Bonobos of the Lukuru Wildlife Research Project

Thompson, Jo

doi:10.1017/cbo9780511606397.007

Cited by 117 publications

(24 citation statements)

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“…This hypothesis may be tested by comparing grouping patterns of chimpanzees and bonobos living in similar habitats. As mentioned above, the difference in female cohesiveness between chimpanzees at Taï and bonobos at Wamba living in similarly dense forest habitats supports this idea (Doran 1997;Boesch and Boesch-Achermann 2000), and we expect to see the results of further comparisons between the populations of the two species living in drier habitats (Moore 1996;Myers Thompson 2001, 2002Ogawa et al 2007). …”

Section: Reconsideration Of the Difference In Grouping Patternssupporting

confidence: 68%

“…His claim encouraged us to hypothesize that party size differences were not strictly due to species differences but were also influenced by environmental differences between the moist evergreen forests inhabited by most of studied bonobo populations the drier semideciduous forests inhabited by most of studied chimpanzee populations. In this context, studies at Lukuru in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), a drier at the southern limit of the bonobo range characterized by patchy riverine forest and savanna, received much attention (Myers Thompson 2001, 2002, 2003. Do bonobos living in this area exhibit grouping patterns more similar to those of chimpanzees in similar habitats?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Factors underlying party size differences between chimpanzees and bonobos: a review and hypotheses for future study

Furuichi

2009

Primates

102

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Differences in party size and cohesiveness among females have been primary topics in socio-ecological comparisons of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus). This paper aims to review previous studies that attempted to explain these differences and propose some hypotheses to be tested in future studies. Comparisons of recent data show that relative party size (expressed as a percentage of total group size) is significantly larger for bonobos than chimpanzees. Although the prolonged estrus of females, close association between mother and adult sons, female social relationships including unique homosexual behavior, and high female social status might be related to the increased party size and female cohesiveness of bonobos, these social and behavioral factors alone do not appear to explain the differences between the two species. Differences in ecological factors, including fruit-patch size, density of terrestrial herbs, and the availability of scattered foods that animals forage as they travel between large fruit patches could also contribute to the differences between chimpanzees and bonobos. However, these factors cannot fully account for the increased party size and female cohesiveness of bonobos. The higher female cohesiveness in bonobos may be explained by socio-ecological systems that reduce the cost in feeding efficiency incurred by attending mixed-sex parties. These systems may include female initiatives for party ranging movements as well as the factors mentioned above. Because of their geographical isolation, the two species probably evolved different social systems. Chimpanzees, whose habitats became very dry during some periods in the Pleistocene, likely evolved more flexible fission-fusion social systems to cope with seasonal and annual variation in food availability. On the other hand, bonobos had a large refugia forest in the middle of their range even during the driest periods in the Pleistocene. Therefore bonobos, whose habitats had more abundant food and smaller variation in food availability, probably evolved systems that help females stay in mixed parties without incurring large costs from contest and scramble competition.

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Section: Reconsideration Of the Difference In Grouping Patternssupporting

confidence: 68%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors underlying party size differences between chimpanzees and bonobos: a review and hypotheses for future study

Furuichi

2009

Primates

102

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“…Comparing the impact of habitat differences on the development of tool use in all apes is likely to provide progress, as are data on populations that spend much time on the ground or forage in open savannah-type habitats (e.g. Myers-Thompson 2002 …”

Section: Great Apes' Tool Use In the Wildmentioning

confidence: 99%

A comparison of bonobo and chimpanzee tool use: evidence for a female bias in the Pan lineage

2010

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Keywords: culture great ape neoteny Pan primate evolution sex difference tool use Chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, are the most sophisticated tool-users among all nonhuman primates. From an evolutionary perspective, it is therefore puzzling that the tool use behaviour of their closest living primate relative, the bonobo, Pan paniscus, has been described as particularly poor. However, only a small number of bonobo groups have been studied in the wild and only over comparably short periods. Here, we show that captive bonobos and chimpanzees are equally diverse tool-users in most contexts. Our observations illustrate that tool use in bonobos can be highly complex and no different from what has been described for chimpanzees. The only major difference in the chimpanzee and bonobo data was that bonobos of all ageesex classes used tools in a play context, a possible manifestation of their neotenous nature. We also found that female bonobos displayed a larger range of tool use behaviours than males, a pattern previously described for chimpanzees but not for other great apes. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that the femalebiased tool use evolved prior to the split between bonobos and chimpanzees.

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“…Known historically as the dwarf chimpanzee [12,14,15], because of its comparatively slender physical stature, bonobos are patchily distributed, and their range is confined within the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in the southern bend of the Congo River and limited further south by the Kwango-Kasai-Sankuru rivers system ( Fig. 1) [14][15][16][19][20][21][22][23].…”

Section: Bonobos Study Sites and Habitatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bonobo Food Items, Food Availability and Bonobo Distribution in the Lake Tumba Swampy Forests, Democratic Republic of Congo

Inogwabini¹,

Matungila²

2009

TOCONSBJ

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Data on food items were collected from the Lac Tumba Swampy Forests (LTSF) with the objective to gauge the effect of food type and availability on the distribution of the bonobos. Bonobos at the LTSF feed on at least 61 plant species and eat more Terrestrial Herbaceous Vegetation (THV) than at other sites (t = 0.676, df = 3, p = 0.548 > 0.05; insignificant). Fruits were available for most of the year at sites within the LTSF. At the Mbou-Mon-Tour (MMT), a site with higher bonobo density, the mean density of 1.42 fruits/m 2 per month (range 0.62 -3.82 fruits/m 2 per month) was recorded, higher than in other sites where bonobos occur (general univariate linear model = 0.422, t = 1.543, df = 11, p = 0.151, non-significant). In-site differences between MMT and other sub-sites in the LTSF were significant (t = 2.793, df = 12, p = 0.016 < 0.05). Fruit abundance in the LTSF ( X =138 fruits/km, SD = 13.80) was higher than in the Salonga National Park (SNP) ( X =83 fruits/km, SD = 6.49). There were five species of THV in the LTSF, with the most abundant being Megaphrynium macrostachyum (41.18%), which was scarce in the Lomako Forests. Comparisons between sites indicated that sites in SNP consistently had lower stem densities than sites in LTSF (t = -7.528, df = 3, p =0.005, significant). These results, in agreement with previous studies, concluded that the distribution of THV in different sites significantly determined the bonobo distribution.

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Bonobos of the Lukuru Wildlife Research Project

Cited by 117 publications

References 0 publications

Factors underlying party size differences between chimpanzees and bonobos: a review and hypotheses for future study

Factors underlying party size differences between chimpanzees and bonobos: a review and hypotheses for future study

A comparison of bonobo and chimpanzee tool use: evidence for a female bias in the Pan lineage

Bonobo Food Items, Food Availability and Bonobo Distribution in the Lake Tumba Swampy Forests, Democratic Republic of Congo

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