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.     

Hand preference and tool use in wild chimpanzees

The hand preference of chimpanzees in their natural habitat was studied at Bossou, Republic of Guinea, West Africa. The quantitative difference in left/right hand use was small in food picking and carrying. In contrast, the chimpanzees employed either the right or left hand in nutcracking behavior using a pair of stones. All adults and many adolescents and juveniles utilized one hand exclusively for holding a hammer stone. Left hand preference was more prevalent among adults. However, when adolescents and juveniles were included, there was no significant bias in the ratio of left/right handers. Nut-cracking behavior requires long-term learning of the fine manipulation of stones and nuts by both hands. Each hand has a separate role, and the hands work together in nut cracking. The differential and complementary use of both hands may be a prime factor promoting exclusive hand preference in chimpanzees comparable to that of humans.     

Drinking tools of wild chimpanzees at Bossou

Use of drinking tools by wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and the context in which the tools were used were studied at Bossou, Republic of Guinea, West Africa. During the middle to late dry season and early wet season liquids are available occasionally in the holes of trees. Chimpanzees drank water or sap using a leaf (or fiber) as a sponge or spoon. When the chimpanzees were on the ground, they tended to use one of a few kinds of soft, hairless leaves, if they were available nearby. Females, particularly juveniles and adolescents, were thought to be the main users of the drinking tool. In a few episodes, a tool set was used to procure liquid. Once a chimpanzee used a stick to push a leaf sponge into a water hole and to pull it out from the hole. In addition, three chimpanzees used a pestle to squeeze sap from an oil-palm tree before using a fiber sponge. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Mitochondrial DNA genealogy of chimpanzees in the Nimba mountains and Bossou, West Africa

The chimpanzee populations of the Bossou and Nimba regions in West Africa were genetically surveyed to 1) reveal the genetic relationship between the Bossou and Nimba populations, and 2) elucidate the evolutionary relationship between the Bossou-Nimba and other West African populations. The chimpanzee group at Bossou is characterized by its small population size, no evidence of contact with neighboring populations, and no female immigration. It is believed that most females and adolescent males emigrate from this population. To reveal the genetic signature of these characteristics, we examined the genetic diversity of Bossou and two neighboring populations (Seringbara and Yealé) in the Nimba Mountains by sequencing approximately 605 bp of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region. A total of 20 distinct mtDNA variants were observed from 56 sequences of noninvasively collected, anonymous samples. Nucleotide diversity in the Nimba Mountain populations was 0.03-0.04, and did not differ significantly from that in the Bossou population. Very few mitochondrial variants are shared among the sites sampled, which suggests that there is little gene flow involving mtDNA. Nevertheless, no clear population structures were revealed in either population. A comparison with published sequences from West African chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) indicates that the variants observed in the Bossou and Nimba regions are scattered throughout the subspecies, rather than clustered according to geographic region. This suggests that the Bossou-Nimba populations derived only recently from the common ancestral population of the West African chimpanzees, and did not pass through a bottleneck.     

Ant-dipping among the chimpanzees of Bossou,Guinea, and some comparisons with other sites

We present a detailed study of ant‐dipping among the wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) of Bossou, in southeastern Guinea, West Africa. Observations suggest a strong influence of prey (Dorylusspp.) characteristics, including aggressiveness and/or gregariousness, on tool length and technique employed by the chimpanzees. Bossou chimpanzees exhibit two ant‐dipping techniques: 1) direct mouthing, and 2) pull‐through. In addition, they were observed dipping for several species of Dorylus ants, classed into two categories: Red and Black. Tool length was longer when dipping in higher‐risk contexts, i.e., at the ants' nest site or on Black ants. The pull‐through technique was almost exclusively associated with dipping at the nest site. This latter technique was associated with tools over 50cm long, whereas direct mouthing was the only technique observed with tools <50cm long. Our experimental findings, together with our observations on the behavior of the chimpanzees, suggest that at the nest, the pull‐through technique was a more efficient technique than direct mouthing. We review our results in the context of ant‐dipping observed at two other long‐term chimpanzee study sites, i.e., Gombe (Tanzania) and Taï (Côte d'Ivoire), where differences in tool length, technique used, and focal Dorylus ant species have been reported. Finally, we urge similar detailed studies of this tool‐use behavior in both Gombe and Taï to shed further light upon our results and their implications. Am. J. Primatol. 58:133–148, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Captive breeding, paternity determination, and genetic variation in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in the Australasian region

DNA “fingerprinting” using polymorphic (CA)-repeat microsatellite markers was used to quantify the level of genetic variation present in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in the Australasian region. These markers were also used to determine the paternity of chimpanzees born at Taronga Zoo over a 20-year period. The results suggested that the dominant male in the colony was responsible for siring most, but not all, of the offspring. Where the dominant male was excluded from paternity, the sire was identifiable if all candidate males were available for typing. This enabled us to prove the captive origin of offspring born in the colony during this period. Thus, microsatellite analysis was a useful tool for assignment of familial relationships and improving genetic management of breeding colonies.     

