Hunting Activity Among Naturalistically Housed Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) at the Fundació Mona (Girona, Spain). Predation, Occasional Consumption and Strategies in Rehabilitated Animals.
Predatory behavior in wild chimpanzees and other primates has been well documented over the last 30 years. However, as it is an opportunistic behavior, conditions which may promote such behavior are left up to chance. Until now, predatory behavior among captive chimpanzees has been poorly documented. In this paper, we present five instances providing evidence of predatory behavior: four performed by isolated individuals and one carried out in cooperation. The evidence of group predation involved the chimpanzees adopting different roles as pursuers and ambushers. Prey was partially eaten in some cases, but not in the social episode. This study confirms that naturalistic environments allow chimpanzees to enhance species-typical behavioral patterns.
Unitat de Recerca i Laboratori d'Etologia, Fundació Mona, Carretera de Cassà km4, Riudellots de la Selva, 17457 Girona, Spain. mllorente@fundacionmona.org.|Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, 43007 Tarragona, Spain. mllorente@fundacionmona.org.
Miquel
M
Llorente
Unitat de Recerca i Laboratori d'Etologia, Fundació Mona, Carretera de Cassà km4, Riudellots de la Selva, 17457 Girona, Spain. d.riba@fundacionmona.org.|Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, 43007 Tarragona, Spain. d.riba@fundacionmona.org.
David
D
Riba
Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, 43007 Tarragona, Spain. marina.mosquera@urv.cat.|Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 43002 Tarragona, Spain. marina.mosquera@urv.cat.
Marina
M
Mosquera
Unitat de Recerca i Laboratori d'Etologia, Fundació Mona, Carretera de Cassà km4, Riudellots de la Selva, 17457 Girona, Spain. recerca@fundacionmona.org.
Mei
M
Ventura
Unitat de Recerca i Laboratori d'Etologia, Fundació Mona, Carretera de Cassà km4, Riudellots de la Selva, 17457 Girona, Spain. o.feliu@fundacionmona.org.
Olga
O
Feliu
captivity; cooperative behavior; hunting; predatory behavior; welfare