更大的贡献。该公园构成了东非大裂谷的南端，该地区以其丰富的化石而闻名，从而对人类起源进行了多产的研究6 -8。古灵长类项目旨在将从戈龙戈萨化石遗址收集的证据与对其现存灵长类的研究相结合，以重建该地区的进化历史。早期的人类进化充满了广泛的生态变异性，可能塑造了智人令人难以置信的适应性10，22。像戈龙戈萨这样的复杂生态系统是彻底检查特定生态变量对灵长类行为影响的完美自然实验室，为将变异性与适应性联系起来的机制提供了见解。除了对现代灵长类动物和史前人类的行为灵活性和适应性进行实证调查外，该项目还对戈龙戈萨等地区的野生动物管理产生了影响。生态系统中捕食者和猎物动态的不平衡会对人类与野生动物的冲突和当地经济产生严重影响。戈龙戈萨缺乏捕食者，这促进了公园狒狒数量的增长，并使这些动物大胆地从事掠夺作物和入侵人类住区等行为。当地人口和经济不仅因资源的损失而遭受损失，而且由于父母让孩子辍学，以保护庄稼和牲畜免受狒狒的侵害，也受到影响。了解不同生态环境下的冲突动态对于实施有效和可持续的保护和野生动物管理战略至关重要23.除了其庞大的狒狒种群，当前的生态系统和裂谷化石遗址，戈龙戈萨也是各种长期和多学科研究项目的所在地，为公园的生态和历史提供了宝贵的和不断增长的记录。R

The dynamic evolutionary arms race of predator-prey interactions plays a significant role in shaping complex animal behaviours, due to its direct and severe impact on the inclusive fitness of both predators and prey1. Operating within equally-dynamic ecosystems, evolutionary history is smattered with events of faunal extinction and speciation. Recent paleontological advances afford us increasingly detailed snapshots of these events throughout our own evolutionary history; for example, a noticeable bout of carnivore extinctions occurred at 1.5 Ma2,3, followed by a dramatic climatic shift (1.2 Ma)4, both of which coincide with a very significant period of hominin evolution. The fossil record indicates that two East African hominin species, and one South African - Homo habilis, Paranthropus boisei, and Paranthropus robustus- went extinct between 1.5 and 1.2 Ma, leaving behind a single lineage, Homo ergaster/erectus, who first thrived in Africa, and then dispersed across Eurasia as ancestors to modern Homo sapiens5-8.After the Mozambican civil war of 1977-1992, populations of large mammals, including carnivores, were greatly depleted in Gorongosa21. This lack of predators has meant that other animals have thrived, most noticeably the 225 troops of as yet unstudied baboons, living widespread across the mosaic habitats of the park18. However, restoration projects are making great efforts towards the recovery of carnivore numbers; the lion population which had dropped from 200 to below 10 after the war, rose to 80 individuals in 201618, and a newly-established project will soon re-introduce leopards into the park (Susana Carvalho, pers. commun.). The trajectory of these projects provides a unique window for monitoring baboons' behavioural adaptations to low and shifting predation pressures, research that will have far-reaching implications for our understanding of primate evolution, human origins, and effective wildlife management.This research will also contribute to a larger body of work at the advent of Gorongosa's Paleo-Primate Project, initiated in 2015. The park constitutes the southern tip of the East African Rift Valley, an area famous for its abundance of fossils generating prolific research on human origins6-8. The Paleo-Primate Project aims to integrate evidence gathered from Gorongosa's fossil sites with studies of its extant primates in order to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the area. Early human evolution was pervaded by extensive ecological variability, likely shaping the incredible adaptability of Homo sapiens10,22. A complex ecosystem like Gorongosa is the perfect natural laboratory for thorough examination of the impact of particular ecological variables on primate behaviour, providing insights into the mechanisms that link variability with adaptability. Beyond an empirical investigation of behavioural flexibility and adaptations in modern primates and pre-historic humans, this project also has implications for wildlife management in areas like Gorongosa. An imbalance of predator prey dynamics within an ecosystem can have a serious impact on human-wildlife conflict and local economies.Gorongosa's lack of predators has facilitated the growth of the park's baboon population and has emboldened the animals to engage in behaviours like crop-raiding and invasion of human settlements. The local population and economy suffers not only through loss of resources, but also as parents take their children out of school to guard crops and cattle from the baboons. Understanding the dynamics of such conflict under different ecological circumstances is essential for implementing effective and sustainable conservation and wildlife management strategies23.In addition to its large population of baboons, current ecosystem, and Rift Valley fossil sites, Gorongosa is also home to various long-term and multidisciplinary research projects, providing an invaluable and ever-growing record of the park's ecology and history. R