1
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Lemoine SRT, Samuni L, Crockford C, Wittig RM. Chimpanzees make tactical use of high elevation in territorial contexts. PLoS Biol 2023; 21:e3002350. [PMID: 37917608 PMCID: PMC10621857 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002350] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2022] [Accepted: 09/26/2023] [Indexed: 11/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Tactical warfare is considered a driver of the evolution of human cognition. One such tactic, considered unique to humans, is collective use of high elevation in territorial conflicts. This enables early detection of rivals and low-risk maneuvers, based on information gathered. Whether other animals use such tactics is unknown. With a unique dataset of 3 years of simultaneous behavioral and ranging data on 2 neighboring groups of western chimpanzees, from the Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire, we tested whether chimpanzees make decisions consistent with tactical use of topography to gain an advantage over rivals. We show that chimpanzees are more likely to use high hills when traveling to, rather than away from, the border where conflict typically takes place. Once on border hills, chimpanzees favor activities that facilitate information gathering about rivals. Upon leaving hills, movement decisions conformed with lowest risk engagement, indicating that higher elevation facilitates the detection of rivals presence or absence. Our results support the idea that elevation use facilitated rival information gathering and appropriate tactical maneuvers. Landscape use during territorial maneuvers in natural contexts suggests chimpanzees seek otherwise inaccessible information to adjust their behavior and points to the use of sophisticated cognitive abilities, commensurate with selection for cognition in species where individuals gain benefits from coordinated territorial defense. We advocate territorial contexts as a key paradigm for unpicking complex animal cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sylvain R. T. Lemoine
- Taï Chimpanzee Project, Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Liran Samuni
- Taï Chimpanzee Project, Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Cooperative Evolution Lab, German Primate Center, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Catherine Crockford
- Taï Chimpanzee Project, Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Ape Social Mind Lab, Institut of Cognitive Science Marc Jeannerod, UMR5229, CNRS, Lyon, France
| | - Roman M. Wittig
- Taï Chimpanzee Project, Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Ape Social Mind Lab, Institut of Cognitive Science Marc Jeannerod, UMR5229, CNRS, Lyon, France
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2
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Teichroeb JA, Smeltzer EA, Mathur V, Anderson KA, Fowler EJ, Adams FV, Vasey EN, Tamara Kumpan L, Stead SM, Arseneau-Robar TJM. How can we apply decision-making theories to wild animal behavior? Predictions arising from dual process theory and Bayesian decision theory. Am J Primatol 2023:e23565. [PMID: 37839050 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2023] [Revised: 09/19/2023] [Accepted: 10/03/2023] [Indexed: 10/17/2023]
Abstract
Our understanding of decision-making processes and cognitive biases is ever increasing, thanks to an accumulation of testable models and a large body of research over the last several decades. The vast majority of this work has been done in humans and laboratory animals because these study subjects and situations allow for tightly controlled experiments. However, it raises questions about how this knowledge can be applied to wild animals in their complex environments. Here, we review two prominent decision-making theories, dual process theory and Bayesian decision theory, to assess the similarities in these approaches and consider how they may apply to wild animals living in heterogenous environments within complicated social groupings. In particular, we wanted to assess when wild animals are likely to respond to a situation with a quick heuristic decision and when they are likely to spend more time and energy on the decision-making process. Based on the literature and evidence from our multi-destination routing experiments on primates, we find that individuals are likely to make quick, heuristic decisions when they encounter routine situations, or signals/cues that accurately predict a certain outcome, or easy problems that experience or evolutionary history has prepared them for. Conversely, effortful decision-making is likely in novel or surprising situations, when signals and cues have unpredictable or uncertain relationships to an outcome, and when problems are computationally complex. Though if problems are overly complex, satisficing via heuristics is likely, to avoid costly mental effort. We present hypotheses for how animals with different socio-ecologies may have to distribute their cognitive effort. Finally, we examine the conservation implications and potential cognitive overload for animals experiencing increasingly novel situations caused by current human-induced rapid environmental change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julie A Teichroeb
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Eve A Smeltzer
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Virendra Mathur
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Karyn A Anderson
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Erica J Fowler
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Frances V Adams
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Eric N Vasey
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Ludmila Tamara Kumpan
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Samantha M Stead
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - T Jean M Arseneau-Robar
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Biology, Concordia University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
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3
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Veen J, Jang H, Raubenheimer D, van Pinxteren BOCM, Kandza V, Meirmans PG, van Dam NM, Dunker S, Hoffmann P, Worrich A, Janmaat KRL. Development of embodied capital: Diet composition, foraging skills, and botanical knowledge of forager children in the Congo Basin. Front Ecol Evol 2023. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2023.935987] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The embodied capital theory states that the extended juvenile period has enabled human foragers to acquire the complex foraging skills and knowledge needed to obtain food. Yet we lack detailed data on how forager children develop these skills and knowledge. Here, we examine the seasonal diet composition, foraging behavior, and botanical knowledge of Mbendjele BaYaka forager children in the Republic of the Congo. Our data, acquired through long-term observations involving full-day focal follows, show a high level of seasonal fluctuation in diet and foraging activities of BaYaka children, in response to the seasonal availability of their food sources. BaYaka children foraged more than half of the time independent from adults, predominantly collecting and eating fruits, tubers, and seeds. For these most-consumed food types, we found an early onset of specialization of foraging skills in children, similar to the gendered division in foraging in adults. Specifically, children were more likely to eat fruit and seed species when there were more boys and men in the group, and girls were more likely than boys to collect tuber species. In a botanical knowledge test, children were more accurate at identifying plant food species with increasing age, and they used fruits and trunks for species identification, more so than using leaves and barks. These results show how the foraging activities of BaYaka children may facilitate the acquisition of foraging skills and botanical knowledge and provide insights into the development of embodied capital. Additionally, BaYaka children consumed agricultural foods more than forest foods, probably reflecting BaYaka’s transition into a horticultural lifestyle. This change in diet composition may have significant consequences for the cognitive development of BaYaka children.
