Not only do they use specialized tool sets to harvest termites, ants, and honey, but they customize the implements with different modifications to improve their efficiency. Arguably, chimpanzees living in this region have the most sophisticated arsenal of tool-using skills documented in the animal kingdom.
Chimpanzee diet in wild plus#
Unlike chimpanzees in East and West Africa, who use a single tool to extract termites, chimpanzees in Central Africa's Congo Basin use tool sets-puncturing sticks or perforating twigs plus fishing probes-to harvest the insects from underground nests or towering earthen mounds scattered across lowland forests. PLoS ONE 10 (7): e0134075 doi: 10.1371/ the now-ubiquitous manmade technology of motion-activated cameras, researchers who remotely watched 25 immature chimpanzees grow up have documented how humankind's closest relatives living in the Congo Basin acquire their unique tool skills for harvesting termites, a favorite nutrient-rich element of the chimpanzee diet. Mineral Acquisition from Clay by Budongo Forest Chimpanzees. “Instead the wide range of minerals present in their diet suggests that clay is eaten as a general mineral supplement.” “Raffia is a key source of sodium, but to our surprise the sodium content was very low in the diet so this does not appear to be the main reason for the new clay-bingeing,” said Prof Reynolds, led author on the study published in the journal PLoS ONE. The decaying pith of these palm trees was previously an important source of minerals for the chimpanzees.” “Meanwhile, after 2005, clay soil feeding in Budongo seems to have increased, possibly because of the scarcity of raffia-palm trees which are now used in the local tobacco industry with the leaf stems being used for tying and curing tobacco leaves. “Before 2000 feeding on raffia palms was commonly observed among the Sonso chimps, but after 2005 it started to decline.” “Clays, such as kaolinite, also contain sodium, calcium, iron, magnesium and potassium, which the Budongo chimps seem to have discovered they can access with their leaf sponges,” the scientists explained.Īccessing the clay with the leaf sponges was also found to provide higher mineral concentrations than taking clay-water or clay directly from the ground. It is common practice for local women in Budongo to drink or eat forest clay mixed with water for stomach problems and during pregnancy. The chimps’ diet, which consists mainly of fruits and leaves, is very high in tannins and the team believes that the clay provides an important way for chimpanzees to neutralize these. The team suggests this change in diet may be partly due to the widespread destruction of raffia palm trees ( Raphia farinifera) that chimps relied on for their minerals in the past.Īn analysis of the clay and termite soils shows they are very high in a range of minerals, but the clay was particularly high in aluminum – a feature of kaolinite clays eaten by a range of species, including humans, to aid digestion and detoxification.
The chimps were also seen using their fingers to extract lumps of clay directly from the ground before eating it. The scientists observed the chimps using leaves like clay ‘sponges,’ dipping the leaves in the clay water and returning to their mouths where they squeezed the liquid out with their tongues. Prof Reynolds and his colleagues from the UK, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, observed the eastern chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in the Budongo forest eating and drinking from clay pits and termite mounds. Adult female chimp Nambi using a leaf-sponge at waterhole, watched by 10-year-old juvenile Karo.
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