The development of feeding behavior in wild chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii )

Dados Bibliográficos

ID8315575
AutoresJ Bray (0000-0001-8417-7492, School of Human Evolution and Social Change Arizona State University Tempe AZ, autor correspondente), M E Thompson (0000-0003-2451-6397, Department of Anthropology University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM), Martin N Muller (0000-0002-4298-8219, Department of Anthropology University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM), R W Wrangham (0000-0003-0435-2209, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology Harvard University Cambridge, MA), Zarin P Machanda (0000-0001-7060-7949, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology Harvard University Cambridge, MA)
Ano2018
Volume165
Fascículo1
Páginas34-46
Data de publicação2018-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0002-9483 • E-ISSN: 1096-8644
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ajpa.23325
PMID28949015
OpenAlexW2760059194
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas18
Referências citadas77

OBJECTIVES: Primates have an extended period of juvenility before adulthood. Although dietary complexity plays a prominent role in hypotheses regarding the evolution of extended juvenility, the development of feeding behavior is still poorly understood. Indeed, few studies have investigated the timing and nature of feeding transitions in apes, including chimpanzees. We describe general patterns of feeding development in wild chimpanzees and evaluate predictions of the needing-to-learn hypothesis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed 4 years of behavioral data (2010-2013) from 26 immature chimpanzees and 31 adult chimpanzees of the Kanyawara community in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Specifically, we examined milestones of nutritional independence (first consumption of solid food and cessation of suckling) as well as developmental changes in feeding time, diet composition, diet breadth, and ingestion rates. RESULTS: Chimpanzees first fed on solid food at 5.1 months and, on average, suckled until 4.8 years. Daily feeding time of immature individuals reached adult levels between 4 and 6 years, while diet composition showed minor changes with age. By juvenility (5-10 years), individuals had a complete adult diet breadth. Ingestion rates for five ripe fruit species remained below adult levels until juvenility but continued to show absolute increases into adolescence. DISCUSSION: Chimpanzees acquired adult-like patterns on all feeding measures by infancy or juvenility. These data are inconsistent with the needing-to-learn hypothesis; moreover, where delays exist, alternatives hypotheses make similar predictions but implicate physical constraints rather than learning as causal factors. We outline predictions for how future studies might distinguish between hypotheses for the evolution of extended juvenility

Biology · Ingestion · National park · Pongidae · Troglodytes · Zoology · Child and Animal Learning Development · Demography · Ecology · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Primate Behavior and Ecology