Roger Mundry
Biographic Data
| ID | 83439 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Roger Mundry |
| GIVEN NAMES | Roger |
| FAMILY NAME | Mundry |
| SIGNATURE | MUNDRY R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology |
| ORCID | 0009-0008-9988-5131 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 67 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 31 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Meat Acquisition Skill and Male Reproductive Success in Guinea Baboons
Age‐Trajectory of Mother–Infant Relationships in Wild Assamese Macaques
Maternal care is ubiquitous in mammals, yet its degree and duration vary across taxa. In primates, mothers provide extended care for young and follow similar developmental transitions in the mother–infant relationship, yet at different paces of change. Since ecological pressures shape life‐history traits including female reproductive rate and timing of infant independence, research is needed on mother–infant relationships in wild populations expo…
Maternal Behavior in Sumatran Orangutans (Pongo abelii) is Modulated by Mother-Offspring Characteristics and Socioecological Factors
Mammalian mothers flexibly invest in their offspring to maximize their lifetime fitness. Flexible maternal investment may be particularly important in large-brained species with prolonged maternal care, e.g., in great apes. We investigated the effects of socioecological factors and mother–offspring characteristics on nine maternal behaviors in wild Sumatran orangutans ( Pongo abelii ; N = 22 mother-offspring pairs; >11,200 hr of focal data from 2…
Decay rates of arboreal and terrestrial nests of Eastern chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii ) in the Bugoma Central Forest Reserve, Uganda: Implications for population size estimates
Chimpanzees were once thought to sleep primarily in the trees, but recent studies indicate that some populations also construct terrestrial night nests. This behavior has relevance not only to understanding the behavioral diversity of Pan troglodytes , but also to the conservation of the species, given that nest encounter rates are often used to estimate great ape population densities. A proper estimate of decay rates for ground nests is necessar…
Range‐wide indicators of African great ape density distribution
Species distributions are influenced by processes occurring at multiple spatial scales. It is therefore insufficient to model species distribution at a single geographic scale, as this does not provide the necessary understanding of determining factors. Instead, multiple approaches are needed, each differing in spatial extent, grain, and research objective. Here, we present the first attempt to model continent‐wide great ape density distribution.…
Saving rodents, losing primates—Why we need tailored bushmeat management strategies
Efforts to curb the unsustainable wildlife trade in tropical forests conceptualize bushmeat as a generic resource, exploited by a homogeneous group. However, bushmeat is composed of miscellaneous species differing in risks of zoonotic disease transmissions, sensitivity to hunting and abundance. If people choose these species for varying reasons, mitigation approaches that neglect specific drivers would likely target abundant species, e.g. rodents…
The Relationship Between Tool Use and Prey Availability in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) of Northern Democratic Republic of Congo
A key feature of human behavioral diversity is that it can be constrained by cultural preference (“cultural override”); that is, population-specific preferences can override resource availability. Here we investigate whether a similar phenomenon can be found in one of our closest relatives, as well as the potential impacts of ecological differences on feeding behavior. Our study subjects were different subpopulations of Eastern chimpanzees ( Pan …
Author Correction: Chimpanzee ethnography reveals unexpected cultural diversity
Chimpanzee ethnography reveals unexpected cultural diversity
Towards systematic and evidence‐based conservation planning for western chimpanzees
As animal populations continue to decline, frequently driven by large‐scale land‐use change, there is a critical need for improved environmental planning. While data‐driven spatial planning is widely applied in conservation, as of yet it is rarely used for primates. The western chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes verus ) declined by 80% within 24 years and was uplisted to Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2016. To suppo…
Aggression by male bonobos against immature individuals does not fit with predictions of infanticide
The selective advantage of male infanticide is enhancement of reproductive success of the aggressor. This implies that aggression is directed at individuals sired by others, infant loss shortens the mother's inter-birth interval, and the aggressor has a greater likelihood of siring the next offspring of the victims' mother. As these conditions are not always met, the occurrence of male infanticide is expected to vary, and hominoid primates offer …