Demographic parameters and life history of chimpanzees at Bossou, Guinea

Demographic parameters of wild chimpanzees at Bossou, Guinea, are presented and compared with those of other populations. The population size of Bossou chimpanzees has been stable over the last 26 years, except during two incidents of partial deforestation. The annual birth rate for a female (mean = 0.194, but 0.165 when the infant survived more than 4 years) and interbirth interval are not much different from those of other study sites. The primiparous age of Bossou chimpanzees, however, is far younger (mean = 10.9 years) than for all other known wild chimpanzee populations. The infant and juvenile survival rate is also the highest (female = 0.64, male = 0.52 for the first 8 years). As a result, the lifetime reproductive success of Bossou chimpanzees is estimated to be highest among long-term study sites. The rate of disappearance from Bossou dramatically increases during the adolescent stage, and most young chimpanzees disappear before or around maturation. Probably because the environmental capacity for chimpanzees at Bossou is at its limit, many young independent males, as well as females, have to disperse, though others may die. For chimpanzee alpha males of other populations, mature males may be needed as collaborators to defend resources. In the case of Bossou, however, a lack of adjacent groups, conspecific competitors, predators, and perhaps medium-sized mammals as prey for group hunting may eliminate this need of the alpha male for other males. The reasons why all males of other chimpanzee populations persist in being philopatric for life and maintain kin-related male bonds differing from most mammal species, including humans, are discussed.     

Tool-use for catching ants by chimpanzees at Bossou and Monts Nimba,West Africa

The use of tools by wild chimpanzees to catch ants was studied at Bossou and Monts Nimba, south-eastern Guinée. Insect-eating by chimpanzees at Bossou appears to be opportunistic and ant-catching was seen only in certain years. The most common prey species wasDorylus (Dorylus) molestus Gerstaecker. Sixty wands for catching ants were found at Bossou. Half of them were made from Zingiberaceae or Marantaceae, the stems and long petioles of which are usually straight, and have few branches. The length of the wand was variable. The mean length of ant-catching wands (46.7 cm) was between those found at Gombe and Tai. Ants' nests were usually dug up by hand, but on one occasion a digging stick was used. Four chimpanzees who used only one hand to manipulate the wand had also been observed using a stone hammer for nut-cracking. All of them used the same hand in wand-manipulation as in nut-cracking. As reported for chimpanzees at Gombe, Mahale, and Tai, more females than males tended to catch ants with wands though the sex difference was not demonstrated statistically. Ants which climbed up the wand were directly squeezed off using the lower-lip and eaten. This is the same method as seen at Tai, but different from most episodes observed at Gombe. Juveniles and infants also caught ants using wands, however, they seemed to do this more out of curiosity than as a means of feeding. At Goera, over 15 km from Bossou and separated from it by Monts Nimba, the same characteristics of ant-catching techniques were evident from traces.     

微卫星标记对牙鲆有丝分裂雌核发育家系的亲子鉴定

利用18个微卫星标记,对6个家系的26尾有丝分裂雌核发育牙鲆进行亲子鉴定,PCR扩增产物经8%非变性聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳检测,结果表明:1个座位在母本中表现为相同的基因型,视为单态座位,其他17个座位为多态;多态座位在亲子鉴定中的累计排除概率和累计个体识别概率分别为0.9985、0.9999;根据被测个体在17个微卫星座位的基因型,最后确认26尾子代的母本,其中7尾子代在某些座位表现出与其母本不完全匹配的基因型。利用微卫星标记可确定雌核发育后代的亲子关系,从而构建牙鲆雌核发育家系系谱,对牙鲆雌核发育的深入研究具有重要意义。     

Paternity determination in captive lowland gorillas and orangutans and wild mountain gorillas by microsatellite analysis

Paternity exclusion studies provide useful information for testing certain theories of behavioral ecology and for the management and conservation of both wild and captive populations of endangered species. This study used eight human nuclear microsatellite loci, in the absence of species-specific PCR primers, to genetically identify the sires of 12 captive lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and 2 captive orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus andPongo p. abelii). Parentage assignments were confirmed by excluding all except a single potential sire for each offspring with the least two loci. Sire-offspring relationships were verified in 12 of the 14 cases, and reassigned in the case of two gorilla offspring. The orangutan paternity typing was supplemented by DNA fingerprinting. Additionally, five of the eight microsatellite loci, in conjunction with behavioral data, were used for a non-exhaustive set of paternity exclusions for five wild mountain gorillas (Gorilla g. beringei). The eight loci described in this study should be useful additions to the tools available for the study of genetics in the great apes.     

