<News> Bush Fire Control Using Arbors in Green Corridor Project at Bossou

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To drum or not to drum: Selectivity in tree buttress drumming by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in the Nimba Mountains, Guinea

Chimpanzees live in fission-fusion social organizations, which means that party size, composition, and spatial distribution are constantly in flux. Moreover, chimpanzees use a remarkably extensive repertoire of vocal and nonvocal forms of communication, thought to help convey information in such a socially and spatially dynamic setting. One proposed form of nonvocal communication in chimpanzees is buttress drumming, in which an individual hits a tree buttress with its hands and/or feet, thereby producing a low-frequency acoustic signal. It is often presumed that this behavior functions to communicate over long distances and is, therefore, goal-oriented. If so, we would expect chimpanzees to exhibit selectivity in the choice of trees and buttresses used in buttress drumming. Selectivity is a key attribute of many other goal-directed chimpanzee behaviors, such as nut-cracking and ant dipping. Here, we investigate whether chimpanzees at the Seringbara study site in the Nimba Mountains, Guinea, West Africa, show selectivity in their buttress drumming behavior. Our results indicate that Seringbara chimpanzees are more likely to use larger trees and select buttresses that are thinner and have a greater surface area. These findings imply that tree buttress drumming is not a random act, but rather goal-oriented and requires knowledge of suitable trees and buttresses. Our results also point to long-distance communication as a probable function of buttress drumming based on selectivity for buttress characteristics likely to impact sound propagation. This study provides a foundation for further assessing the cognitive underpinnings and functions of buttress drumming in wild chimpanzees

Oil Palm Use Among the People and Wild Chimpanzes of Bossou, Guinea, West Africa

The oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) originated in West Africa and occurs widely across large expanses of landscape, as well as more widely across Central and Eastern Africa. In Guinea, West Africa, the oil palm can be found commonly across vast mosaics of fallow areas, cultivated fields, riverine areas, forest fragments and around human settlements. Where it occurs, this palm species appears to act as a keystone resource for both people and chimpanzees; chimpanzee communities across West Africa may use the oil palm for nesting and/or for feeding purposes, while it provides people with numerous products of immense domestic and commercial value. One particular well known example of such sympatry where resource sharing of the oil palm has been well documented is the long term chimpanzee field site of Bossou in Southeastern Guinea. In this study, we surveyed regularly over the course of a period of 2 years, 200 oil palms located at the forest edge in the core area of the Bossou chimpanzee community. We recorded evidence of use among both people and chimpanzees to evaluate the impact on palm productivity and survival. Finally, we argue that people and chimpanzee in the locality effectively share this common resource and to date in cultural ways that favor co-existence

Genetics as a novel tool in mining impact assessment and biomonitoring of critically endangered western chimpanzees in the Nimba Mountains, Guinea

Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) are Critically Endangered and Guinea is a key stronghold for this subspecies. However, Guinea is also rich in minerals with some of the highest‐grade iron‐ore deposits in the world. Specifically, the Nimba Mountains, home to western chimpanzees, is one of the sites under consideration for mining activities. To assess the impact of mining activities in the area, we used non‐invasive genetic sampling to estimate chimpanzee population size, sex ratio, community composition, and range boundaries on the western flank of the massif. The level of genetic diversity and affinity between communities was estimated and recommendations for future genetic censusing provided. Between 2003 and 2018, we collected 999 fecal samples of which 663 were analyzed using a panel of 26 microsatellites. We identified a minimum of 136 chimpanzees in four communities, with evidence of migratory events, a high level of shared ancestry and genetic diversity. We assessed sampling intensities and capture rates for each community. Saturation was reached in two communities with sampling between 3.2 and 4.3 times the estimated number of chimpanzees. Our findings highlight the utility of genetic censusing for temporal monitoring of ape abundance, as well as capturing migratory events and gauging genetic diversity and population viability over time. We recommend genetic sampling, combined with camera trapping, for use in future Environmental and Social Impact Assessments, as these methods can yield robust baselines for implementing the mitigation hierarchy, future biomonitoring and conservation management

To drum or not to drum: Selectivity in tree buttress drumming by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in the Nimba Mountains, Guinea.

Funder: Stichting Lucie Burgers; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013496Funder: Newnham College, University of Cambridge; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000663Funder: Gates Cambridge Trust; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100005370Funder: Homerton College, University of Cambridge; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100008420Chimpanzees live in fission-fusion social organizations, which means that party size, composition, and spatial distribution are constantly in flux. Moreover, chimpanzees use a remarkably extensive repertoire of vocal and nonvocal forms of communication, thought to help convey information in such a socially and spatially dynamic setting. One proposed form of nonvocal communication in chimpanzees is buttress drumming, in which an individual hits a tree buttress with its hands and/or feet, thereby producing a low-frequency acoustic signal. It is often presumed that this behavior functions to communicate over long distances and is, therefore, goal-oriented. If so, we would expect chimpanzees to exhibit selectivity in the choice of trees and buttresses used in buttress drumming. Selectivity is a key attribute of many other goal-directed chimpanzee behaviors, such as nut-cracking and ant dipping. Here, we investigate whether chimpanzees at the Seringbara study site in the Nimba Mountains, Guinea, West Africa, show selectivity in their buttress drumming behavior. Our results indicate that Seringbara chimpanzees are more likely to use larger trees and select buttresses that are thinner and have a greater surface area. These findings imply that tree buttress drumming is not a random act, but rather goal-oriented and requires knowledge of suitable trees and buttresses. Our results also point to long-distance communication as a probable function of buttress drumming based on selectivity for buttress characteristics likely to impact sound propagation. This study provides a foundation for further assessing the cognitive underpinnings and functions of buttress drumming in wild chimpanzees

Green Corridor Project: Planting Trees in the Savanna Between Bossou and Nimba

The present chapter aims to report on a reforestation program known as the “Green Corridor Project,” which was initiated in January 1997. This project aims to connect the chimpanzee habitat of Bossou to that of the Nimba Mountains. This project began with a pilot study known as the “Petit Jardin Botanique.” This study aimed to evaluate the plant species that would best thrive in a savanna environment. Over the years, the Green Corridor Project has involved the creation of tree nurseries, the introduction of hexatubes to protect the young trees, and the planting of cuttings of Spondias cythera trees. The Green Corridor Project has promoted environmental awareness in the locality

Field experiments find no evidence that chimpanzee nut cracking can be independently innovated

Cumulative culture has been claimed a hallmark of human evolution. Yet, the uniqueness of human culture is heavily debated. The zone of latent solutions hypothesis states that only humans have cultural forms that require form-copying social learning and are culture-dependent. Non-human ape cultural behaviours are considered ‘latent solutions’, which can be independently (re-)innovated. Others claim that chimpanzees, like humans, have cumulative culture. Here, we use field experiments at Seringbara (Nimba Mountains, Guinea) to test whether chimpanzee nut cracking can be individually (re-)innovated. We provided: (1) palm nuts and stones, (2) palm fruit bunch, (3) cracked palm nuts and (4) Coula nuts and stones. Chimpanzee parties visited (n = 35) and explored (n = 11) the experiments but no nut cracking occurred. In these experiments, chimpanzees did not individually (re-)innovate nut cracking under ecologically valid conditions. Our null results are consistent with the hypothesis that chimpanzee nut cracking is a product of social learning