title: Natural history of Camponotus ant-fishing by the M group chimpanzees at the Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania.
abstract: The aim of this study was to provide basic data on ant-fishing behavior among the M group chimpanzees at the Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania. Ant-fishing is a type of tool-using behavior that has been exhibited by Mahale chimpanzees when feeding upon arboreal carpenter ants (Camponotus spp.) since the 1970s, and is now regarded as a candidate of wild chimpanzee culture. Herein, I describe in detail the features of ant-fishing shown by the Mahale M group chimpanzees: (1) 2 species of Camponotus ants (Camponotus sp. (chrysurus-complex) [C. sp.1] and C. brutus) were identified as the target species of ant-fishing, and C. sp.1 was selected intensively as the main target; (2) 24 species (92 individuals) of trees were identified as ant-fishing sites-these were widely distributed throughout the western/lowland region of the M group's home range, and the top 5 species were used more frequently; (3) the efficiency of ant-fishing was influenced not only by the site choice or the skillfulness of the chimpanzees, but inevitably by the condition of the ants; (4) the estimated nutritional intake from ant-fishing was apparently negligible; (5) most of the M group members (50/60 individuals) older than 3 years of age successfully used tools to fish for ants; and (6) female chimpanzees engaged in ant-fishing more frequently and for longer periods than males did. Further, I compared the features of ant-fishing exhibited by the Mahale M group chimpanzees with those exhibited by the former K group at Mahale and by other populations of wild chimpanzees.
authors.affiliation: Wildlife Research Center of Kyoto University, 2-24 Tanaka-sekiden-cho, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8203, Japan. nishie.hitonaru@gmail.com
authors.forename: Hitonaru
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nishie
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000145:classification; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000502:physiology*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013636:Tanzania; D053001:Tool Use Behavior