Why hide? Concealed sex in dominant Arabian babblers (Turdoides squamiceps) in the wild
An assessment of the efficacy of camera traps for studying demographic composition and variation in chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes )
Demographic factors can strongly influence patterns of behavioral variation in animal societies. Traditionally, these factors are measured using longitudinal observation of habituated social groups, particularly in social animals like primates. Alternatively, noninvasive biomonitoring methods such as camera trapping can allow researchers to assess species occupancy, estimate population abundance, and study rare behaviors. However, measures of fin…
Social and ecological correlates of space use patterns in Bwindi mountain gorillas
Space use patterns determine access to resources necessary for survival and reproduction. Although it is recognized that the interplay between social and ecological variables shapes spacing patterns, few studies in group-living animals have simultaneously assessed their importance in a comprehensive approach using different spatiotemporal space use measures. In territorial species, such patterns are strongly determined by between-group competitio…
Nocturnal activity in wild chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ): Evidence for flexible sleeping patterns and insights into human evolution
OBJECTIVES: We investigated occurrences and patterns of terrestrial nocturnal activity in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and modelled the influence of various ecological predictors on nocturnal activity. METHODS: Data were extracted from terrestrial camera-trap footage and ecological surveys from 22 chimpanzee study sites participating in the Pan African Programme: The Cultured Chimpanzee. We described videos demonstrating nocturnal activity,…
The costs of living at the edge: Seasonal stress in wild savanna-dwelling chimpanzees
The Critically Endangered western chimpanzee declines by 80
African large mammals are under extreme pressure from unsustainable hunting and habitat loss. Certain traits make large mammals particularly vulnerable. These include late age at first reproduction, long inter‐birth intervals, and low population density. Great apes are a prime example of such vulnerability, exhibiting all of these traits. Here we assess the rate of population change for the western chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes verus , over a 24‐ye…
Social and demographic correlates of male androgen levels in wild white‐faced capuchin monkeys ( Cebus capucinus )
The Challenge Hypothesis, designed originally to explain the patterning of competitive behavior and androgen levels in seasonally breeding birds, predicts that males will increase their androgen levels in order to become more competitive in reproductive contexts. Here we test predictions derived from the Challenge Hypothesis in white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus), a species that has somewhat seasonal reproduction. We analyzed demograph…
Wild mammals as economic goods and implications for their conservation
In social-ecological systems, human activities and animal distribution are interrelated. Any effort at studying wildlife abundance therefore requires the integration of detailed socioeconomic context into species distribution models. Wild mammals have always been an important resource for humankind, and concepts of economic goods provide an analytical framework to deduce relevant socioeconomic factors that shape wild mammal-human relationships an…
Who is who matters—The effects of pseudoreplication in stable isotope analyses
Stable isotope analysis in free-ranging primates is a promising new avenue in reconstructing feeding niches and temporal dietary variation. Particularly, the large sample sizes obtained from non-invasively collected hair and fecal samples from nests of great apes offer great potential. However, analyzing repeated observations of the same individuals without controlling for potential differences among them means to "pseudoreplicate" and can lead t…
Transparency, usability, and reproducibility: Guiding principles for improving comparative databases using primates as examples
Recent decades have seen rapid development of new analytical methods to investigate patterns of interspecific variation. Yet these cutting‐edge statistical analyses often rely on data of questionable origin, varying accuracy, and weak comparability, which seem to have reduced the reproducibility of studies. It is time to improve the transparency of comparative data while also making these improved data more widely available. We, the authors, met …
Audience effects, but not environmental influences, explain variation in gorilla close distance vocalizations—A test of the acoustic adaptation hypothesis
Close distance vocalizations are an integral part of primate vocal communication. They exhibit large acoustic variation which has been suggested to constitute flexible responses to the highly variable social setting of group living animals. However, a recent study suggested that acoustic variation in close distance calls of baboons may also arise from acoustic adaptations to environmental factors in order to counteract sound degradation. We teste…