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Young AM, Dyer FC. Past experience with spatial or temporal resource unpredictability shapes exploration in honey bees, Apis mellifera. Anim Behav 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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5
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Allritz M, Call J, Schweller K, McEwen ES, de Guinea M, Janmaat KRL, Menzel CR, Dolins FL. Chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes) navigate to find hidden fruit in a virtual environment. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eabm4754. [PMID: 35749496 PMCID: PMC9232100 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abm4754] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2021] [Accepted: 05/09/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Almost all animals navigate their environment to find food, shelter, and mates. Spatial cognition of nonhuman primates in large-scale environments is notoriously difficult to study. Field research is ecologically valid, but controlling confounding variables can be difficult. Captive research enables experimental control, but space restrictions can limit generalizability. Virtual reality technology combines the best of both worlds by creating large-scale, controllable environments. We presented six chimpanzees with a seminaturalistic virtual environment, using a custom touch screen application. The chimpanzees exhibited signature behaviors reminiscent of real-life navigation: They learned to approach a landmark associated with the presence of fruit, improving efficiency over time; they located this landmark from novel starting locations and approached a different landmark when necessary. We conclude that virtual environments can allow for standardized testing with higher ecological validity than traditional tests in captivity and harbor great potential to contribute to longstanding questions in primate navigation, e.g., the use of landmarks, Euclidean maps, or spatial frames of reference.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthias Allritz
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig 04103, Germany
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9JP, UK
| | - Josep Call
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Ken Schweller
- Ape Cognition and Conservation Initiative, Des Moines, IA, USA
| | - Emma S. McEwen
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig 04103, Germany
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9JP, UK
| | - Miguel de Guinea
- Movement Ecology Lab, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel
| | - Karline R. L. Janmaat
- Evolutionary and Population Biology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Department of Cognitive Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
- ARTIS Amsterdam Royal Zoo, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Charles R. Menzel
- Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Francine L. Dolins
- Department of Behavioral Sciences, College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters, University of Michigan-Dearborn, Dearborn, MI, USA
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6
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García MG, de Guinea M, Bshary R, van de Waal E. Drivers and outcomes of between-group conflict in vervet monkeys. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20210145. [PMID: 35369750 PMCID: PMC8977665 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2021] [Accepted: 02/22/2022] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Neighbouring groups compete over access to resources and territories in between-group encounters, which can escalate into between-group conflicts (BGCs). Both the ecological characteristics of a territory and the rival's fighting ability shape the occurrence and outcome of such contests. What remains poorly understood, however, is how seasonal variability in the ecological value of a territory together with fighting ability related to the likelihood of between-group encounters and the extent to which these escalate into conflicts. To test this, we observed and followed four vervet monkey groups in the wild, and recorded the group structure (i.e. size, composition), the locations and the outcomes of 515 BGCs. We then assessed key ecological measures at these locations, such as vegetation availability (estimated from Copernicus Sentinel 2 satellite images) and the intensity of usage of these locations. We tested to what extent these factors together influenced the occurrence and outcomes of BGCs. We found that the occurrence of BGCs increased at locations with higher vegetation availability relative to the annual vegetation availability within the group's home territory. Also, groups engaging in a BGC at locations far away from their home territory were less likely to win a BGC. Regarding group structure, we found that smaller groups systematically won BGCs against larger groups, which can be explained by potentially higher rates of individual free-riding occurring in larger groups. This study sheds light on how the ecology of encounter locations in combination with a group's social characteristics can critically impact the dynamics of BGCs in a non-human primate species. This article is part of the theme issue 'Intergroup conflict across taxa'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miguel Gareta García
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu Natal 3115, South Africa
- Department of Eco-Ethology, Faculty of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Rue Emile Argand 11, Neuchâtel 2000, Switzerland
| | - Miguel de Guinea
- Movement Ecology Laboratory, Alexander Silverman Institute of Life Sciences, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel
| | - Redouan Bshary
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu Natal 3115, South Africa
- Department of Eco-Ethology, Faculty of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Rue Emile Argand 11, Neuchâtel 2000, Switzerland
| | - Erica van de Waal
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu Natal 3115, South Africa
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne 1015, Switzerland
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7
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Smith AD, De Lillo C. Sources of variation in search and foraging: A theoretical perspective. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2021; 75:197-231. [PMID: 34609229 DOI: 10.1177/17470218211050314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Search-the problem of exploring a space of alternatives to identify target goals-is a fundamental behaviour for many species. Although its foundation lies in foraging, most studies of human search behaviour have been directed towards understanding the attentional mechanisms that underlie the efficient visual exploration of two-dimensional (2D) scenes. With this review, we aim to characterise how search behaviour can be explained across a wide range of contexts, environments, spatial scales, and populations, both typical and atypical. We first consider the generality of search processes across psychological domains. We then review studies of interspecies differences in search. Finally, we explore in detail the individual and contextual variables that affect visual search and related behaviours in established experimental psychology paradigms. Despite the heterogeneity of the findings discussed, we identify that variations in control processes, along with the ability to regulate behaviour as a function of the structure of search space and the sampling processes adopted, to be central to explanations of variations in search behaviour. We propose a tentative theoretical model aimed at integrating these notions and close by exploring questions that remain unaddressed.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Carlo De Lillo
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
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8
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Robira B, Benhamou S, Masi S, Llaurens V, Riotte-Lambert L. Foraging efficiency in temporally predictable environments: is a long-term temporal memory really advantageous? ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2021; 8:210809. [PMID: 34567589 PMCID: PMC8456140 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.210809] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2021] [Accepted: 09/03/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Cognitive abilities enabling animals that feed on ephemeral but yearly renewable resources to infer when resources are available may have been favoured by natural selection, but the magnitude of the benefits brought by these abilities remains poorly known. Using computer simulations, we compared the efficiencies of three main types of foragers with different abilities to process temporal information, in spatially and/or temporally homogeneous or heterogeneous environments. One was endowed with a sampling memory, which stores recent experience about the availability of the different food types. The other two were endowed with a chronological or associative memory, which stores long-term temporal information about absolute times of these availabilities or delays between them, respectively. To determine the range of possible efficiencies, we also simulated a forager without temporal cognition but which simply targeted the closest and possibly empty food sources, and a perfectly prescient forager, able to know at any time which food source was effectively providing food. The sampling, associative and chronological foragers were far more efficient than the forager without temporal cognition in temporally predictable environments, and interestingly, their efficiencies increased with the level of temporal heterogeneity. The use of a long-term temporal memory results in a foraging efficiency up to 1.16 times better (chronological memory) or 1.14 times worse (associative memory) than the use of a simple sampling memory. Our results thus show that, for everyday foraging, a long-term temporal memory did not provide a clear benefit over a simple short-term memory that keeps track of the current resource availability. Long-term temporal memories may therefore have emerged in contexts where short-term temporal cognition is useless, i.e. when the anticipation of future environmental changes is strongly needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Robira
- Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, Université de Montpellier and CNRS, Montpellier, France
| | - Simon Benhamou
- Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, Université de Montpellier and CNRS, Montpellier, France
| | - Shelly Masi
- Eco-anthropologie, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Université de Paris, Paris, France
| | - Violaine Llaurens
- Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité, CNRS-École Pratique des Hautes Études, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, Paris, France
| | - Louise Riotte-Lambert
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
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9
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Jang H, Oktaviani R, Kim S, Mardiastuti A, Choe JC. Do Javan gibbons (Hylobates moloch) use fruiting synchrony as a foraging strategy? Am J Primatol 2021; 83:e23319. [PMID: 34402078 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2020] [Revised: 06/16/2021] [Accepted: 07/27/2021] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Tropical rainforests are characterized by a high diversity of plant species. Each plant species presents with differential phenological patterns in fruit production. In some species, all individual trees produce fruit simultaneously within clustered periods; whereas in others, each individual tree fruits at irregular time intervals. By observing this pattern, some primate species use the presence of fruits in one tree as a cue to find fruit in other trees of the same synchronously fruiting tree species. Here, we investigated whether the highly frugivorous Javan gibbons (Hylobates moloch) in Gunung Halimun-Salak National Park in Indonesia have knowledge of synchronous characteristics of fruiting trees and whether they can further distinguish fruit species with different synchrony levels, that is, tree species with highly synchronous fruiting patterns versus tree species with less synchronous fruiting patterns. Across 12 months we collected biweekly phenological data on 250 trees from 10 fruit species and observed Javan gibbons' visits to those species. We found that a fruit discovery in the beginning of fruiting seasons triggered gibbons to visit trees of the same fruit species. However, gibbons' visit rates did not differ between highly synchronous and asynchronous species. Our results suggest that Javan gibbons have knowledge of synchronous characteristics of fruiting trees in general, but they do not differentiate highly synchronous versus asynchronous fruit species. We speculate that Javan gibbons, who live in relatively small ranges with very low tree density of preferred fruit species, are likely able to track and remember fruiting states of individual trees without needing to distinguish fruit species with different synchrony levels. Moreover, gibbons may make little benefit of distinguishing highly synchronous versus asynchronous fruit species, probably due to gibbons' heavy use of asynchronous figs. Our study provides an insight into how gibbon's foraging strategies may have been shaped in response to their ecological environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haneul Jang
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Rahayu Oktaviani
- Javan Gibbon Research and Conservation Project, Bogor, Indonesia.,Division of Ecoscience, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Sanha Kim
- Biodiversity Foundation, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Ani Mardiastuti
- Department of Forest Resources Conservation and Ecotourism, Faculty of Forestry and Environment, IPB University, Bogor, Indonesia
| | - Jae C Choe
- Division of Ecoscience, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea
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Talbot S, Gerdjikov T, De Lillo C. Two variations and one similarity in memory functions deployed by mice and humans to support foraging. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2021; 75:245-259. [PMID: 33818203 DOI: 10.1177/17470218211010576] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Assessing variations in cognitive function between humans and animals is vital for understanding the idiosyncrasies of human cognition and for refining animal models of human brain function and disease. We determined memory functions deployed by mice and humans to support foraging with a search task acting as a test battery. Mice searched for food from the top of poles within an open arena. Poles were divided into groups based on visual cues and baited according to different schedules. White and black poles were baited in alternate trials. Striped poles were never baited. The requirement of the task was to find all baits in each trial. Mice's foraging efficiency, defined as the number of poles visited before all baits were retrieved, improved with practice. Mice learnt to avoid visiting unbaited poles across trials (long-term memory) and revisits to poles within each trial (working memory). Humans tested with a virtual reality version of the task outperformed mice in foraging efficiency, working memory, and exploitation of the temporal pattern of rewards across trials. Moreover, humans, but not mice, reduced the number of possible movement sequences used to search the set of poles. For these measures, interspecies differences were maintained throughout the 3 weeks of testing. By contrast, long-term memory for never-rewarded poles was similar in mice and humans after the first week of testing. These results indicate that human cognitive functions relying on archaic brain structures may be adequately modelled in mice. Conversely, modelling in mice fluid skills likely to have developed specifically in primates requires caution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Spencer Talbot
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
| | - Todor Gerdjikov
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
| | - Carlo De Lillo
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
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Abstract
The search for human cognitive uniqueness often relied on low ecological tests with subjects experiencing unnatural ontogeny. Recently, neuroscience demonstrated the significance of a rich environment on the development of brain structures and cognitive abilities. This stresses the importance to consider the prior knowledge that subjects bring in any experiment. Second, recent developments in multivariate statistics control precisely for a number of factors and their interactions. Making controls in natural observations equivalent and sometimes superior to captive experimental studies without the drawbacks of the latter methods. Thus, we can now investigate complex cognition by accounting for many different factors, as required when solving tasks in nature. Combining both progresses allows us to move toward an “experience-specific cognition”, recognizing that cognition varies extensively in nature as individuals adapt to the precise challenges they experience in life. Such cognitive specialization makes cross-species comparisons more complex, while potentially identifying human cognitive uniqueness.
