Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: Behavioral Ecology of Chimpanzees Living in a Dry Area, Ugalla, Tanzania

University Of Southern California, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

This project focuses on the ecology and behavior of chimpanzees living in the Ugalla area of The Tongwe East Forest Reserve in Tanzania. Ugalla is one of the driest environments in which chimpanzees are known to exist and it shares similarities with many of the paleoenvironments reconstructed for early hominids. It has long been proposed that chimpanzees living in dry areas are an important source of data for modeling the behavior and ecology of early hominids, but very little research has been conducted on such populations. This study attempts to discern the factors that influence where the chimpanzees nest and how they use their habitat. Since the chimpanzees at Ugalla are not habituated to human observers and are not provided with food, the study methods require no direct observation of these apes. Maps of chimpanzee nests as well as other signs of their presence (feeding remains, feces) will be constructed, and the distribution of the resources they use (food, water, available trees for nesting) will be studied. Data on the amount and seasonal distribution of the fruit available to the chimpanzees will be obtained by monitoring individual trees of species known to be eaten or possibly eaten by the chimpanzees. In addition, data on the chimpanzees' diet will be obtained by analyzing feces and the contents of carbon and nitrogen present in hair collected from nests. The data obtained from this study will be compared with that for other chimpanzee populations as well as for other great apes. It will also be important to compare these results against the archaeological evidence for early hominid habitat use.