Behavioral seasonality in Mahale chimpanzees |
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Authors: | Matsumoto-Oda Akiko |
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Institution: | (1) Human Evolution Studies, Department of Zoology, Division of Biological Sciences, Kyoto University, Sakyo, 606-8502 Kyoto, Japan;(2) Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University, 131 George Street, 08901-1414 New Brunswick, New Jersey, U. S. A. |
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Abstract: | To analyze how the chimpanzees in the Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania, change their grouping pattern, activity budget,
travel speed, and travel distance within an annual cycle, I divided 1-year data into four periods. The Mahale chimpanzees
have the behavioral flexibility to adapt to various climates and exhibited at least three behavioral seasons. In the early
wet season, chimpanzees formed a few, large parties, and spent much time feeding on insects and animal meat. In the early
and late dry seasons, chimpanzees maintained party sizes as large as in the early wet season, and traveled distances similar
to the early wet season, but spent the most time feeding and traveling within the year. By contrast, in the late wet season
chimpanzee parties broke up into more numerous, small groups, and traveled slowly over shorter distances. Although time spent
feeding and traveling were the same as that in the early wet season, time spent feeding on terrestrial herbaceous vegetation
(THV) was the highest in the year. The results suggest that chimpanzees travel longer, faster, and farther in seasons when
they form large parties. |
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Keywords: | Behavioral flexibility Party size Activity budget Chimpanzees |
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