Age-specific birth rate and lifetime reproductive success of chimpanzees at Bossou,Guinea

Preliminary calculations of the age-specific birth rate for wild female chimpanzees were based on demographic records from a long-term study at Bossou, Republic of Guinea. Primiparous age was 12-14 years. Birth rate for a female reached a peak of 0.333 a year at 20-23 years, and then decreased until menopause at more than 40 years of age. Mean birth rate for a female of more than 12 years was 0.197 a year. Mean interbirth interval was 4.6 years overall, but 5.1 years, if all cases in which the previous infant had died within its first three years were excluded. Infant survival rate for the first four years was 0.727 and that of juveniles (four to seven years) was 0.714; however, that of adolescents (eight to 11 years) was only 0.222. Some adolescents who disappeared from Bossou are thought to have migrated to adjacent habitats. From age-specific birth rate and survival rate, the lifetime reproductive success was calculated as only 0.74 offspring per female. This rose to 2.39 when adolescent survival rate was assumed to be the same as that of juveniles. This must be less than the minimum reproductive success required for continued survival of the population. The recent and continuing degradation of the environment will lead to the extermination of this species from the area in the near future. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Power and limits of DNA-profiling in primate populations: Paternity assessment in rhesus macaques from Cayo Santiago

Paternity testing was performed in one social group (S) of rhesus macaques from Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico. In 11/15 cases, sires could be identified comparing the multilocus DNA profiles of 19 males to those of the corresponding mother/child dyads. All 19 males could be excluded from paternity in the remaining four cases. Decision making was partly based on likelihoods of DNA profiles, and the theoretical model underlying these calculation is described. In a second social group (M), held in captivity, paternity testing was impeded by a deficit of maternal bands and by an increased extent of band sharing of mothers and their infants. Some possible explanations for these findings, including increased homozygosity in group M, are discussed.     

Invention and modification of a new tool use behavior: ant-fishing in trees by a wild chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) at Bossou, Guinea

Wild chimpanzees are known to have a different repertoire of tool use unique to each community. For example, "ant-dipping" is a tool use behavior known in several chimpanzee communities across Africa targeted at driver ants (Dorylus spp.) on the ground, whereas "ant-fishing," which is aimed at carpenter ants (Camponotus spp.) in trees, has primarily been observed among the chimpanzees of Mahale in Tanzania. Although the evidence for differences between field sites is accumulating, we have little knowledge on how these tool use behaviors appear at each site and on how these are modified over time. This study reports two"ant-fishing" sessions which occurred 2 years apart by a young male chimpanzee at Bossou, Guinea. Ant-fishing had never been observed before in this community over the past 27 years. During the first session, at the age of 5, he employed wands of similar length when ant-fishing in trees to those used for ant-dipping on the ground, which is a customary tool use behavior of this community. Two years later, at the age of 7, his tools for ant-fishing were shorter and more suitable for capturing carpenter ants. This observation is a rare example of innovation in the wild and does provide insights into problem-solving and learning processes in chimpanzees.     

东北虎微卫星DNA遗传标记的筛选及在亲子鉴定中的应用

利用18个家猫微卫星基因座，在东北虎(Panthera tigris sibilia)DNA中扩增结果有4个基因座没有产物，8个基因座为单态，6个基因座为多态性。同时利用苏门答腊虎的微卫星序列设计了8对引物，在东北虎DNA中有4对具有多态性。微卫星基因座的多态性百分率为38．5％。在供试的27只东北虎中，发现等位基因间的变异均为偶数碱基长度变化，对有准确谱系记录的个体研究表明，这10个微卫星DNA遗传标记符合孟德尔遗传规律，所以这些微卫星DNA可以有效的应用于东北虎的亲子鉴定。利用这10对多态性引物，我们成功地鉴定了7个父子关系不清的后代。收集的样品包括23只毛发样品和4只血液样品，实验结果表明，毛发和血液样品均可以得到清晰的微卫星条带[动物学报49(1)：118—123．2003]。     

A thermodynamic comparison of arboreal and terrestrial sleeping sites for dry-habitat chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) at the Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve, Uganda

The nightly construction of an arboreal sleeping platform (SP) has been observed among every chimpanzee's population studied to date. Here, we report on bioclimatic aspects of SP site choice among dry-habitat chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) at the Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve, Uganda. We placed a portable weather monitor within 1 m of chimpanzee SPs and compared the microenvironment of this site with terrestrial monitors placed 10 cm above the ground directly underneath the simultaneously studied SP. We calculated physical "comfort levels" of monitored sites using the RayMan thermophysiological model that we modified to take ape body proportions into account. The RayMan tool gauges energy balance using wind speed, temperature, relative humidity, and heat index in conjunction with the study subject's mass and stature to determine whether the individual is in energy balance or homeostasis. We found that (1) terrestrial microclimates have greater homeostatic potential than arboreal microclimates, and (2) there is a significant positive linear relationship between wind speed and height of SP in the forest canopy. Advantages of terrestrial sites are that they require lesser energetic expenditure to stabilize the body when the SP is under construction and perhaps during use as well. We found that terrestrial sites also had better homeostatic potentials. This combination of advantages explains why SPs are so often sited terrestrially in habitats where predation risk is low. Early hominins must have had technological or social measures to avoid or deter predators that were significantly advanced over those found among chimpanzees before they began sleeping on the ground.     