Modeling Primate Abundance in Complex Landscapes: A Case Study From the Udzungwa Mountains of Tanzania
Calculated reciprocity? A comparative test with six primate species
Lethal aggression in Pan is better explained by adaptive strategies than human impacts
The costs of living at the edge: Seasonal stress in wild savanna-dwelling chimpanzees
Plant foods consumed by Pan: Exploring the variation of nutritional ecology across Africa
It has been shown that differences in resource density and nutrient supply affect variation in ranging patterns, habitat use, and sociality. Among nonhuman primates, chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ) and bonobos ( P. paniscus ) have often been used as models for the link between social system and habitat ecology. Field reports suggest that resource density is higher in habitats occupied by bonobos (compared to chimpanzee habitats), and in the West …
Chimpanzee ethnography reveals unexpected cultural diversity
Nocturnal activity in wild chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ): Evidence for flexible sleeping patterns and insights into human evolution
OBJECTIVES: We investigated occurrences and patterns of terrestrial nocturnal activity in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and modelled the influence of various ecological predictors on nocturnal activity. METHODS: Data were extracted from terrestrial camera-trap footage and ecological surveys from 22 chimpanzee study sites participating in the Pan African Programme: The Cultured Chimpanzee. We described videos demonstrating nocturnal activity,…
Aggression by male bonobos against immature individuals does not fit with predictions of infanticide
The selective advantage of male infanticide is enhancement of reproductive success of the aggressor. This implies that aggression is directed at individuals sired by others, infant loss shortens the mother's inter-birth interval, and the aggressor has a greater likelihood of siring the next offspring of the victims' mother. As these conditions are not always met, the occurrence of male infanticide is expected to vary, and hominoid primates offer …
Wild mammals as economic goods and implications for their conservation
In social-ecological systems, human activities and animal distribution are interrelated. Any effort at studying wildlife abundance therefore requires the integration of detailed socioeconomic context into species distribution models. Wild mammals have always been an important resource for humankind, and concepts of economic goods provide an analytical framework to deduce relevant socioeconomic factors that shape wild mammal-human relationships an…
Modeling Primate Abundance in Complex Landscapes: A Case Study From the Udzungwa Mountains of Tanzania
The Relationship Between Tool Use and Prey Availability in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) of Northern Democratic Republic of Congo
A key feature of human behavioral diversity is that it can be constrained by cultural preference (“cultural override”); that is, population-specific preferences can override resource availability. Here we investigate whether a similar phenomenon can be found in one of our closest relatives, as well as the potential impacts of ecological differences on feeding behavior. Our study subjects were different subpopulations of Eastern chimpanzees ( Pan …
Maternal Behavior in Sumatran Orangutans (Pongo abelii) is Modulated by Mother-Offspring Characteristics and Socioecological Factors
Mammalian mothers flexibly invest in their offspring to maximize their lifetime fitness. Flexible maternal investment may be particularly important in large-brained species with prolonged maternal care, e.g., in great apes. We investigated the effects of socioecological factors and mother–offspring characteristics on nine maternal behaviors in wild Sumatran orangutans ( Pongo abelii ; N = 22 mother-offspring pairs; >11,200 hr of focal data from 2…
The relationship between socio‐sexual behavior and salivary cortisol in bonobos: Tests of the tension regulation hypothesis
Bonobos are known for their pacifistic behavior and their large repertoire of behaviors that are thought to serve conflict resolution. One is an unusual form of ventro‐ventral mounting that facilitates genital contacts (GC). Various hypotheses have been proposed to explain its function. In this study we tested predictions of the tension regulation hypothesis using salivary cortisol as a marker for social stress. The results indicate a temporal re…
Plant foods consumed by Pan: Exploring the variation of nutritional ecology across Africa
It has been shown that differences in resource density and nutrient supply affect variation in ranging patterns, habitat use, and sociality. Among nonhuman primates, chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ) and bonobos ( P. paniscus ) have often been used as models for the link between social system and habitat ecology. Field reports suggest that resource density is higher in habitats occupied by bonobos (compared to chimpanzee habitats), and in the West …