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12
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Abreu F, Garber PA, Souto A, Presotto A, Schiel N. Navigating in a challenging semiarid environment: the use of a route-based mental map by a small-bodied neotropical primate. Anim Cogn 2021; 24:629-643. [PMID: 33394185 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-020-01465-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2020] [Revised: 12/17/2020] [Accepted: 12/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
To increase efficiency in the search for resources, many animals rely on their spatial abilities. Specifically, primates have been reported to use mostly topological and rarely Euclidean maps when navigating in large-scale space. Here, we aimed to investigate if the navigation of wild common marmosets inhabiting a semiarid environment is consistent with a topological representation and how environmental factors affect navigation. We collected 497 h of direct behavioral and GPS information on a group of marmosets using a 2-min instantaneous focal animal sampling technique. We found that our study group reused not only long-route segments (mean of 1007 m) but entire daily routes, a pattern that is not commonly seen in primates. The most frequently reused route segments were the ones closer to feeding sites, distant to resting sites, and in areas sparse in tree vegetation. We also identified a total of 56 clustered direction change points indicating that the group modified their direction of travel. These changes in direction were influenced by their close proximity to resting and feeding sites. Despite our small sample size, the obtained results are important and consistent with the contention that common marmosets navigate using a topological map that seems to benefit these animals in response to the exploitation of clustered exudate trees. Based on our findings, we hypothesize that the Caatinga landscape imposes physical restrictions in our group's navigation such as gaps in vegetation, small trees and xerophytic plants. This study, based on preliminary evidence, raises the question of whether navigation patterns are an intrinsic characteristic of a species or are ecologically dependent and change according to the environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Filipa Abreu
- Department of Biology, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, R. Dom Manuel de Medeiros, s/n, Dois Irmãos, Recife, PE, 52171-900, Brazil.
| | - Paul A Garber
- Department of Anthropology, Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
| | - Antonio Souto
- Department of Zoology, Federal University of Pernambuco, Av. Professor Moraes Rego, 1235, Recife, PE, 50670-901, Brazil
| | - Andrea Presotto
- Department of Geography and Geosciences, Salisbury University, Salisbury, USA
| | - Nicola Schiel
- Department of Biology, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, R. Dom Manuel de Medeiros, s/n, Dois Irmãos, Recife, PE, 52171-900, Brazil
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Hardy K. Paleomedicine and the Evolutionary Context of Medicinal Plant Use. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2020; 31:1-15. [PMID: 33071384 PMCID: PMC7546135 DOI: 10.1007/s43450-020-00107-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2020] [Accepted: 09/23/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Modern human need for medicines is so extensive that it is thought to be a deep evolutionary behavior. There is abundant evidence from our Paleolithic and later prehistoric past, of survival after periodontal disease, traumas, and invasive medical treatments including trepanations and amputations, suggesting a detailed, applied knowledge of medicinal plant secondary compounds. Direct archeological evidence for use of plants in the Paleolithic is rare, but evidence is growing. An evolutionary context for early human use of medicinal plants is provided by the broad evidence for animal self-medication, in particular, of non-human primates. During the later Paleolithic, there is evidence for the use of poisonous and psychotropic plants, suggesting that Paleolithic humans built on and expanded their knowledge and use of plant secondary compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen Hardy
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Pg. Lluís Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Catalonia Spain.,Departament de Prehistòria, Facultat de Filosofia i Lletres, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Catalonia Spain
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14
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15
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Janmaat KRL. What animals do not do or fail to find: A novel observational approach for studying cognition in the wild. Evol Anthropol 2019; 28:303-320. [PMID: 31418959 PMCID: PMC6916178 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21794] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2017] [Revised: 06/17/2019] [Accepted: 07/12/2019] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
To understand how our brain evolved and what it is for, we are in urgent need of knowledge about the cognitive skills of a large variety of animal species and individuals, and their relationships to rapidly disappearing social and ecological conditions. But how do we obtain this knowledge? Studying cognition in the wild is a challenge. Field researchers (and their study subjects) face many factors that can easily interfere with their variables of interest. Although field studies of cognition present unique challenges, they are still invaluable for understanding the evolutionary drivers of cognition. In this review, I discuss the advantages and urgency of field-based studies on animal cognition and introduce a novel observational approach for field research that is guided by three questions: (a) what do animals fail to find?, (b) what do they not do?, and (c) what do they only do when certain conditions are met? My goal is to provide guidance to future field researchers examining primate cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karline R. L. Janmaat
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary AnthropologyLeipzigGermany
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem DynamicsUniversity of AmsterdamAmsterdamThe Netherlands
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16
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Jang H, Boesch C, Mundry R, Ban SD, Janmaat KRL. Travel linearity and speed of human foragers and chimpanzees during their daily search for food in tropical rainforests. Sci Rep 2019; 9:11066. [PMID: 31363113 PMCID: PMC6667462 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-47247-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2019] [Accepted: 07/03/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
To understand the evolutionary roots of human spatial cognition, researchers have compared spatial abilities of humans and one of our closest living relatives, the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). However, how humans and chimpanzees compare in solving spatial tasks during real-world foraging is unclear to date, as measuring such spatial abilities in natural habitats is challenging. Here we compared spatial movement patterns of the Mbendjele BaYaka people and the Taï chimpanzees during their daily search for food in rainforests. We measured linearity and speed during off-trail travels toward out-of-sight locations as proxies for spatial knowledge. We found similarly high levels of linearity in individuals of Mbendjele foragers and Taï chimpanzees. However, human foragers and chimpanzees clearly differed in their reactions to group size and familiarity with the foraging areas. Mbendjele foragers increased travel linearity with increasing familiarity and group size, without obvious changes in speed. This pattern was reversed in Taï chimpanzees. We suggest that these differences between Mbendjele foragers and Taï chimpanzees reflect their different ranging styles, such as life-time range size and trail use. This result highlights the impact of socio-ecological settings on comparing spatial movement patterns. Our study provides a first step toward comparing long-range spatial movement patterns of two closely-related species in their natural environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haneul Jang
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Christophe Boesch
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Wild Chimpanzee Foundation, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
| | - Roger Mundry
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Simone D Ban
- Wild Chimpanzee Foundation, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
| | - Karline R L Janmaat
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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17
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Trapanese C, Robira B, Tonachella G, di Gristina S, Meunier H, Masi S. Where and what? Frugivory is associated with more efficient foraging in three semi-free ranging primate species. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2019; 6:181722. [PMID: 31218025 PMCID: PMC6549983 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.181722] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2018] [Accepted: 04/08/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Foraging in seasonal environments can be cognitively challenging. Comparative studies have associated brain size with a frugivorous diet. We investigated how fruit distribution (where) and preference (what) affect foraging decisions in three semi-free ranging primate species with different degrees of frugivory: Macaca tonkeana (N indiv = 5; N trials = 430), M. fascicularis (N indiv = 3; N trials = 168) and Sapajus apella (N indiv = 6; N trials = 288). We used 36 boxes fixed on trees and filled with highly and less preferred fruits with different (weekly) spatio-temporal distributions. Individuals were tested in two conditions: (1) same fruit provided concurrently in the same quantity but in a scattered and in a clumped distribution, (2) highly preferred fruit was scattered while the less preferred was clumped. Generally, primates preferred feeding first on the boxes of the clumped distribution in both conditions, with the more frugivorous species at a higher degree than the less frugivorous species in condition (1), but not (2). Therefore, what fruit was available changed the foraging decisions of the more frugivorous species who also engaged more in goal-directed travel. When feeding on preferred fruit, primates probably maximized foraging efficiency regardless of their degree of frugivory. Our findings emphasize that the food type and distribution may be a preponderant driver in cognitive evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cinzia Trapanese
