Pan Africa News TheThe Newsletter Newsletter of the of theCommittee Committee for forthe theCare Care andand Conservation Conservation of ofChimpanzees, Chimpanzees, and and the the MahaleMahale Wildlife Wildlife Conservation Conservation Society Society JUNE 2007 VOL. 14, NO. 1 P. A. N. EDITORIAL STAFF Contents Chief Editor: <NOTE> Toshisada Nishida, Japan Monkey Centre, Japan Laterality in Termite-Fishing by Fongoli Chimpanzees: Deputy Chief Editors: Preliminary Report Kazuhiko Hosaka, Kamakura Women’s University, Japan Michio Nakamura, Kyoto University, Japan Paco Bertolani, Clarissa Scholes, William C. McGrew & Jill D. Pruetz 1 Associate Editors: <NOTE> Christophe Boesch, Max-Planck Institute, Germany Jane Goodall, Jane Goodall Institute, USA Evidence of Cultural Differences in Diet between Two Takayoshi Kano, Kyoto University, Japan Neighboring Unit Groups of Chimpanzees in Mahale Tetsuro Matsuzawa, Kyoto University, Japan Mountains National Park, Tanzania William C. McGrew, University of Cambridge, UK Tetsuya Sakamaki, Michio Nakamura & Toshisada Nishida 3 John C. Mitani, University of Michigan, USA Vernon Reynolds, Budongo Forest Project, UK <NOTE> Yukimaru Sugiyama, Kyoto University, Japan Dermatophytosis of M group Chimpanzees, Mahale Richard W. Wrangham, Harvard University, USA Mountains, Tanzania Toshisada Nishida, Shiho Fujita, Takahisa Matsusaka, Editorial Secretaries: Masaki Shimada & Rashidi Kitopeni 5 Noriko Itoh, Kyoto University, Japan Koichiro Zamma, Japan Monkey Centre, Japan <NOTE> Agumi Inaba, Japan Monkey Centre, Japan Bonobos at the “Lola Ya Bonobo” Sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Satoshi Hirata & Yasuko Tashiro 6 Instructions to Authors: Pan Africa News publishes articles, notes, reviews, <NOTE> forums, news, essays, book reviews, letters to editor, and Snare Removal for Conservation of Chimpanzees in the classified ads on any aspect of conservation and research Kalinzu Forest Reserve, Uganda regarding chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bilias (Pan Chie Hashimoto, Debby Cox & Takeshi Furuichi 8 paniscus). Contributors are requested to write in English and <NOTE> the papers except forums, reviews and essays should usually New Nut-Cracking Sites in Diecké Forest, Guinea: An be 1,500 words or less. Manuscripts should be submitted by e-mail to: Overview of the Surveys [email protected] Susana Carvalho, Cláudia Sousa & Tetsuro Matsuzawa 11 Photos and figures, however, should be sent by air mail <NOTE> to: T. Nishida, Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Papaya Fruit Sharing in Wild Chimpanzees at Bossou, Science, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa- Oiwakecho, Sakyo, Guinea Kyoto, Japan. Gaku Ohashi 14 Publication of the next issue will be December 2007. Deadline for manuscripts is the end of November. <NOTE> 1. Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, Dpt. of Biological Anthropology, University of Cambridge, UK Laterality in Termite-Fishing by 2. Dpt. of Anthropology, Iowa State University, USA Fongoli Chimpanzees: Preliminary Report INTRODUCTION Many studies in both free-ranging and captive apes have shown that some forms of laterality of hand function Paco Bertolani1, Clarissa Scholes1, William C. McGrew1, Jill D. Pruetz2 occur in non-human primates1. However, true handedness 2 (sensu McGrew and Marchant ), when most individuals 1 2 Pan Africa News, 14(1), June, 2007 show a skew in hand preference in the same direction analysis was done only on individual sessions, which do across different tasks, seems to be restricted to humans. not equal events 2. Laterality was tested with the binomial Other hominoids appear unlateralized in simpler tasks, test for each individual who attained at least 6 sessions. such as reaching, picking up objects, and grooming3, but All tests are two-tailed, with alpha set at 0.05 (A further they show hand preference for more complex tasks, such 10 chimpanzees showed termite-fishing but did not reach as tool-using2, 4, 5 or elaborate food processing6, 7. this criterion, which is the