The behavioral ecology of sympatric African apes: implications for understanding fossil hominoid ecology

The behavioral ecology of the great apes is key evidence used in the reconstruction of the behavior of extinct ape and hominid taxa. Chimpanzees and gorillas have been studied in detail in the wild, and some studies of their behavioral ecology in sympatry have also been been carried out. Although the two ape species have divergent behavior and ecology in important respects, recent studies have shown that the interspecific differences are not as stark as previously thought and subsequently urge new consideration of how they share forest resources when sympatric. These new data require re-examination of assumptions about key aspects of chimpanzee-gorilla ecological divergence, such as diet, ranging and nesting patterns, and the mating system. Diet is a key component of the species adaptive complexes that facilitates avoidance of direct competition from the other. While the nutritional basis for chimpanzee food choice remains unclear and no doubt varies from site to site, this species is a ripe fruit specialist and ranges farther during periods of ripe fruit scarcity. Gorillas in the same habitat also feed on ripe fruit when widely available, but fall back onto fibrous plant foods during lean periods. The inclusion of animal protein in the diet of the chimpanzees and its absence in that of the gorillas also distinguish the species ecologically. It may also offer clues to aspects of ecological divergence among early members of the hominid phylogeny. The paper concludes by suggesting likely characteristics of sympatric associations of Pliocene hominids, based on field data from extant sympatric apes.     

Chimpanzees (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Pan troglodytes</Emphasis>) learn to act with other individuals in a cooperative task

We presented two chimpanzees with a task in which they were required to pull each end of a rope simultaneously to drag blocks supporting food into reach. The chimpanzees did not succeed in initial tests. They did not immediately understand the necessity for cooperation, and they did not adjust their behavior to work with the partner. However, the frequency of success gradually increased as the number of sessions increased and the task was varied. They began to look at the partner frequently, wait if the partner was not holding the rope, and pull the rope in synchrony with the partner. However, they did not use interactive behaviors or eye contact to synchronize their behavior. One chimpanzee was then paired with a human partner in the same situation. After initial failures, the chimpanzee began to solicit the human partner for cooperation: looking up at his face, vocalizing, and taking the partner’s hand. When this chimpanzee was again paired with the chimpanzee partner, no soliciting behavior was observed. Thus, the chimpanzees could learn to coordinate their behavior through trial and error. Communicative behavior emerged during the task, but the communication differed according to the identity of the partner.     

Ethological study of early language

Sign language studies of cross-fostered chimpanzees measure the effect of special rearing conditions on the development of very young chimpanzees. Cross-fostered chimpanzees, like human children, develop gradually in a process that takes many years. Here we discuss details of the procedure, the overlap between human and chimpanzee infants in the contents of the first 50-item vocabularies, and the ways in which the signs of the chimpanzees exhibit the fuzziness of natural language categories. We also compare the cross-fostering approach with more traditional modular approaches to the study of language-like behavior in nonhuman animals. Project Washoe was originally supported by grants MH-12154 from the National Institute of Mental Health and GB-7432 from the National Science Foundation. We gratefully acknowledge this support and the support that later sign language studies of chimpanzees have received since then from NIH, NSF, the National Geographic Society, the Grant Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the University of Nevada, and the UNR Foundation.     

Identification of vocalizers by pant hoots,pant grunts and screams in a chimpanzee

Identification of vocalizers was examined using an auditory-visual matching-to-sample task with a female chimpanzee. She succeeded in selecting the picture of the vocalizer in response to various types of vocalizations: pant hoots, pant grunts, and screams. When pant hoots by two chimpanzees were presented as a "duet", she could identify both of the vocalizers. These results suggest that researchers have underestimated the capability of vocalizer identification in chimpanzees. The chimpanzee correctly chose her own pictures in response to her vocalizations only by exclusion, and she did not show vocal self-recognition. The effect of acoustical modification (pitch shift and filtration) on the performance suggested that pitch is an important cue for the vocalizer identification.     