- École Doctorale Frontières du Vivant, Centre de Recherches Interdisciplinaires, 8-8bis Rue Charles V, Paris, 75004, France
- UMR 7206 Éco-anthropologie (Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle-CNRS-Univ. Paris 7), Musée de l'Homme, 17 place Trocadéro, Paris, 75116, France
- Centre de Primatologie de l'Université de Strasbourg, Fort Foch, Niederhausbergen, 67207, France
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Adaptatives, UMR 7364, CNRS et Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, 67000, France
| | - Benjamin Robira
- UMR 7206 Éco-anthropologie (Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle-CNRS-Univ. Paris 7), Musée de l'Homme, 17 place Trocadéro, Paris, 75116, France
- Institut de biologie de l’École normale supérieure (IBENS), École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, PSL Research University, Paris, France
| | - Giordana Tonachella
- UMR 7206 Éco-anthropologie (Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle-CNRS-Univ. Paris 7), Musée de l'Homme, 17 place Trocadéro, Paris, 75116, France
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università degli Studi di Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Silvia di Gristina
- UMR 7206 Éco-anthropologie (Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle-CNRS-Univ. Paris 7), Musée de l'Homme, 17 place Trocadéro, Paris, 75116, France
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università degli Studi di Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Hélène Meunier
- Centre de Primatologie de l'Université de Strasbourg, Fort Foch, Niederhausbergen, 67207, France
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Adaptatives, UMR 7364, CNRS et Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, 67000, France
| | - Shelly Masi
- UMR 7206 Éco-anthropologie (Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle-CNRS-Univ. Paris 7), Musée de l'Homme, 17 place Trocadéro, Paris, 75116, France
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18
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Hardy K. Paleomedicine and the use of plant secondary compounds in the Paleolithic and Early Neolithic. Evol Anthropol 2019; 28:60-71. [DOI: 10.1002/evan.21763] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2017] [Revised: 10/10/2018] [Accepted: 12/22/2018] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Karen Hardy
- ICREA, Pg. Lluís Companys 23 08010 Barcelona Catalonia Spain
- Departament de PrehistòriaFacultat de Filosofia i Lletres, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Barcelona Catalonia Spain
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19
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Trapanese C, Meunier H, Masi S. What, where and when: spatial foraging decisions in primates. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2018; 94:483-502. [PMID: 30211971 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12462] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2017] [Revised: 08/17/2018] [Accepted: 08/20/2018] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
When exploiting the environment, animals have to discriminate, track, and integrate salient spatial cues to navigate and identify goal sites. Actually, they have to know what can be found (e.g. what fruit), where (e.g. on which tree) and when (in what season or moment of the year). This is very relevant for primate species as they often live in seasonal and relatively unpredictable environments such as tropical forests. Here, we review and compare different approaches used to investigate primate spatial foraging strategies: from direct observations of wild primates to predictions from statistical simulations, including experimental approaches on both captive and wild primates, and experiments in captivity using virtual reality technology. Within this framework, most of these studies converge to show that many primate species can (i) remember the location of most of food resources well, and (ii) often seem to have a goal-oriented path towards spatially permanent resources. Overall, primates likely use mental maps to plan different foraging strategies to enhance their fitness. The majority of studies suggest that they may organise spatial information on food resources into topological maps: they use landmarks to navigate and encode local spatial information with regard to direction and distance. Even though these studies were able to show that primates can remember food quality (what) and its location (where), still very little is known on how they incorporate the temporal knowledge of available food (when). Future studies should attempt to increase our understanding of the potential of primates to learn temporal patterns and how both socio-ecological differences among species and their cognitive abilities influence such behavioural strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cinzia Trapanese
- École Doctorale Frontières du Vivant (FdV) - Programme Bettencourt, Centre de Recherches Interdisciplinaires, Tour Maine Montparnasse, Paris, 75015, France.,Centre de Primatologie de l'Université de Strasbourg, Fort Foch, Niederhausbergen, 67207, France.,Faculté de psychologie Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Adaptatives, UMR 7364, CNRS et Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, 67000, France.,Département Hommes et Environnements Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, University Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Musée de l'Homme, UMR 7206-CNRS/MNHN, Paris, 75116, France
| | - Hélène Meunier
- Centre de Primatologie de l'Université de Strasbourg, Fort Foch, Niederhausbergen, 67207, France.,Faculté de psychologie Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Adaptatives, UMR 7364, CNRS et Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, 67000, France
| | - Shelly Masi
- Département Hommes et Environnements Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, University Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Musée de l'Homme, UMR 7206-CNRS/MNHN, Paris, 75116, France
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20
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van Pinxteren BOCM, Sirianni G, Gratton P, Després-Einspenner ML, Egas M, Kühl H, Lapuente J, Meier AC, Janmaat KRL. Sooty mangabeys scavenge on nuts cracked by chimpanzees and red river hogs-An investigation of inter-specific interactions around tropical nut trees. Am J Primatol 2018; 80:e22895. [PMID: 30024029 PMCID: PMC6174941 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.22895] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2017] [Revised: 05/24/2018] [Accepted: 06/04/2018] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Carrion scavenging is a well‐studied phenomenon, but virtually nothing is known about scavenging on plant material, especially on remnants of cracked nuts. Just like meat, the insides of hard‐shelled nuts are high in energetic value, and both foods are difficult to acquire. In the Taï forest, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and red river hogs (Potamochoerus porcus) crack nuts by using tools or strong jaws, respectively. In this study, previously collected non‐invasive camera trap data were used to investigate scavenging by sooty mangabeys (Cercocebus atys), two species of Guinea fowl (Agelestres meleagrides; Guttera verreauxi), and squirrels (Scrunidae spp.) on the nut remnants cracked by chimpanzees and red river hogs. We investigated how scavengers located nut remnants, by analyzing their visiting behavior in relation to known nut‐cracking events. Furthermore, since mangabeys are infrequently preyed upon by chimpanzees, we investigated whether they perceive an increase in predation risk when approaching nut remnants. In total, 190 nut‐cracking events were observed in four different areas of Taï National Park, Ivory Coast. We could confirm that mangabeys scavenged on the nuts cracked by chimpanzees and hogs and that this enabled them to access food source that would not be accessible otherwise. We furthermore found that mangabeys, but not the other species, were more likely to visit nut‐cracking sites after nut‐cracking activities than before, and discuss the potential strategies that the monkeys could have used to locate nut remnants. In addition, mangabeys showed elevated levels of vigilance at the chimpanzee nut‐cracking sites compared with other foraging sites, suggesting that they perceived elevated danger at these sites. Scavenging on remnants of cracked nuts is a hitherto understudied type of foraging behavior that could be widespread in nature and increases the complexity of community ecology in tropical rainforests. By use of camera trap videos it was confirmed that mangabeys scavenge on the nut remnants cracked by chimpanzees and red river hogs. Squirrels and two types of guinea fowl might scavenge on these nut remnants but this could not be seen clearly. Looking at the visitation rate before and after nut cracking events it was found that the possible scavenging species were more present at the nut cracking sites after a nut cracking event took place. It was found that mangabeys have an increase in vigilance behavior at chimpanzee nut cracking sites compared with outside these chimpanzee nut cracking sites, indicating that the mangabeys perceive a higher risk at these nut cracking sites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bryndan O C M van Pinxteren
