Webster Timothy H, McGrew William C, Marchant Linda F, Payne Charlotte L R, Hunt Kevin D
Department of Anthropology, Miami University, 120 Upham Hall, 100 Bishop Circle, Oxford, OH 45056-1879, USA; Division of Biological Anthropology, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge CB2 IQH, UK; Department of Anthropology, Yale University, 10 Sachem Street, New Haven, CT 06511-3707, USA.
Division of Biological Anthropology, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge CB2 IQH, UK.
J Hum Evol. 2014 Jun;71:20-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.02.005. Epub 2014 Apr 30.
Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) insectivory across Africa is ubiquitous. Insects provide a significant nutritional payoff and may be important for chimpanzees in dry, open habitats with narrow diets. We tested this hypothesis at Semliki, Uganda, a long-term dry study site. We evaluated prospects for insectivory by measuring insect abundance along de novo transects and trails, monitoring social insect colonies, and surveying available raw materials for elementary technology. We determined the frequency and nature of insectivory through behavioral observation and fecal analysis. We then compared our results with those from 15 other long-term chimpanzee study sites using a cluster analysis. We found that Semliki chimpanzees are one of the most insectivorous populations studied to date in terms of frequency of consumption, but they are very selective in their insectivory, regularly consuming only weaver ants (Oecophylla longinoda) and honey and bees from hives of Apis mellifera. This selectivity obtains despite having a full range of typical prey species available in harvestable quantities. We suggest that Semliki chimpanzees may face ecological time constraints and therefore bias their predation toward prey taxa that can be quickly consumed. Geographical proximity correlated with the results of the cluster analysis, while rainfall, a relatively gross measure of environment, did not. Because broad taxonomic groups of insects were used in analyses, prey availability was unlikely to have a strong effect on this pattern. Instead, we suggest that transmission of cultural knowledge may play a role in determining chimpanzee prey selection across Africa. Further study is needed to test these hypotheses.
黑猩猩（Pan troglodytes）在非洲各地的食虫行为很普遍。昆虫能带来可观的营养回报，对于生活在食物种类有限的干燥开阔栖息地的黑猩猩来说可能很重要。我们在乌干达的塞姆利基进行了测试，这是一个长期的干旱研究地点。我们通过测量新设置的样带和小径上的昆虫数量、监测群居昆虫群落以及调查基本技术可用的原材料来评估食虫的前景。我们通过行为观察和粪便分析确定了食虫行为的频率和性质。然后，我们使用聚类分析将我们的结果与其他15个长期黑猩猩研究地点的结果进行了比较。我们发现，就食用频率而言，塞姆利基的黑猩猩是迄今为止研究的食虫性最强的种群之一，但它们在食虫方面非常有选择性，通常只食用织叶蚁（Oecophylla longinoda）以及来自意大利蜜蜂（Apis mellifera）蜂巢的蜂蜜和蜜蜂。尽管有各种数量可采集的典型猎物物种，但这种选择性仍然存在。我们认为，塞姆利基的黑猩猩可能面临生态时间限制，因此将捕食偏向于可以快速消耗的猎物分类群。地理距离与聚类分析结果相关，而降雨量作为一种相对粗略的环境指标则没有相关性。由于分析中使用的是宽泛的昆虫分类群，猎物的可获得性不太可能对这种模式产生强烈影响。相反，我们认为文化知识的传播可能在决定非洲各地黑猩猩的猎物选择中起作用。需要进一步研究来检验这些假设。