Sex differences in the relative lengths of metacarpals and metatarsals in gorillas and chimpanzees

Sex differences other than the simple dimorphism in size were documented for the metapodials of two primate species. Lengths of metacarpals and metatarsals were obtained from the skeletons of 64 gorillas and 42 chimpanzees. Length ratios were constructed for all possible pairings of the five bones in each individual hand and foot. For both species, several of these length ratios exhibited substantial differences between the sexes. Body size was not the basis for these sex differences; when specimens of similar size were compared, the sex differences remained. In humans, length ratios for the fingers and toes also have previously been demonstrated to exhibit sex differences, and the length ratio for the index and ring fingers (the 2D:4D ratio) has been shown to correlate with various medical conditions. Various facts suggest that length ratios in human digits are associated with androgen exposure, probably during prenatal development. For gorillas, the metacarpal length ratio showing the largest sex difference was 4Mc:5Mc in both hands, and the metatarsal length ratio showing the largest sex difference was 1Mt:2Mt in the left foot. Sex differences in length ratios also existed for chimpanzees, but they were generally smaller than for gorillas. Apparently, both gorillas and chimpanzees are affected by developmental mechanisms, possibly androgenic mechanisms, similar to those in humans. Analyses of previous measurements [Susman, R.L., 1979 Comparative and functional morphology of hominoid fingers. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 50, 215-236] revealed that all components of the rays are not affected equally by whatever mechanisms are responsible for the sex differences in length ratios.     

多位点序列分型分析空肠弯曲菌华东动物源分离株

【目的】研究空肠弯曲菌菌株间的分子特征,对不同宿主来源的空肠弯曲菌进行分子分型研究。【方法】选择空肠弯曲菌的7个看家基因gltA、aspA、glnA、glyA、pgm、tkt和uncA作为目的基因,对2006-2008年间华东地区分离的42株空肠弯曲菌样本进行PCR扩增后测序。将测序结果软件分析并上传到数据库进行比对,将结果制作多位点序列分型(multilocus sequence typing,MLST)遗传进化树并进行分析。【结果】与数据库已有类型比对,发现了24个新的ST型,通过进化树得到其遗传关系。【结论】MLST方法对于研究空肠弯曲菌的菌株群体基因差异与进化趋势具有重要意义。     

利用基因芯片技术区分禽流感病毒主要亚型

[目的]研制可同时区分AIV的H5、H7、H9血凝素亚型及N1、N2神经氨酸酶亚型的基因诊断芯片.[方法]分别克隆了禽流感病毒的M基因,H5、H7、H9亚型HA基因,N1、N2亚型NA基因以及看家基因GAPDH的重组质粒.以重组质粒为模板,用PCR方法扩增制备探针,纯化后点于氨基修饰的片基上,制备基因芯片.在PCR过程中对待检样品进行标记,然后与芯片杂交,洗涤,扫描并进行结果分析.[结果]结果显示检测探针可特异性的与相应的标记样品进行杂交,呈现较强的杂交信号,且无交叉杂交.同时用RT-PCR、鸡胚接种和基因芯片方法对H1-H15亚型AIV参考毒株、30份人工感染样品、21份现地疑似样品进行检测,结果发现,对人工感染样品芯片检测方法与鸡胚接种和RT-PCR的符合率分别为100%和96%,现地样品符合率为100%.[结论]研究表明该方法可用于同步鉴别部分主要流行的禽流感亚型,是一种有效的新方法.     

利用RAPD对稻蝗属昆虫亲缘关系的研究

通过20个随机引物的PCR扩增,得到了日本主要稻蝗的随机扩增多态性DNA（RAPD）图谱,根据扩增结果,计算了种间相似系数和遗传距离,建立了UPGMA系统树。结果表明,分布没有重叠、种间容易交配、能产生杂种的中华稻蝗台湾亚种与小翅稻蝗的亲缘关系最近;分布重叠的日本稻蝗与中华稻蝗台湾亚种、日本稻蝗和小翅稻蝗的亲缘关系较近。小稻蝗与其它3种稻蝗的亲缘关系较远。