- Department of Evolutionary and Population Biology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Giulia Sirianni
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Paolo Gratton
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - Martijn Egas
- Department of Evolutionary and Population Biology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Hjalmar Kühl
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.,German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Juan Lapuente
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Amelia C Meier
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.,Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
| | - Karline R L Janmaat
- Department of Evolutionary and Population Biology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.,Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
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21
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Seiler N, Boesch C, Stephens C, Ortmann S, Mundry R, Robbins MM. Social and ecological correlates of space use patterns in Bwindi mountain gorillas. Am J Primatol 2018; 80:e22754. [DOI: 10.1002/ajp.22754] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2017] [Revised: 02/27/2018] [Accepted: 03/08/2018] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Nicole Seiler
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; Leipzig Germany
| | | | - Colleen Stephens
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; Leipzig Germany
| | - Sylvia Ortmann
- Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research; Berlin Germany
| | - Roger Mundry
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; Leipzig Germany
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22
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Foley BR, Marjoram P. Sure enough: efficient Bayesian learning and choice. Anim Cogn 2017; 20:867-880. [PMID: 28669114 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-017-1107-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2017] [Revised: 06/16/2017] [Accepted: 06/20/2017] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Probabilistic decision-making is a general phenomenon in animal behavior, and has often been interpreted to reflect the relative certainty of animals' beliefs. Extensive neurological and behavioral results increasingly suggest that animal beliefs may be represented as probability distributions, with explicit accounting of uncertainty. Accordingly, we develop a model that describes decision-making in a manner consistent with this understanding of neuronal function in learning and conditioning. This first-order Markov, recursive Bayesian algorithm is as parsimonious as its minimalist point-estimate, Rescorla-Wagner analogue. We show that the Bayesian algorithm can reproduce naturalistic patterns of probabilistic foraging, in simulations of an experiment in bumblebees. We go on to show that the Bayesian algorithm can efficiently describe the behavior of several heuristic models of decision-making, and is consistent with the ubiquitous variation in choice that we observe within and between individuals in implementing heuristic decision-making. By describing learning and decision-making in a single Bayesian framework, we believe we can realistically unify descriptions of behavior across contexts and organisms. A unified cognitive model of this kind may facilitate descriptions of behavioral evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brad R Foley
- The Department of Molecular and Computational Biology, The University of Southern California, 1050 Childs Way, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA.
| | - Paul Marjoram
- Preventative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, The University of Southern California, 2001 N. Soto Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90032, USA
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23
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Boesch C, Bombjaková D, Boyette A, Meier A. Technical intelligence and culture: Nut cracking in humans and chimpanzees. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2017; 163:339-355. [PMID: 28332189 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2016] [Revised: 02/20/2017] [Accepted: 03/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES According to the technical intelligence hypothesis, humans are superior to all other animal species in understanding and using tools. However, the vast majority of comparative studies between humans and chimpanzees, both proficient tool users, have not controlled for the effects of age, prior knowledge, past experience, rearing conditions, or differences in experimental procedures. We tested whether humans are superior to chimpanzees in selecting better tools, using them more dexteriously, achieving higher performance and gaining access to more resource as predicted under the technical intelligence hypothesis. MATERIALS AND METHODS Aka and Mbendjele hunter-gatherers in the rainforest of Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo, respectively, and Taï chimpanzees in the rainforest of Côte d'Ivoire were observed cracking hard Panda oleosa nuts with different tools, as well as the soft Coula edulis and Elaeis guinensis nuts. The nut-cracking techniques, hammer material selection and two efficiency measures were compared. RESULTS As predicted, the Aka and the Mbendjele were able to exploit more species of hard nuts in the forest than chimpanzees. However, the chimpanzees were sometimes more efficient than the humans. Social roles differed between the two species, with the Aka and especially the Mbendjele exhibiting cooperation between nut-crackers whereas the chimpanzees were mainly individualistic. DISCUSSION Observations of nut-cracking by humans and chimpanzees only partially supported the technical intelligence hypothesis as higher degrees of flexibility in tool selection seen in chimpanzees compensated for use of less efficient tool material than in humans. Nut cracking was a stronger social undertaking in humans than in chimpanzees.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christophe Boesch
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Daša Bombjaková
- Department of Social Anthropology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Adam Boyette
- Thompson writing program, University of Duke, Durham
| | - Amelia Meier
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
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24
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Dolins FL, Schweller K, Milne S. Technology advancing the study of animal cognition: using virtual reality to present virtually simulated environments to investigate nonhuman primate spatial cognition. Curr Zool 2017; 63:97-108. [PMID: 29491967 PMCID: PMC5804157 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zow121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2016] [Revised: 05/27/2016] [Accepted: 12/22/2016] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Virtual simulated environments provide multiple ways of testing cognitive function and evaluating problem solving with humans (e.g., Woollett et al. 2009). The use of such interactive technology has increasingly become an essential part of modern life (e.g., autonomously driving vehicles, global positioning systems (GPS), and touchscreen computers; Chinn and Fairlie 2007; Brown 2011). While many nonhuman animals have their own forms of "technology", such as chimpanzees who create and use tools, in captive animal environments the opportunity to actively participate with interactive technology is not often made available. Exceptions can be found in some state-of-the-art zoos and laboratory facilities (e.g., Mallavarapu and Kuhar 2005). When interactive technology is available, captive animals often selectively choose to engage with it. This enhances the animal's sense of control over their immediate surroundings (e.g., Clay et al. 2011; Ackerman 2012). Such self-efficacy may help to fulfill basic requirements in a species' daily activities using problem solving that can involve foraging and other goal-oriented behaviors. It also assists in fulfilling the strong underlying motivation for contrafreeloading and exploration expressed behaviorally by many species in captivity (Young 1999). Moreover, being able to present nonhuman primates virtual reality environments under experimental conditions provides the opportunity to gain insight into their navigational abilities and spatial cognition. It allows for insight into the generation and application of internal mental representations of landmarks and environments under multiple conditions (e.g., small- and large-scale space) and subsequent spatial behavior. This paper reviews methods using virtual reality developed to investigate the spatial cognitive abilities of nonhuman primates, and great apes in particular, in comparison with that of humans of multiple age groups. We make recommendations about training, best practices, and also pitfalls to avoid.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francine L. Dolins
- Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Michigan-Dearborn, Dearborn, MI, 48128, USA
| | | | - Scott Milne
- Impact Madagascar, Nanisana, Antananarivo, 101, Madagascar, Africa
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25
