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7 - Chimpanzee behavioural diversity and the contribution of the Taï Chimpanzee Project

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 November 2019

By
Christophe Boesch
Edited by
Christophe Boesch  and
Roman Wittig
Edited in association with
Catherine Crockford ,
Linda Vigilant ,
Tobias Deschner  and
Fabian Leendertz
Christophe Boesch
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Evolutionäre Anthropologie, Germany
Roman Wittig
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Evolutionäre Anthropologie, Germany
Catherine Crockford
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Evolutionäre Anthropologie, Germany
Linda Vigilant
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Evolutionäre Anthropologie, Germany
Tobias Deschner
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Evolutionäre Anthropologie, Germany
Fabian Leendertz
Affiliation:
Robert Koch-Institut, Germany
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Summary

Evolutionary theory predicts that individuals adapt to the living conditions faced during their lifespan. From the start of the Taï Chimpanzee Project, the foremost question was how living in a dense rainforest affects the behaviour patterns compared to the Gombe and Mahale chimpanzees, which lived in a more open environment dominated by mosaic habitat with dry woodland savanna patches and some gallery forest. Do Taï chimpanzees need a precise mental map to find their food in this dense rainforest? How does the more social nature of the social life of the Taï chimpanzees affect paternity in this population? How old is tool use, exemplified by the stone hammers used to crack nuts in Taï? Where do females come from and where are they going when they transfer between communities as young adults? Is there a difference in the cooperation level between populations when hunting arboreal monkeys and why? In all these domains, the Taï Chimpanzee Project presented new data and replicated them over different periods of time and different social groups. The role of the environment for each of this domain was discussed and proved to be essential in explaining population differences.

Keywords

ChimpanzeesLong-term research projectPopulation differencesEcologyNut-crackingCooperationMental mapPaternityTool use
Type
Chapter
Information
The Chimpanzees of the Taï Forest
40 Years of Research
 , pp. 89 - 103
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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