2型糖尿病模型小鼠造模时间的选择

目的:分析不同时期的2型糖尿病小鼠血生化指标及心肌和肾脏的病理变化情况,为选择2型糖尿病模型小鼠造模时间提供依据。方法:32只健康雄性ICR小鼠高脂饲料喂养6周后,腹腔注射链脲佐菌素(STZ,30mg/kg),连续5d,制备糖尿病模型。9d后测空腹血糖(FBG),高于11.1mmol/L视为糖尿病模型。分别于成模后第4、6、8周处死一组小鼠。另取8只雄性ICR小鼠作为对照组,常规饲料喂养,于糖尿病组小鼠成模后第8周处死。分析小鼠生化及病理情况:①心脏、肾脏脏器系数计算;②血清乳酸脱氢酶(LDH)、肌酸激酶(CK)、肌酐(Cr)和尿素氮(BUN)含量测定;③HE染色观察心肌和肾脏组织病变的整体情况;Masson染色观察心肌组织纤维化情况;PAS染色观察肾脏组织病理变化。结果:与对照组小鼠进行比较,第4、6、8周的糖尿病小鼠心脏器系数升高,血清LDH、CK升高,病理组织学见心肌细胞肥大,纤维化;肾脏脏器系数升高,肾功能肌酐(Cr)、尿素氮(BUN)显著升高,病理组织学见肾小球肥大,肾小管基底膜增厚,管腔萎缩。结论:第6周糖尿病小鼠相关生化病理指标改变相对明显且饲养时间相对较短,故2型糖尿病模型小鼠造模后第6周是进行药物干预和病理、生理、生化等研究的最佳时间。     

Simple Reaching Is Not So Simple: Association Between Hand Use and Grip Preferences in Captive Chimpanzees

We assessed the relationship between grip preference and hand use in chimpanzees in 2 experiments. In experiment 1, we evaluated consistency in hand use and grip preference across 4 food types. The chimpanzees showed population-level right-handedness and there are significant positive associations for both hand and grip use across food types. In experiment 2, we assessed validity of hand use in relation to grip preference in 2 colonies of chimpanzees via the same methodology. Differences in hand preferences between colonies were associated with variation in the observed grip preferences. There was no evidence of rearing effects on handedness in either colony. We discuss the overall results in the context of the evolution of handedness in relation to increasing motor demands as manifest in variation on grasping behavior.     

A preliminary list of chimpanzees' alimentation at Bossou,Guinea

A preliminary list of all the plant and animal foods for wild chimpanzees at Bossou, south-east of the Republic of Guinea, is presented for comparison with that of other study areas and as the basic data for the further studies. Altogether 205 food items (species × part eaten) from 156 species in 106 genera of plant food are recorded (Table 1). On the other hand little of animal food has been recorded (Table 2). Thus only one species of mammal (tree pangolin) and bird (wood owl) are represented in the diet along with only a few types of other animals. As calculated from number of food items fruits and seeds (nuts) occupy more than half of the diet; and leaves, shoots, and twigs (stems) constitute about one third.     

Visual and auditory conditional position discrimination in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Chimpanzee cognition has been studied predominantly through the visual modality, and much less through the auditory modality. The aim of this study was to explore possible differences in chimpanzees’ processing of visual and auditory stimuli. We developed a new conditional position discrimination (CPD) task requiring the association between a stimulus (from either the auditory or the visual modality), and a spatial position (left or right). The stimuli consisted of the face and voice of two individuals well known to the subjects (one chimpanzee and one human). Six chimpanzees participated in both the visual and the auditory conditions. We found contrasting results between the two conditions: the subjects acquired the CPD more easily in the visual than in the auditory condition. This supports previous findings on the difficulties encountered by chimpanzees in learning tasks involving auditory stimuli. Our experiments also revealed individual differences: the chimpanzee with the most extensive experience in symbolic visual matching tasks showed good performance in both conditions. In contrast, the chimpanzee expert in an auditory-visual intermodal matching task showed no sign of learning in either condition. Future work should focus on finding the most appropriate procedure for exploring chimpanzees’ auditory-visual cognitive skills.     