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Hardy K, Radini A, Buckley S, Blasco R, Copeland L, Burjachs F, Girbal J, Yll R, Carbonell E, Bermúdez de Castro JM. Diet and environment 1.2 million years ago revealed through analysis of dental calculus from Europe’s oldest hominin at Sima del Elefante, Spain. Naturwissenschaften 2016; 104:2. [DOI: 10.1007/s00114-016-1420-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2016] [Revised: 10/02/2016] [Accepted: 11/03/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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26
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San-Galli A, Varazzani C, Abitbol R, Pessiglione M, Bouret S. Primate Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Neurons Continuously Encode the Willingness to Engage in Reward-Directed Behavior. Cereb Cortex 2016; 28:73-89. [DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhw351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2016] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Aurore San-Galli
- Team Motivation, Brain & Behavior, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière (ICM), CNRS UMR 7225, INSERM U 1127, Pierre & Marie Curie University, Paris, France
| | - Chiara Varazzani
- Team Motivation, Brain & Behavior, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière (ICM), CNRS UMR 7225, INSERM U 1127, Pierre & Marie Curie University, Paris, France
| | - Raphaelle Abitbol
- Team Motivation, Brain & Behavior, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière (ICM), CNRS UMR 7225, INSERM U 1127, Pierre & Marie Curie University, Paris, France
| | - Mathias Pessiglione
- Team Motivation, Brain & Behavior, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière (ICM), CNRS UMR 7225, INSERM U 1127, Pierre & Marie Curie University, Paris, France
| | - Sebastien Bouret
- Team Motivation, Brain & Behavior, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière (ICM), CNRS UMR 7225, INSERM U 1127, Pierre & Marie Curie University, Paris, France
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27
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Janmaat KR, Boesch C, Byrne R, Chapman CA, Goné Bi ZB, Head JS, Robbins MM, Wrangham RW, Polansky L. Spatio-temporal complexity of chimpanzee food: How cognitive adaptations can counteract the ephemeral nature of ripe fruit. Am J Primatol 2016; 78:626-45. [DOI: 10.1002/ajp.22527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2015] [Revised: 12/12/2015] [Accepted: 12/17/2015] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Karline R.L. Janmaat
- Department of Primatology; Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; Leipzig Germany
| | - Christophe Boesch
- Department of Primatology; Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; Leipzig Germany
| | - Richard Byrne
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience; University of St Andrews; St Andrews United Kingdom
| | - Colin A. Chapman
- Department of Anthropology and McGill School of Environment; McGill University; Montreal Canada
| | - Zoro B. Goné Bi
- UFR Biosciences; Université Félix Houphouët Boigny; Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
| | - Josephine S. Head
- Department of Primatology; Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; Leipzig Germany
| | - Martha M. Robbins
- Department of Primatology; Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; Leipzig Germany
| | - Richard W. Wrangham
- Department of Human Evolutionary Anthropology; Harvard University; Cambridge Massachusetts
| | - Leo Polansky
- Department of Primatology; Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; Leipzig Germany
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28
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English M, Gillespie G, Goossens B, Ismail S, Ancrenaz M, Linklater W. Recursion to food plants by free-ranging Bornean elephant. PeerJ 2015; 3:e1030. [PMID: 26290779 PMCID: PMC4540050 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2015] [Accepted: 05/26/2015] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Plant recovery rates after herbivory are thought to be a key factor driving recursion by herbivores to sites and plants to optimise resource-use but have not been investigated as an explanation for recursion in large herbivores. We investigated the relationship between plant recovery and recursion by elephants (Elephas maximus borneensis) in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, Sabah. We identified 182 recently eaten food plants, from 30 species, along 14 × 50 m transects and measured their recovery growth each month over nine months or until they were re-browsed by elephants. The monthly growth in leaf and branch or shoot length for each plant was used to calculate the time required (months) for each species to recover to its pre-eaten length. Elephant returned to all but two transects with 10 eaten plants, a further 26 plants died leaving 146 plants that could be re-eaten. Recursion occurred to 58% of all plants and 12 of the 30 species. Seventy-seven percent of the re-eaten plants were grasses. Recovery times to all plants varied from two to twenty months depending on the species. Recursion to all grasses coincided with plant recovery whereas recursion to most browsed plants occurred four to twelve months before they had recovered to their previous length. The small sample size of many browsed plants that received recursion and uneven plant species distribution across transects limits our ability to generalise for most browsed species but a prominent pattern in plant-scale recursion did emerge. Plant recovery time was a good predictor of time to recursion but varied as a function of growth form (grass, ginger, palm, liana and woody) and differences between sites. Time to plant recursion coincided with plant recovery time for the elephant’s preferred food, grasses, and perhaps also gingers, but not the other browsed species. Elephants are bulk feeders so it is likely that they time their returns to bulk feed on these grass species when quantities have recovered sufficiently to meet their intake requirements. The implications for habitat and elephant management are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan English
- Centre for Biodiversity and Restoration Ecology, School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington , New Zealand
| | - Graeme Gillespie
- Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne , Parkville, Victoria , Australia
| | - Benoit Goossens
- Danau Girang Field Centre, c/o Sabah Wildlife Department , Kota Kinabalu, Sabah , Malaysia ; Organisms and Environment Division School of Biosciences, Cardiff University , Cardiff , UK ; Sabah Wildlife Department , Kota Kinabalu, Sabah , Malaysia
| | - Sulaiman Ismail
- HUTAN Elephant Conservation Unit and Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Project , Sukau Sabah , Malaysia
| | - Marc Ancrenaz
- HUTAN Elephant Conservation Unit and Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Project , Sukau Sabah , Malaysia
| | - Wayne Linklater
- Centre for Biodiversity and Restoration Ecology, School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington , New Zealand ; Centre for African Conservation Ecology, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University , Port Elizabeth , South Africa
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Murugaiyah V, Mattson MP. Neurohormetic phytochemicals: An evolutionary-bioenergetic perspective. Neurochem Int 2015; 89:271-80. [PMID: 25861940 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuint.2015.03.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2015] [Revised: 03/20/2015] [Accepted: 03/26/2015] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
The impact of dietary factors on brain health and vulnerability to disease is increasingly appreciated. The results of epidemiological studies, and intervention trials in animal models suggest that diets rich in phytochemicals can enhance neuroplasticity and resistance to neurodegeneration. Here we describe how interactions of plants and animals during their co-evolution, and resulting reciprocal adaptations, have shaped the remarkable characteristics of phytochemicals and their effects on the physiology of animal cells in general, and neurons in particular. Survival advantages were conferred upon plants capable of producing noxious bitter-tasting chemicals, and on animals able to tolerate the phytochemicals and consume the plants as an energy source. The remarkably diverse array of phytochemicals present in modern fruits, vegetables spices, tea and coffee may have arisen, in part, from the acquisition of adaptive cellular stress responses and detoxification enzymes in animals that enabled them to consume plants containing potentially toxic chemicals. Interestingly, some of the same adaptive stress response mechanisms that protect neurons against noxious phytochemicals are also activated by dietary energy restriction and vigorous physical exertion, two environmental challenges that shaped brain evolution. In this perspective article, we describe some of the signaling pathways relevant to cellular energy metabolism that are modulated by 'neurohormetic phytochemicals' (potentially toxic chemicals produced by plants that have beneficial effects on animals when consumed in moderate amounts). We highlight the cellular bioenergetics-related sirtuin, adenosine monophosphate activated protein kinase (AMPK), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) pathways. The inclusion of dietary neurohormetic phytochemicals in an overall program for brain health that also includes exercise and energy restriction may find applications in the prevention and treatment of a range of neurological disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vikneswaran Murugaiyah
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
| | - Mark P Mattson
- Laboratory of Neurosciences, National Institute on Aging Intramural Research Program, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA.
