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PeerJ 2022The use of camera traps (CTs) has become an increasingly popular method of studying wildlife, as CTs are able to detect rare, nocturnal, and elusive species in remote...
The use of camera traps (CTs) has become an increasingly popular method of studying wildlife, as CTs are able to detect rare, nocturnal, and elusive species in remote and difficult-to-access areas. It thus makes them suited to estimate animal density and abundance, identify activity patterns and new behaviours of animals. However, animals can react when they see the CTs and this can lead to bias in the animal population estimates. While CTs may provide many advantages, an improved understanding of their impacts on individual's behaviour is necessary to avoid erroneous density estimates. Yet, the impact of CTs on detected individuals, such as human odour near the device and the environment, or the infrared illumination, has received relatively little attention. To date, there is no clear procedure to remove this potential bias. Here, we use camera trap distance sampling (CTDS) to (1) quantify the bias resulting from the different animal responses to the CTs when determining animal density and abundance, and (2) test if olfactory, visual and auditory signals have an influence on the animals' reaction to CTs. Between March 2019 and March 2020, we deployed CTs at 267 locations distributed systematically over the entire Taï National Park. We obtained 58,947 videos from which we analysed four medium- to-large-bodied species (Maxwell's duiker (), Jentink's duiker (), pygmy hippopotamus () and Western chimpanzee ()) displaying different behaviours towards the CTs. We then established species-specific ethograms describing the behavioural responses to the CTs. Using these species-specific responses, we observed that the Maxwell's duiker reacted weakly to CTs (about 0.11% of the distance data), contrary to Jentink's duiker, pygmy hippopotamus and Western chimpanzee which reacted with relatively high frequencies, representing 32.82%, 52.96% and 16.14% of the distance data, respectively. Not taking into account the species-specific responses to the CTs can lead to an artificial doubling or tripling of the populations' sizes. All species reacted more to the CTs at close distances. Besides, the Jentink's duiker and the pygmy hippopotamus reacted significantly more to the CTs at night than during the day. Finally, as for olfactory signals, the probability of reaction to the CTs during the first days after CTs installation was weak in Maxwell's duiker, but concerned 18% of the video captures in Western chimpanzees which decreasing with time, but they remained high in pygmy hippopotamus and Jentink's duiker (65% and 70% of the video captures respectively). Careful consideration should be given to animal's response to CTs during the analysis and in the field, by reducing human's impact around the CTs installation.
Topics: Humans; Animals; Pan troglodytes; Cote d'Ivoire; Parks, Recreational; Population Density; Antelopes
PubMed: 35651744
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.13510 -
Scientific Data Oct 2017Researchers increasingly view animal personality traits as products of natural selection. We present data that describe the personalities of 128 eastern chimpanzees (Pan...
Researchers increasingly view animal personality traits as products of natural selection. We present data that describe the personalities of 128 eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) currently living in or who lived their lives in the Kasekela and Mitumba communities of Gombe National Park, Tanzania. We obtained ratings on 24 items from an established, reliable, well-validated questionnaire used to study personality in captive chimpanzee populations. Ratings were made by former and present Tanzanian field assistants who followed individual chimpanzees for years and collected detailed behavioral observations. Interrater reliabilities across items ranged from acceptable to good, but the personality dimensions they formed were not as interpretable as those from captive samples. However, the personality dimensions corresponded to ratings of 24 Kasekela chimpanzees on a different questionnaire in 1973 that assessed some similar traits. These correlations established the repeatability and construct validity of the present ratings, indicating that the present data can facilitate historical and prospective studies that will lead to better understanding of the evolution of personality in chimpanzees and other primates.
Topics: Animals; Female; Male; Pan troglodytes; Parks, Recreational; Personality; Tanzania
PubMed: 29064463
DOI: 10.1038/sdata.2017.146 -
Science Advances Jan 2016Animal sociality facilitates the transmission of pathogenic microorganisms among hosts, but the extent to which sociality enables animals' beneficial microbial...
Animal sociality facilitates the transmission of pathogenic microorganisms among hosts, but the extent to which sociality enables animals' beneficial microbial associations is poorly understood. The question is critical because microbial communities, particularly those in the gut, are key regulators of host health. We show evidence that chimpanzee social interactions propagate microbial diversity in the gut microbiome both within and between host generations. Frequent social interaction promotes species richness within individual microbiomes as well as homogeneity among the gut community memberships of different chimpanzees. Sampling successive generations across multiple chimpanzee families suggests that infants inherited gut microorganisms primarily through social transmission. These results indicate that social behavior generates a pan-microbiome, preserving microbial diversity across evolutionary time scales and contributing to the evolution of host species-specific gut microbial communities.
