Comparative Feeding Ecology of Two Communities of Chimpanzees (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Pan troglodytes</Emphasis>) in Kibale National Park,Uganda |
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Authors: | Email author" target="_blank">Kevin?B?PottsEmail author David?P?Watts Richard?W?Wrangham |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA;(2) Present address: Department of Biology, Augsburg College, Minneapolis, MN 55454, USA;(3) Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA |
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Abstract: | Several recent studies have documented considerable intraspecific and intrapopulation ecological variation in primates. However,
we generally lack an understanding of how such variability may be linked to concomitant demographic variation among groups
or populations of the same species, particularly in regard to large-bodied and wide-ranging species with high ecological flexibility,
such as chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). We compared the feeding ecology of chimpanzees inhabiting 2 sites in Kibale National Park, Uganda that differ 3-fold in
chimpanzee density and support notably different plant communities. Chimpanzees at Ngogo, a site with the largest known chimpanzee
community and unusually high chimpanzee density, spent a significantly lower percentage of time resting (and pregnant and
lactating females spent more time feeding), incorporated higher percentages of ripe fruit in their diet, had lower dietary
diversity values, and had shorter and less variable average patch residency times than did their counterparts at the nearby
Kanyawara site, which supports a relatively low density of chimpanzees. In addition, feeding party size was significantly
and positively related to feeding patch size at Ngogo, but not at Kanyawara. Together these findings aid in explaining the
noted disparity in chimpanzee community size and density between Ngogo and Kanyawara by suggesting that the diet of Ngogo
chimpanzees is of higher overall quality than that of Kanyawara chimpanzees. They also highlight the potentially profound
influence of even small-scale habitat heterogeneity on the ecology of primates. Researchers must take such influences into
account when attempting to draw conclusions about species- or population-level characteristics. |
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