title: Prevalence of muzzle-rubbing and hand-rubbing behavior in wild chimpanzees in Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania.
abstract: In 1998, four chimpanzees in the Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania, were observed wiping their mouths with non-detached leaves or stalks of grass, or rubbing their mouths with a tree trunk or branch, especially while eating lemons. The number of mouth-wiping/rubbing individuals increased to 18 in 1999. By 2005, 29 chimpanzees were documented wiping/rubbing their muzzles in this way. Although it is difficult to determine whether the chimpanzees acquired this behavior as a result of trial and error or social learning, the fact that chimpanzees at other sites perform this behavior with detached leaves or leafy twigs much more often than with intact items suggests the possibility that cleaning with intact plant parts at Mahale spread via social learning.
authors.affiliation: Staffordshire University, Staffordshire, UK.
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Corp
authors.forename: Hitoshige
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hayaki
authors.forename: Takahisa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsusaka
authors.forename: Shiho
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hosaka
authors.forename: Nobuyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kutsukake
authors.forename: Michio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Miho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Hitonaru
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nishie
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shimada
authors.forename: Koichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zamma
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wallauer
authors.forename: Toshisada
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishida
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D006120:Grooming / Q000502:physiology*; D019370:Observation; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000502:physiology*; D013636:Tanzania