Topics: Animals; Gastrointestinal Tract; Genetic Variation; Host Specificity; Microbiota; Pan troglodytes; Social Behavior; Species Specificity
PubMed: 26824072
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1500997 -
Proceedings of the National Academy of... May 2007The natural communication of apes may hold clues about language origins, especially because apes frequently gesture with limbs and hands, a mode of communication thought...
The natural communication of apes may hold clues about language origins, especially because apes frequently gesture with limbs and hands, a mode of communication thought to have been the starting point of human language evolution. The present study aimed to contrast brachiomanual gestures with orofacial movements and vocalizations in the natural communication of our closest primate relatives, bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). We tested whether gesture is the more flexible form of communication by measuring the strength of association between signals and specific behavioral contexts, comparing groups of both the same and different ape species. Subjects were two captive bonobo groups, a total of 13 individuals, and two captive chimpanzee groups, a total of 34 individuals. The study distinguished 31 manual gestures and 18 facial/vocal signals. It was found that homologous facial/vocal displays were used very similarly by both ape species, yet the same did not apply to gestures. Both within and between species gesture usage varied enormously. Moreover, bonobos showed greater flexibility in this regard than chimpanzees and were also the only species in which multimodal communication (i.e., combinations of gestures and facial/vocal signals) added to behavioral impact on the recipient.
Topics: Animal Communication; Animals; Biological Evolution; Gestures; Language; Pan paniscus; Pan troglodytes; Vocalization, Animal
PubMed: 17470779
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0702624104 -
Current Biology : CB Nov 2005Although unique in important ways, language shares some properties with other animal communication systems. Comparative analyses of nonhuman primate vocalizations can... (Review)
Review
Although unique in important ways, language shares some properties with other animal communication systems. Comparative analyses of nonhuman primate vocalizations can shed light on the evolution of language's special features.
Topics: Animals; Biological Evolution; Cognition; Language; Pan troglodytes; Semantics; Species Specificity; Vocalization, Animal
PubMed: 16271863
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2005.10.020 -
Animal Cognition Jan 2013Recent research suggests that gorillas' and orangutans' object representations survive cohesion violations (e.g., a split of a solid object into two halves), but that...
Recent research suggests that gorillas' and orangutans' object representations survive cohesion violations (e.g., a split of a solid object into two halves), but that their processing of quantities may be affected by them. We assessed chimpanzees' (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos' (Pan paniscus) reactions to various fission events in the same series of action tasks modelled after infant studies previously run on gorillas and orangutans (Cacchione and Call in Cognition 116:193-203, 2010b). Results showed that all four non-human great ape species managed to quantify split objects but that their performance varied as a function of the non-cohesiveness produced in the splitting event. Spatial ambiguity and shape invariance had the greatest impact on apes' ability to represent and quantify objects. Further, we observed species differences with gorillas performing lower than other species. Finally, we detected a substantial age effect, with ape infants below 6 years of age being outperformed by both juvenile/adolescent and adult apes.
Topics: Age Factors; Animals; Animals, Newborn; Cognition; Female; Form Perception; Male; Pan troglodytes; Problem Solving
PubMed: 22875724
DOI: 10.1007/s10071-012-0545-3 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Oct 2010A chronology of dental development in Pan troglodytes is arguably the best available model with which to compare and contrast reconstructed dental chronologies of the... (Review)
Review
A chronology of dental development in Pan troglodytes is arguably the best available model with which to compare and contrast reconstructed dental chronologies of the earliest fossil hominins. Establishing a time scale for growth is a requirement for being able to make further comparative observations about timing and rate during both dento-skeletal growth and brain growth. The absolute timing of anterior tooth crown and root formation appears not to reflect the period of somatic growth. In contrast, the molar dentition best reflects changes to the total growth period. Earlier initiation of molar mineralization, shorter crown formation times, less root length formed at gingival emergence into functional occlusion are cumulatively expressed as earlier ages at molar eruption. Things that are similar in modern humans and Pan, such as the total length of time taken to form individual teeth, raise expectations that these would also have been the same in fossil hominins. The best evidence there is from the youngest fossil hominin specimens suggests a close resemblance to the model for Pan but also hints that Gorilla may be a better developmental model for some. A mosaic of great ape-like features currently best describes the timing of early hominin dental development.
Topics: Age Determination by Teeth; Animals; Hominidae; Humans; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; Molar; Odontogenesis; Pan troglodytes
PubMed: 20855313
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2010.0052 -
Social Cognitive and Affective... Jan 2017The ability to recognize one's own reflection is shared by humans and only a few other species, including chimpanzees. However, this ability is highly variable across...
