Long-term research on chimpanzee behavioral ecology in Kibale National Park, Uganda

Abstract

Long-term data are crucial for addressing questions about the behavior and ecology of chimpanzees because of their slow life histories. Despite the long history of field research on chimpanzees, the number of sites that have provided long-term data on multiple communities in the same population is still small. Long-term data on two habituated chimpanzee communities in Kibale National Park, Uganda, have provided important insights into variation in chimpanzee behavioral ecology and life-history strategies. Long-term data on diet, phenology, and forest composition indicate that Ngogo is better habitat for chimpanzees; this helps explain why chimpanzee population density is three times higher there than at Kanyawara, why the Ngogo community is three times as large as that at Kanyawara, and why female gregariousness is higher at Ngogo. Both sites have provided important data on sex differences in gregariousness and in space use, on long-term social bonds, on hunting, on intergroup aggression, and on other important topics in behavioral ecology. The large size of the Ngogo community offers valuable insights into demographic influences on behavior and on male reproductive success and into chimpanzee-red colobus predator-prey dynamics. In this chapter, I summarize some of the major findings of this research and compare Kibale data to those from other long-term chimpanzee research sites.