minimum number necessary to Laterality in termite-fishing8 has been studied only show a statistic significance). at Gombe, and the two published data-sets are congruent. PB recorded which hand inserted and extracted the McGrew and Marchant2, 9 reported that most (27 of 36) tool into and from the hole in the termite mound for each chimpanzees showed an individualized hand preference insertion event. for right or left, as did Lonsdorf and Hopkins10 (16 of 17) for termite-fishing in the same community. No other data RESULTS have been published for chimpanzee communities Table 1 shows the data for 47 sessions of elsewhere. This study asks if termite-fishing by Fongoli termite-fishing shown by 5 males. Each session averaged chimpanzees is lateralized, shows hand preference 9.1 data-points (range per individual: 7.3-10.6) and lasted (individuals are lateralized, but with no populational an average of 45 minutes. Two individuals, BN and KL, preference for either hand), or task specialization (all or were exclusively lateralized to the left and right most individuals use the same hand). respectively; YO was significantly right lateralized, and MM and SI were right-biased and left-biased respectively, METHODS but not significantly so. Although the sample is very Fongoli, in southeastern Senegal, is a mosaic small, no skew emerges in the direction of hand savanna, and the only hot, dry and open study site with preference among these subjects. The results for habituated chimpanzees (see Pruetz, 200611, for a instantaneous samples reflect those for sessions. description of the habitat and the diet of Fongoli Table 1. Frequency of lateralized (L vs. R) termite-fishing by chimpanzees). The only published study of sessions and instantaneous samples. 12 termite-fishing at Fongoli is based on indirect data LH RH LH inst. RH inst. Hand Subject Obs p-value (Bogart and Pruetz, in prep.). sessions sessions samples samples preference BN 6 6 0 41 0 0.032 L PB collected these data in April and May 2005, KL 8 0 8 0 74 0.008 R after habituation of the first males of the Fongoli MM 16 4 12 27 130 0.076 (R) community. The chimpanzees were observed for 543 SI 8 7 1 56 25 0.07 (L) hours over 50 days, when termites were a major food YO 9 1 8 14 52 0.04 R source. PB collected data using scan sampling with a Total 47 18 29 138 281 - - focal subject target on the subject’s activity and on the other individuals in sight, by instantaneous recording DISCUSSION every 5 minutes13. Termite-fishing at Fongoli appears to be an A session of termite-fishing was a continuous individually lateralized task, in which some of the period during which the individual ate termites. Sessions individuals specialize in using one hand, and some use are separated by other activities (e.g. rest, groom, etc). the other, but none is ambilateral. These results agree During a session, change of posture or position and with studies of Gombe chimpanzees3, 9, 10, despite the change of tool occurred: thus a session contained several sites being separated by thousands of kilometers on bouts (sensu McGrew and Marchant2). The data-points opposite sides of Africa. Extending data collection to the taken in each session by instantaneous sampling cannot rest of the Fongoli community is needed to validate these be considered independent observations, so statistical preliminary findings. Pan Africa News, 14(1), June, 2007 3 Acknowledgments. We thank the Republic of Senegal and <NOTE> Department of Eaux et Forets for permission to work in Senegal; D. Kante and M. Camara for assistance in the field. J.P. Evidence of Cultural Differences was supported by grants from the National Geographic Society, in Diet between Two Neighboring Center for the Study of Violence at Iowa State University (ISU), ISU Foreign Travel Grant, ISU Faculty Professional Unit Groups of Chimpanzees in Development Grant, and the American Society of Primatologists Mahale Mountains National Park, Conservation Grant. Tanzania REFERENCES 1 2 1. McGrew WC, Marchant LF 1997. 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