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Wild chimpanzees modify food call structure with respect to tree size for a particular fruit species. Anim Behav 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.12.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
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Barks SK, Calhoun ME, Hopkins WD, Cranfield MR, Mudakikwa A, Stoinski TS, Patterson FG, Erwin JM, Hecht EE, Hof PR, Sherwood CC. Brain organization of gorillas reflects species differences in ecology. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2015; 156:252-62. [PMID: 25360547 PMCID: PMC4314362 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22646] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2014] [Revised: 10/10/2014] [Accepted: 10/15/2014] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Gorillas include separate eastern (Gorilla beringei) and western (Gorilla gorilla) African species that diverged from each other approximately 2 million years ago. Although anatomical, genetic, behavioral, and socioecological differences have been noted among gorilla populations, little is known about variation in their brain structure. This study examines neuroanatomical variation between gorilla species using structural neuroimaging. Postmortem magnetic resonance images were obtained of brains from 18 captive western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), 15 wild mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei), and 3 Grauer's gorillas (Gorilla beringei graueri) (both wild and captive). Stereologic methods were used to measure volumes of brain structures, including left and right frontal lobe gray and white matter, temporal lobe gray and white matter, parietal and occipital lobes gray and white matter, insular gray matter, hippocampus, striatum, thalamus, each hemisphere and the vermis of the cerebellum, and the external and extreme capsules together with the claustrum. Among the species differences, the volumes of the hippocampus and cerebellum were significantly larger in G. gorilla than G. beringei. These anatomical differences may relate to divergent ecological adaptations of the two species. Specifically, G. gorilla engages in more arboreal locomotion and thus may rely more on cerebellar circuits. In addition, they tend to eat more fruit and have larger home ranges and consequently might depend more on spatial mapping functions of the hippocampus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah K. Barks
- Department of Anthropology and Center for the Advanced Study of Hominid Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052
| | | | - William D. Hopkins
- Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303
- Division of Developmental and Cognitive Neuroscience, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, GA 30329
| | - Michael R. Cranfield
- Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616
| | - Antoine Mudakikwa
- Rwanda Development Board, Department of Tourism and Conservation, Kigale, Rwanda
| | - Tara S. Stoinski
- The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, Atlanta, GA 30315
- Zoo Atlanta, Atlanta, GA 30315
| | | | - Joseph M. Erwin
- Department of Anthropology and Center for the Advanced Study of Hominid Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052
| | - Erin E. Hecht
- Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303
| | - Patrick R. Hof
- Fishberg Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029
- New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY 10024
| | - Chet C. Sherwood
- Department of Anthropology and Center for the Advanced Study of Hominid Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052
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Abstract
Not all tropical fruits are equally desired by rainforest foragers and some fruit trees get depleted more quickly and carry fruit for shorter periods than others. We investigated whether a ripe-fruit specialist, the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus), arrived earlier at breakfast sites with very ephemeral and highly sought-after fruit, like figs, than sites with less ephemeral fruit that can be more predictably obtained throughout the entire day. We recorded when and where five adult female chimpanzees spent the night and acquired food for a total of 275 full days during three fruit-scarce periods in a West African tropical rainforest. We found that chimpanzees left their sleeping nests earlier (often before sunrise when the forest is still dark) when breakfasting on very ephemeral fruits, especially when they were farther away. Moreover, the females positioned their sleeping nests more in the direction of the next day's breakfast sites with ephemeral fruit compared with breakfast sites with other fruit. By analyzing departure times and nest positioning as a function of fruit type and location, while controlling for more parsimonious explanations, such as temperature, we found evidence that wild chimpanzees flexibly plan their breakfast time, type, and location after weighing multiple disparate pieces of information. Our study reveals a cognitive mechanism by which large-brained primates can buffer the effects of seasonal declines in food availability and increased interspecific competition to facilitate first access to nutritious food. We discuss the implications for theories on hominoid brain-size evolution.
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Krief S, Cibot M, Bortolamiol S, Seguya A, Krief JM, Masi S. Wild chimpanzees on the edge: nocturnal activities in croplands. PLoS One 2014; 9:e109925. [PMID: 25338066 PMCID: PMC4206271 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0109925] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2014] [Accepted: 09/04/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
In a rapidly changing landscape highly impacted by anthropogenic activities, the great apes are facing new challenges to coexist with humans. For chimpanzee communities inhabiting encroached territories, not bordered by rival conspecifics but by human agricultural fields, such boundaries are risky areas. To investigate the hypothesis that they use specific strategies for incursions out of the forest into maize fields to prevent the risk of detection by humans guarding their field, we carried out video recordings of chimpanzees at the edge of the forest bordered by a maize plantation in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Contrary to our expectations, large parties are engaged in crop-raids, including vulnerable individuals such as females with clinging infants. More surprisingly chimpanzees were crop-raiding during the night. They also stayed longer in the maize field and presented few signs of vigilance and anxiety during these nocturnal crop-raids. While nocturnal activities of chimpanzees have been reported during full moon periods, this is the first record of frequent and repeated nocturnal activities after twilight, in darkness. Habitat destruction may have promoted behavioural adjustments such as nocturnal exploitation of open croplands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabrina Krief
- UMR 7206 CNRS/MNHN/P7, Eco-anthropologie et d’ethnobiologie, Hommes, Natures, Sociétés, Museum national d’histoire naturelle, Paris, France
- Projet pour la conservation des grands singes, Kibale National Park, Fort Portal, Uganda
- * E-mail:
| | - Marie Cibot
- UMR 7206 CNRS/MNHN/P7, Eco-anthropologie et d’ethnobiologie, Hommes, Natures, Sociétés, Museum national d’histoire naturelle, Paris, France
- Projet pour la conservation des grands singes, Kibale National Park, Fort Portal, Uganda
- UMR 7179 CNRS/MNHN, Mécanismes adaptatifs: des organismes aux communautés, Ecologie et de gestion de la biodiversité, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, Paris, France
| | - Sarah Bortolamiol
- UMR 7206 CNRS/MNHN/P7, Eco-anthropologie et d’ethnobiologie, Hommes, Natures, Sociétés, Museum national d’histoire naturelle, Paris, France
- Projet pour la conservation des grands singes, Kibale National Park, Fort Portal, Uganda
- UMR 7533, Dynamiques Sociales et Recomposition des Espaces, Paris Diderot University, Paris, France
| | | | - Jean-Michel Krief
- Projet pour la conservation des grands singes, Kibale National Park, Fort Portal, Uganda
| | - Shelly Masi
- UMR 7206 CNRS/MNHN/P7, Eco-anthropologie et d’ethnobiologie, Hommes, Natures, Sociétés, Museum national d’histoire naturelle, Paris, France
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Assessing value representation in animals. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2014; 109:64-9. [PMID: 25092260 DOI: 10.1016/j.jphysparis.2014.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2014] [Revised: 07/10/2014] [Accepted: 07/17/2014] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Among all factors modulating our motivation to perform a given action, the ability to represent its outcome is clearly the most determining. Representation of outcomes, rewards in particular, and how they guide behavior, have sparked much research. Both practically and theoretically, understanding the relationship between the representation of outcome value and the organization of goal directed behavior implies that these two processes can be assessed independently. Most of animal studies essentially used instrumental actions as a proxy for the expected goal-value. The purpose of this article is to consider alternative measures of expected outcome value in animals, which are critical to understand the behavioral and neurobiological mechanisms relating the representation of the expected outcome to the organization of the behavior oriented towards its obtention. This would be critical in the field of decision making or social interactions, where the value of multiple items must often be compared and/or shared among individuals to determine the course of actions.