Cooperative hunting roles among taï chimpanzees

All known chimpanzee populations have been observed to hunt small mammals for meat. Detailed observations have shown, however, that hunting strategies differ considerably between populations, with some merely collecting prey that happens to pass by while others hunt in coordinated groups to chase fast-moving prey. Of all known populations, Taï chimpanzees exhibit the highest level of cooperation when hunting. Some of the group hunting roles require elaborate coordination with other hunters as well as precise anticipation of the movements of the prey. The meat-sharing rules observed in this community guarantee the largest share of the meat to hunters who perform the most important roles leading to a capture. The learning time of such hunting roles is sometimes especially long. Taï chimpanzee males begin hunting monkeys at about age 10. The hunters’ progress in learning the more sophisticated hunting roles is clearly correlated with age; only after 20 years of practice are they able to perform them reliably. This lengthy learning period has also been shown in some hunter-gatherer societies and confirms the special challenge that hunting represents.     

Skeletal evidence of probable treponemal infection in free-ranging African apes

The prevalence and patterning of inflammatory lesions of the skeleton were investigated in samples of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) and gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) curated at the Powell-Cotton Museum, Birchington, UK. One hundred and two chimpanzees (42 adults and 60 subadults) and 126 gorillas (50 adults and 76 subadults) comprise the samples. Twenty per cent of chimpanzees and 14% of gorillas were affected with a disseminated inflammatory skeletal condition caused by infection. The lesions appear to have originated as localized patches of new bone deposition on the surface of long bones and to have progressed to infection of the bone cortex and marrow. Although female prevalence of involvement exceeds that of males in both species, the differences are not statistically significant. The age distribution of affected animals indicates that the disease began in some animals as early as 2 yr of age. Given the skeletal and demographic prevalence and patterning of the lesions as well as the ecology and behavior of these animals, the most likely diagnosis of the condition is a yaws-like treponemal infection.     

肺炎支原体感染评价方法的比较研究

【目的】以小鼠为动物模型;分析肺炎支原体感染（Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection, MPI）的特性并对病变评价标准进行比较分析;为MPI统一评价方法的提出提供参考。【方法】利用BALB/c小鼠经滴鼻途径;两次感染5×10⁷ CCU的M. pneumoniae M129株;14 d后检测小鼠体重、肺脏大体病变、肺组织病理变化及其两种定量分析方法、肺组织病原载量、外周血T淋巴细胞亚群和血清中IL-6的表达水平等指标;分析M. pneumoniae感染特性并对病变评价标准进行比较分析。【结果】感染M129菌株14 d后;BALB/c小鼠血清中IL-6表达水平上升;肺脏出现明显的实变;肺组织切片可见大量中性粒细胞浸润;并可观察到肺泡间隔增厚。采用两种方法对肺脏病理切片的病变程度进行比较评分;发现美国胸科学会（American Thoracic Society, ATS）开发的肺损伤病理学评分系统相较于26分法能更为精细更加客观地反应肺部病变情况。感染导致小鼠炎症反应的发生并最终引起小鼠体重的显著降低。另一方面;肺部病原载量结果显示;M129株感染小鼠14 d后肺部病原载量极低;T细胞亚群流式检测分析显示;机体产生了偏向CD4⁺ T细胞的免疫;提示M. pneumoniae感染与机体免疫互相博弈;机体的免疫反应可能会逐渐清除肺部的病原。【结论】M. pneumoniae经鼻感染能导致BALB/c小鼠发生系统性炎症反应。对于肺组织病的评价;ATS肺损伤病理学评分系统相较于26分法更为精细客观;有利于不同研究之间的比较分析。     

圈养黑猩猩血液生理生化指标测定

<正>动物园作为综合保护、科普宣传与公众教育的重要场所,在濒危物种的迁地保护工作中发挥着十分重要的作用(Kleiman et al.,2010)。然而,不同的濒危物种在生理学及生活史方面存在很大差异;加之部分物种的生物学信息匮乏,使得动物园的饲养繁育和疾病防控工作面临重大挑战。在常规体检及疾病诊断时,血液参数值有助于对动物机体的临床检查与诊断,解读动物的生理、营养和病理状态(胡翊群,2004;Etim et al.,2014),是及时发现动物