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Use of tool sets by chimpanzees for multiple purposes in Moukalaba-Doudou National Park, Gabon

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Abstract

We report our recent findings on the use of tool sets by chimpanzees in Moukalaba-Doudou National Park, Gabon. Direct observations and evidences left by chimpanzees showed that chimpanzees used sticks as pounders, enlargers, and collectors to extract honey from beehives of stingless bees (Meliponula sp.), which may correspond to those previously found in the same site for fishing termites and to those found in Loango National Park, Gabon. However, we observed chimpanzees using a similar set of tools for hunting a medium-sized mammal (possibly mongoose) that hid inside a log. This is the first report of hunting with tools by a chimpanzee population in Central Africa. Chimpanzees may recognize the multiple functions and applicability of tools (extracting honey and driving prey), although it is still a preliminary speculation. Our findings may provide us a new insight on the chimpanzee’s flexibility of tool use and cognitive abilities of complex food gathering.

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Acknowledgments

This study was conducted in cooperation among the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique (CENAREST), the Institut des Recherches en Ecologie Tropicale (IRET), Masuku University (USTM), Gabon, and Kyoto University, Japan. We thank the Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux of the Gabonese government for permission and support for our research project in Gabon. We are also greatly indebted to all of the field assistants at Moukalaba-Doudou National Park and the people in the villages of Doussala, Konzi, and Mboungou for their kind support and hospitality. This study was financed in part by a Grant-in-Aid for the Doctor Course Program of Masuku University (to E.G. Wilfried), Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (No. 162550080, No. 19107007, No. 24255010 to J. Yamagiwa), and SATREPS (Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development) by JST/JICA, Japan.

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Correspondence to Juichi Yamagiwa.

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Wilfried, E.E.G., Yamagiwa, J. Use of tool sets by chimpanzees for multiple purposes in Moukalaba-Doudou National Park, Gabon. Primates 55, 467–472 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-014-0431-5

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