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Bortolamiol S, Cohen M, Potts K, Pennec F, Rwaburindore P, Kasenene J, Seguya A, Vignaud Q, Krief S. Suitable habitats for endangered frugivorous mammals: small-scale comparison, regeneration forest and chimpanzee density in Kibale National Park, Uganda. PLoS One 2014; 9:e102177. [PMID: 25033459 PMCID: PMC4102508 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0102177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2014] [Accepted: 06/16/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Landscape patterns and chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) densities in Kibale National Park show important variation among communities that are geographically close to one another (from 1.5 to 5.1 chimpanzees/km2). Anthropogenic activities inside the park (past logging activities, current encroachment) and outside its limits (food and cash crops) may impact the amount and distribution of food resources for chimpanzees (frugivorous species) and their spatial distribution within the park. Spatial and temporal patterns of fruit availability were recorded over 18 months at Sebitoli (a site of intermediate chimpanzee density and higher anthropic pressure) with the aim of understanding the factors explaining chimpanzee density there, in comparison to results from two other sites, also in Kibale: Kanyawara (low chimpanzee density) and Ngogo (high density, and furthest from Sebitoli). Because of the post-logging regenerating status of the forest in Sebitoli and Kanyawara, smaller basal area (BA) of fruiting trees most widely consumed by the chimpanzees in Kanyawara and Sebitoli was expected compared to Ngogo (not logged commercially). Due to the distance between sites, spatial and temporal fruit abundance in Sebitoli was expected to be more similar to Kanyawara than to Ngogo. While species functional classes consumed by Sebitoli chimpanzees (foods eaten during periods of high or low fruit abundance) differ from the two other sites, Sebitoli is very similar to Kanyawara in terms of land-cover and consumed species. Among feeding trees, Ficus species are particularly important resources for chimpanzees at Sebitoli, where their basal area is higher than at Kanywara or Ngogo. Ficus species provided a relatively consistent supply of food for chimpanzees throughout the year, and we suggest that this could help to explain the unusually high density of chimpanzees in such a disturbed site.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Bortolamiol
- UMR 7533 Laboratoire Dynamiques Sociales et Recomposition des Espaces, Paris Diderot University (Sorbonne Paris Cité), Paris, France
- UMR 7206 Eco-Anthropologie et Ethnobiologie (MNHN/CNRS/Paris Diderot), Paris, France
- Great Ape Conservation Project (PCGS), Sebitoli UWA Station in Kibale National Park, Fort Portal, Uganda
| | - Marianne Cohen
- UMR 7533 Laboratoire Dynamiques Sociales et Recomposition des Espaces, Paris Diderot University (Sorbonne Paris Cité), Paris, France
- Pole Image, Paris Diderot University (Sorbonne Paris Cité), Paris, France
| | - Kevin Potts
- Department of Biology, Augsburg College, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States of America
| | - Flora Pennec
- UMR 7206 Eco-Anthropologie et Ethnobiologie (MNHN/CNRS/Paris Diderot), Paris, France
| | | | - John Kasenene
- Department of Botany, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
| | | | - Quentin Vignaud
- UMR 7206 Eco-Anthropologie et Ethnobiologie (MNHN/CNRS/Paris Diderot), Paris, France
- Pole Image, Paris Diderot University (Sorbonne Paris Cité), Paris, France
| | - Sabrina Krief
- UMR 7206 Eco-Anthropologie et Ethnobiologie (MNHN/CNRS/Paris Diderot), Paris, France
- Great Ape Conservation Project (PCGS), Sebitoli UWA Station in Kibale National Park, Fort Portal, Uganda
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Ban SD, Boesch C, Janmaat KRL. Taï chimpanzees anticipate revisiting high-valued fruit trees from further distances. Anim Cogn 2014; 17:1353-64. [PMID: 24950721 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-014-0771-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2014] [Revised: 05/29/2014] [Accepted: 06/03/2014] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
The use of spatio-temporal memory has been argued to increase food-finding efficiency in rainforest primates. However, the exact content of this memory is poorly known to date. This study investigated what specific information from previous feeding visits chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus), in Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire, take into account when they revisit the same feeding trees. By following five adult females for many consecutive days, we tested from what distance the females directed their travels towards previously visited feeding trees and how previous feeding experiences and fruit tree properties influenced this distance. To exclude the influence of sensory cues, the females' approach distance was measured from their last significant change in travel direction until the moment they entered the tree's maximum detection field. We found that chimpanzees travelled longer distances to trees at which they had previously made food grunts and had rejected fewer fruits compared to other trees. In addition, the results suggest that the chimpanzees were able to anticipate the amount of fruit that they would find in the trees. Overall, our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that chimpanzees act upon a retrieved memory of their last feeding experiences long before they revisit feeding trees, which would indicate a daily use of long-term prospective memory. Further, the results are consistent with the possibility that positive emotional experiences help to trigger prospective memory retrieval in forest areas that are further away and have fewer cues associated with revisited feeding trees.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simone D Ban
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany,
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Dolins FL, Klimowicz C, Kelley J, Menzel CR. Using virtual reality to investigate comparative spatial cognitive abilities in chimpanzees and humans. Am J Primatol 2014; 76:496-513. [PMID: 24390812 PMCID: PMC4710544 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.22252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2013] [Accepted: 11/21/2013] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to determine the efficacy of investigating spatial cognitive abilities across two primate species using virtual reality. In this study, we presented four captive adult chimpanzees and 16 humans (12 children and 4 adults) with simulated environments of increasing complexity and size to compare species' attention to visuo-spatial features during navigation. The specific task required participants to attend to landmarks in navigating along routes in order to localize the goal site. Both species were found to discriminate effectively between positive and negative landmarks. Assessing path efficiency revealed that both species and all age groups used relatively efficient, distance reducing routes during navigation. Compared to the chimpanzees and adult humans however, younger children's performance decreased as maze complexity and size increased. Surprisingly, in the most complex maze category the humans' performance was less accurate compared to one female chimpanzee. These results suggest that the method of using virtual reality to test captive primates, and in particular, chimpanzees, affords significant cross-species investigations of spatial cognitive and developmental comparisons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francine L. Dolins
- Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Michigan-Dearborn, Dearborn, USA
| | | | - John Kelley
- Language Research Center, Georgia State University, USA
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Finestone E, Bonnie KE, Hopper LM, Vreeman VM, Lonsdorf EV, Ross SR. The interplay between individual, social, and environmental influences on chimpanzee food choices. Behav Processes 2014; 105:71-8. [PMID: 24680959 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2014.03.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2013] [Revised: 01/21/2014] [Accepted: 03/18/2014] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
The foraging activity of chimpanzees requires individuals to balance personal preferences with nutrient requirements, food availability, and interactions with members of their social group. To determine whether chimpanzee food preferences are fixed or malleable across varying socio-ecological contexts, we presented six zoo-housed chimpanzees with pairwise combinations of four different foods under two experimental conditions. First, we individually tested each chimpanzee's choices for the four foods to ascertain individual preferences. Second, we tested the chimpanzees in a situation which more-closely mimicked the foraging pressures experienced by wild chimpanzees. In this second condition, the chimpanzees were tested in a group setting and the food availability was less predictable, such as in a patchy foraging environment. Subjects expressed significant variation in their selection of which foods to consume in the two different contexts and also appeared more willing to consume less-preferred foods in the unpredictable, social environment. These results suggest that chimpanzees' food preferences are not fixed, but change with context and are likely mediated by social facilitation. This is not only important to understand chimpanzees' foraging patterns and dietary requirements, but also has implications for experimental paradigms that rely on food preferences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma Finestone
- The Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, USA
| | - Kristin E Bonnie
- The Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, USA; Department of Psychology, Beloit College, Beloit, USA
| | - Lydia M Hopper
- The Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, USA
| | - Vivian M Vreeman
- The Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, USA
| | - Elizabeth V Lonsdorf
- The Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, USA; Department of Psychology, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, USA
| | - Stephen R Ross
- The Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, USA.
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Garber PA, Dolins FL. Primate spatial strategies and cognition: introduction to this special issue. Am J Primatol 2014; 76:393-8. [PMID: 24395033 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.22257] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2013] [Accepted: 12/12/2013] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Wild primates face significant challenges associated with locating resources that involve learning through exploration, encoding, and recalling travel routes, orienting to single landmarks or landmark arrays, monitoring food availability, and applying spatial strategies that reduce effort and increase efficiency. These foraging decisions are likely to involve tradeoffs between traveling to nearby or distant feeding sites based on expectations of resource productivity, predation risk, the availability of other nearby feeding sites, and individual requirements associated with nutrient balancing. Socioecological factors that affect primate foraging decisions include feeding competition, intergroup encounters, mate defense, and opportunities for food sharing. The nine research papers in this Special Issue, "Primate Spatial Strategies and Cognition," address a series of related questions examining how monkeys, apes, and humans encode, internally represent, and integrate spatial, temporal, and quantity information in efficiently locating and relocating productive feeding sites in both small-scale and large-scale space. The authors use a range of methods and approaches to study wild and captive primates, including computer and mathematical modeling, virtual reality, and detailed examinations of animal movement using GPS and GIS analyses to better understand primate cognitive ecology and species differences in decision-making. We conclude this Introduction by identifying a series of critical questions for future research designed to document species-specific differences in primate spatial cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul A Garber
- Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois
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40
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Chimpanzees use long-term spatial memory to monitor large fruit trees and remember feeding experiences across seasons. Anim Behav 2013. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.09.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 84] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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