Long‐Term Temporal and Spatial Dynamics of Food Availability for Endangered Mountain Gorillas in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda
Monitoring temporal and spatial changes in the resource availability of endangered species contributes to their conservation. The number of critically endangered mountain gorillas ( Gorilla beringei beringei ) in the Virunga Volcano population has doubled over the past three decades, but no studies have examined how food availability has changed during that period. First, we assessed if the plant species consumed by the gorillas have changed in a…
Calculated reciprocity? A comparative test with six primate species
Lethal aggression in Pan is better explained by adaptive strategies than human impacts
Informing conservation management about structural versus functional connectivity: A case‐study of Cross River gorillas
Connectivity among subpopulations is vital for the persistence of small and fragmented populations. For management interventions to be effective conservation planners have to make the critical distinction between structural connectivity (based on landscape structure) and functional connectivity (which considers both landscape structure and organism-specific behavioral attributes) which can differ considerably within a given context. We assessed s…
New evidence for self‐medication in bonobos: Manniophyton fulvum leaf‐ and stemstrip‐swallowing from LuiKotale, Salonga National Park, DR Congo
The swallowing of entire leaves by apes across Africa without chewing has been observed for over 40 plant species. Here we add evidence for (a) a new site, LuiKotale where leaf-swallowing of Manniophyton fulvum (Euphorbiaceae) is observed in bonobos, (b) a so far unreported ingestion of unchewed stemstrips of M. fulvum, we name stemstrip-swallowing; and (c) a test of some of the requirements put forward by Huffman for the assessment of plants ing…
Religion, synchrony, and cooperation
Shared beliefs about supernatural agents and joint engagement in ritual activities are often proposed to engender cohesion and cooperation within religious communities. We report the results of an experiment that investigated the effects of religious-concept priming and synchronous activity among Brazilian drummers. Participants were divided into two between-subjects narrative priming conditions: religious and secular. Within each priming conditi…
Audience effects, but not environmental influences, explain variation in gorilla close distance vocalizations—A test of the acoustic adaptation hypothesis
Close distance vocalizations are an integral part of primate vocal communication. They exhibit large acoustic variation which has been suggested to constitute flexible responses to the highly variable social setting of group living animals. However, a recent study suggested that acoustic variation in close distance calls of baboons may also arise from acoustic adaptations to environmental factors in order to counteract sound degradation. We teste…
Modeling Primate Abundance in Complex Landscapes: A Case Study From the Udzungwa Mountains of Tanzania
Who is who matters—The effects of pseudoreplication in stable isotope analyses
Stable isotope analysis in free-ranging primates is a promising new avenue in reconstructing feeding niches and temporal dietary variation. Particularly, the large sample sizes obtained from non-invasively collected hair and fecal samples from nests of great apes offer great potential. However, analyzing repeated observations of the same individuals without controlling for potential differences among them means to "pseudoreplicate" and can lead t…
Transparency, usability, and reproducibility: Guiding principles for improving comparative databases using primates as examples
Recent decades have seen rapid development of new analytical methods to investigate patterns of interspecific variation. Yet these cutting‐edge statistical analyses often rely on data of questionable origin, varying accuracy, and weak comparability, which seem to have reduced the reproducibility of studies. It is time to improve the transparency of comparative data while also making these improved data more widely available. We, the authors, met …
The Critically Endangered western chimpanzee declines by 80
African large mammals are under extreme pressure from unsustainable hunting and habitat loss. Certain traits make large mammals particularly vulnerable. These include late age at first reproduction, long inter‐birth intervals, and low population density. Great apes are a prime example of such vulnerability, exhibiting all of these traits. Here we assess the rate of population change for the western chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes verus , over a 24‐ye…
Social and demographic correlates of male androgen levels in wild white‐faced capuchin monkeys ( Cebus capucinus )
The Challenge Hypothesis, designed originally to explain the patterning of competitive behavior and androgen levels in seasonally breeding birds, predicts that males will increase their androgen levels in order to become more competitive in reproductive contexts. Here we test predictions derived from the Challenge Hypothesis in white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus), a species that has somewhat seasonal reproduction. We analyzed demograph…