The ability to recognize one's own reflection is shared by humans and only a few other species, including chimpanzees. However, this ability is highly variable across individual chimpanzees. In humans, self-recognition involves a distributed, right-lateralized network including frontal and parietal regions involved in the production and perception of action. The superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) is a system of white matter tracts linking these frontal and parietal regions. The current study measured mirror self-recognition (MSR) and SLF anatomy in 60 chimpanzees using diffusion tensor imaging. Successful self-recognition was associated with greater rightward asymmetry in the white matter of SLFII and SLFIII, and in SLFIII's gray matter terminations in Broca's area. We observed a visible progression of SLFIII's prefrontal extension in apes that show negative, ambiguous, and compelling evidence of MSR. Notably, SLFIII's terminations in Broca's area are not right-lateralized or particularly pronounced at the population level in chimpanzees, as they are in humans. Thus, chimpanzees with more human-like behavior show more human-like SLFIII connectivity. These results suggest that self-recognition may have co-emerged with adaptations to frontoparietal circuitry.
Topics: Animals; Brain; Diffusion Tensor Imaging; Female; Functional Neuroimaging; Gray Matter; Male; Nerve Net; Pan troglodytes; Recognition, Psychology; Self Concept; White Matter
PubMed: 27803287
DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsw159 -
Behavior Genetics Mar 2017Polymorphisms of the arginine vasopressin receptor 1a (AVPR1a) gene have been linked to various measures related to human social behavior, including sibling conflict and...
Polymorphisms of the arginine vasopressin receptor 1a (AVPR1a) gene have been linked to various measures related to human social behavior, including sibling conflict and agreeableness. In chimpanzees, AVPR1a polymorphisms have been associated with traits important for social interactions, including sociability, joint attention, dominance, conscientiousness, and hierarchical personality dimensions named low alpha/stability, disinhibition, and negative emotionality/low dominance. We examined associations between AVPR1a and six personality domains and hierarchical personality dimensions in 129 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) living in Japan or in a sanctuary in Guinea. We fit three linear and three animal models. The first model included genotype, the second included sex and genotype, and the third included genotype, sex, and sex × genotype. All personality phenotypes were heritable. Chimpanzees possessing the long form of the allele were higher in conscientiousness, but only in models that did not include the other predictors; however, additional analyses suggested that this may have been a consequence of study design. In animal models that included sex and sex × genotype, chimpanzees homozygous for the short form of the allele were higher in extraversion. Taken with the findings of previous studies of chimpanzees and humans, the findings related to conscientiousness suggest that AVPR1a may be related to lower levels of impulsive aggression. The direction of the association between AVPR1a genotype and extraversion ran counter to what one would expect if AVPR1a was related to social behaviors. These results help us further understand the genetic basis of personality in chimpanzees.
Topics: Aggression; Alleles; Animals; Arginine; Behavior, Animal; Genotype; Models, Animal; Pan troglodytes; Personality; Phenotype; Polymorphism, Genetic; Receptors, Vasopressin; Social Behavior
PubMed: 27804047
DOI: 10.1007/s10519-016-9822-2 -
Human Nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.) Dec 2023Honest signalling theory suggests that humans and chimpanzees can extract socially relevant information relating to personality from the faces of their conspecifics....
Honest signalling theory suggests that humans and chimpanzees can extract socially relevant information relating to personality from the faces of their conspecifics. Humans are also able to extract information from chimpanzees' faces. Here, we examine whether personality characteristics of chimpanzees, including measures of psychopathy, can be discerned based purely on facial morphology in photographs. Twenty-one chimpanzees were given naïve and expert personality ratings on the Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) and the Chimpanzee Triarchic Model of Psychopathy (CHMP-Tri) before and following behavioural observations. Characteristics relating to openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and disinhibition could be distinguished from the faces of chimpanzees. Individuals higher on disinhibition have lower scores on conscientiousness and emotional stability and higher scores on extraversion, while those higher on meanness have lower conscientiousness and agreeableness. Facial expressions are linked to personality traits present in the TIPI and CHMP-Tri models: the Relaxed Face and the Grooming Face were displayed more by chimpanzees higher on agreeableness, whereas the Compressed Lips Face was observed more in those individuals higher on boldness, and the Full Open Grin was displayed more by chimpanzees higher on extraversion but lower on emotional stability and conscientiousness. Facial expressions were also found to be associated with particular behavioural contexts, namely the Grooming Face in affiliative contexts and the Relaxed and Relaxed Open Mouth Faces in neutral contexts. Dominant chimpanzees display higher levels of boldness and more Compressed Lips Faces, Relaxed Open Mouth Faces, and Grooming Faces than subordinate individuals. These findings support and extend evidence for an honest signalling system and a personality structure shared between humans and chimpanzees. Future research could further explore how personality is conveyed through the face, perhaps through more than just singular aspects of character, and maybe reflecting what chimpanzees themselves are able to do.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Pan troglodytes; Facial Expression; Personality; Personality Inventory
PubMed: 37934332
DOI: 10.1007/s12110-023-09462-2