Electronic Press Kit

 

This page contains a summary of the manuscript, contact information and electronic downloads (images, video) related to the research article "Chimpanzees Prey on Army Ants with Specialized Tool Set" published in the American Journal of Primatology.

 

 

The chimpanzee culture debate has received a great deal of attention over the past ten years. New cultural variants have been proposed, while others have been challenged. Ant dipping is one of the most commonly cited examples of a behavior which differs between chimpanzee populations. It was claimed that chimpanzees in East Africa show a particular gathering technique, whereas apes in West Africa exhibit another variant of the behavior. More recently, detailed studies of these techniques across sites have shown that most of the variation in tool use to prey upon army ants could be explained by the characteristics of the targeted ant species. However, remote video cameras stationed in the Republic of Congo are revealing that chimpanzees in the Goualougo Triangle have developed a more sophisticated way to gather army ants. In the American Journal of Primatology, scientists report their observations of chimpanzees preying upon ants with a specialized tool set consisting of a wooden perforating tool to open the ant nest and another flexible tool to gather insects. Although these chimpanzees are targeting the same ants harvested in other regions, there are no other reports of such regular or widespread use of more than one type of tool to prey upon Dorylus ants. It has only recently been discovered that these particular chimpanzees use several different types of tool sets which could be their cultural signature of sorts. There is an urgency to learn about these behaviors as the existence of the apes in the Congo Basin is threatened by logging, hunting, and disease.

 

 

Crickette Sanz, PhD

Department of Anthropology

Washington University

One Brookings Drive

Campus Box 1114

Saint Louis, MO 63130

U.S.A.

Email: csanz@artsci.wustl.edu

Tel.: 314-935-3918

 

David Morgan, PhD

Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes

Lincoln Park Zoo

2001 N. Clark Street

Chicago, IL 60614

U.S.A.

Email: dmorgan@lpzoo.org

Tel.: 315-961-3674

 

Caspar Schoning, PhD

Honey Bee Research Institute
Friedrich-Engels-Strasse 28
16540 Hohen Neuendorf
Germany
Email: caspar@zedat.fu-berlin.de
Tel.: + 49 - 3303 - 293836

 

 

Images

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Image 1. An adult male chimpanzee standing bipedally while using a tool to dip for ants in the Goualougo Triangle. Photo Credit: Morgan/Sanz, Goualougo Triangle Ape Project, Nouabale-Ndoki National Park, Republic of Congo.	Image 2. Adult male chimpanzee holding an ant nest perforating tool in his right hand and an ant dipping probe in his mouth. Photo Credit: Morgan/Sanz, Goualougo Triangle Ape Project, Nouabale-Ndoki National Park, Republic of Congo.	Image 3. Adult male chimpanzee in the Goualougo Triangle, Republic of Congo. Photo Credit: Sanz/Morgan, Goualougo Triangle Ape Project, Nouabale-Ndoki National Park, Republic of Congo.
Image 4. Tool set used by chimpanzees to prey upon army ants in the Goualougo Triangle, Republic of Congo. The top two tools are herbaceous dipping probes. The bottom tool is a perforating tool with the leafy branches intact at one end. Above the perforating tool is a measuring tape totaling 20 cm in length. Photo Credit: Sanz/Morgan, Goualougo Triangle Ape Project, Nouabale-Ndoki National Park, Republic of Congo.	Image 5. Juvenile male chimpanzee in the Goualougo Triangle, Republic of Congo. Photo Credit: Sanz/Morgan, Goualougo Triangle Ape Project, Nouabale-Ndoki National Park, Republic of Congo.	Image 6. Subadult male chimpanzee in the Goualougo Triangle, Republic of Congo. Photo Credit: Sanz/Morgan, Goualougo Triangle Ape Project, Nouabale-Ndoki National Park, Republic of Congo.
Image 7. Close-up view of a Dorylus ant. Photo Credit: April Nobile / www.antweb.org.	Image 8. Army ants standing in formation at the nest. Photo Credit: Sanz/Morgan, Goualougo Triangle Ape Project, Nouabale-Ndoki National Park, Republic of Congo.	Image 9. Soldier army ant at the nest. Photo Credit: Sanz/Morgan, Goualougo Triangle Ape Project, Nouabale-Ndoki National Park, Republic of Congo.

 

 

 

Video

Any use of this video without credit or attribution is unauthorized.

 

 

 

Video 1. Adult male chimpanzee uses a tool set when visiting an army ant nest. He first uses a sapling with leafy branches intact on the unused end to perforate the nest, and then follows with an herbaceous dipping wand. Video Credit: Goualougo Triangle Ape Project, Nouabale-Ndoki National Park, Republic of Congo.