Wild mammals as economic goods and implications for their conservation
In social-ecological systems, human activities and animal distribution are interrelated. Any effort at studying wildlife abundance therefore requires the integration of detailed socioeconomic context into species distribution models. Wild mammals have always been an important resource for humankind, and concepts of economic goods provide an analytical framework to deduce relevant socioeconomic factors that shape wild mammal-human relationships an…
Why hide? Concealed sex in dominant Arabian babblers (Turdoides squamiceps) in the wild
An assessment of the efficacy of camera traps for studying demographic composition and variation in chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes )
Demographic factors can strongly influence patterns of behavioral variation in animal societies. Traditionally, these factors are measured using longitudinal observation of habituated social groups, particularly in social animals like primates. Alternatively, noninvasive biomonitoring methods such as camera trapping can allow researchers to assess species occupancy, estimate population abundance, and study rare behaviors. However, measures of fin…
Social and ecological correlates of space use patterns in Bwindi mountain gorillas
Space use patterns determine access to resources necessary for survival and reproduction. Although it is recognized that the interplay between social and ecological variables shapes spacing patterns, few studies in group-living animals have simultaneously assessed their importance in a comprehensive approach using different spatiotemporal space use measures. In territorial species, such patterns are strongly determined by between-group competitio…
Nocturnal activity in wild chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ): Evidence for flexible sleeping patterns and insights into human evolution
OBJECTIVES: We investigated occurrences and patterns of terrestrial nocturnal activity in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and modelled the influence of various ecological predictors on nocturnal activity. METHODS: Data were extracted from terrestrial camera-trap footage and ecological surveys from 22 chimpanzee study sites participating in the Pan African Programme: The Cultured Chimpanzee. We described videos demonstrating nocturnal activity,…
The costs of living at the edge: Seasonal stress in wild savanna-dwelling chimpanzees
Towards systematic and evidence‐based conservation planning for western chimpanzees
As animal populations continue to decline, frequently driven by large‐scale land‐use change, there is a critical need for improved environmental planning. While data‐driven spatial planning is widely applied in conservation, as of yet it is rarely used for primates. The western chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes verus ) declined by 80% within 24 years and was uplisted to Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2016. To suppo…
Aggression by male bonobos against immature individuals does not fit with predictions of infanticide
The selective advantage of male infanticide is enhancement of reproductive success of the aggressor. This implies that aggression is directed at individuals sired by others, infant loss shortens the mother's inter-birth interval, and the aggressor has a greater likelihood of siring the next offspring of the victims' mother. As these conditions are not always met, the occurrence of male infanticide is expected to vary, and hominoid primates offer …
Saving rodents, losing primates—Why we need tailored bushmeat management strategies
Efforts to curb the unsustainable wildlife trade in tropical forests conceptualize bushmeat as a generic resource, exploited by a homogeneous group. However, bushmeat is composed of miscellaneous species differing in risks of zoonotic disease transmissions, sensitivity to hunting and abundance. If people choose these species for varying reasons, mitigation approaches that neglect specific drivers would likely target abundant species, e.g. rodents…
The Relationship Between Tool Use and Prey Availability in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) of Northern Democratic Republic of Congo
A key feature of human behavioral diversity is that it can be constrained by cultural preference (“cultural override”); that is, population-specific preferences can override resource availability. Here we investigate whether a similar phenomenon can be found in one of our closest relatives, as well as the potential impacts of ecological differences on feeding behavior. Our study subjects were different subpopulations of Eastern chimpanzees ( Pan …
Author Correction: Chimpanzee ethnography reveals unexpected cultural diversity
Primate Behavior and Ecology (27 works) · Biology (25 works) · Ecology (21 works) · Geography (16 works) · Wildlife Ecology and Conservation (16 works) · Animal Behavior and Reproduction (10 works) · Habitat (10 works) · Demography (9 works) · Population (8 works) · Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior (7 works)