School of Visual Arts Chimp Troop Composition Questions Lecture: The first person to do extensive research about primates in the wild was Jane Goodall. Bo
School of Visual Arts Chimp Troop Composition Questions Lecture:
The first person to do extensive research about primates in the wild was Jane Goodall. Born in England, she went to Africa and worked for Louis Leaky, a famous paleoanthropologist (the Leaky family is mentioned many times in your human evolution text). He wanted to study chimps in the wild because he thought that since they were the most closely related species to us that we could learn about the possible behavior of early hominins by studying chimps. Goodall started her work at Gombe in Tanzania in 1960. Primate research at Gombe and other places around the world is ongoing but since 1987 Goodall herself has devoted most of her time to conservation efforts to try to prevent chimps and other animals, especially primates, from becoming extinct.
Here are some notes from the book Through a Window written by Jane Goodall.
CHIMP TROOP COMPOSITION
Group composition is multi-male/multi-female. Individuals do not stay together all of the timeindividuals come together and split apart but overall membership remains the same with the exception of young females, some of whom leave their original group to live with another one when they are adolescents.
The most stable relationship is between a mother and her children; siblings are also important; friendships and alliances are also important
There is aggression in all chimp troops but in some more than in others, depending on the traditions and personalities of each troop. You will see example of this in the different ways that the Gombe chimps in Tanzania and another group of chimps in Uganda behave.
Situations with heightened tensions: reunions of troop members, convergence on a food source, estrus females
Females have estrus: a period when they are fertile and sexually attractive (also known as being in heat but this is a demeaning phrase). Females mate only when they are in estrus, when they mate with many males.
LEADERSHIP OF THE TROOP
There is an alpha male.
The prerogatives of a strong alpha: first access to food and estrus females; respect; social control.
There are separate male and female hierarchies. Young males start their attempts to become top-ranking individuals by trying to intimidate females.
GROOMING
It is of supreme importance in maintaining and establishing bonds
It is also an expression of status and solidarity
DIET
fruit
leaves
insects
meat
approximately 6 to 8 hours a day are spent feeding
HUNTING AND TOOL USE
Males hunt communally. The killer gets to keep the carcass but he will share with selected individuals, usually his friends or females in estrus.
They fish for termites and ants. Both insects are high in protein. Goodall tried everything that the chimps eat and said that termites tasted a bit like curry.
MOTHER/CHILD RELATIONSHIPS
The usual birth interval is between 4 and 5 years. Young chimps are weaned at about 4 years old; it is not a happy time for the young children because there mother no longer nurses them.
There are many changes in the life of a youngster when a sibling is born, the older child is no longer the center of his/her mothers care but the family stays together. Young chimps stay with their mothers well into their teens, especially the females.
DIFFERENCES IN MALE/FEMALE ROLES OR TASKS WITHIN THE TROOP: HOW DO YOUNG CHIMPS LEARN “PROPER” BEHAVIOR
What do males and females do differently: males spend considerable time either solitary or in large groups, females tend to stay in small family groups, only occasionally joining in larger groups (the amount of time depends on the personality of the female). Males band together to patrol the borders of their territories looking for intruders.
SEX
Opportunities for mating: alpha’s choice; group sex; clandestine meetings when dominant males are preoccupied.
Chimps go not go through menopause. This can be hard on older females who continue to have babies well into their 40s. Babies that are young when their mothers die do not survive.
CHIMPS AND EARLY HUMANS
Any similarities found in modern humans and in chimps would likely be present in early man (if parallel evolution of behavior can be ruled out [it probably can]; for the study of this, look to other animals, especially baboons who are terrestrial primates and wolves who are pack hunters)
behavioral similarities:
affectionate & supportive & enduring bonds between family members
extended childhood dependency
importance of learned behavior
importance of tool-making and tool using
co-operative hunting
sophisticated social manipulation
aggressive territoriality
physical:
almost 99% of genes the same
similar brain organization
FIRST VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV-a5lPgt4g (Links to an external site.)Among The Wild Chimpanzees
This documentary was made in the 1980s when Jane Goodall was still doing active research.
SECOND VIDEO
A Japanese primatologist studying a different group of chimps in a different environment (heavier forest cover) and sharing their territory with different sorts of monkeys. The Gombe and Ugandan chimps have different cultures (remember the anthropological definition of culture). The background music in this video is terrible and overly dramatic but the video itself has a lot of information.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jcGIZ62B4o&t=792s (Links to an external site.)
THIRD SET OF VIDEOS
Back to Gombe. Some of the information in these short videos repeats what was said in the first video but it is more current.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyy2ko191s0&list=PLD0985B458A8DD54F (Links to an external site.)
The questions for this week are directly from this last set of videos but information about them is also in the other two longer videos:
1.Learning how did Gaia teach her younger sister what kind of tool to use for termite fishing? Termite fishing how and why do chimps fish for termites?
Displays what is the main purpose of display? How are displays done? Are other chimps hurt during displays (usually)?
Tool Use what are some kinds of tools that chimps use?
Chimpanzee Mother and Child how important are the bonds between mothers and children?
Jane Goodall: “We are not, as once we believed, separated from the animal kingdom by an unbridgeable chasm.”
The greatest difference between us and the chimps is in intellect.
Optional for further research if you want, especially the short videos under the title Chimps of Gombe:
https://www.youtube.com/user/JaneGoodallInstitute (Links to an external site.)
