*NOTE: this was written for my AP Biology class presentation. Hope you find it entertaining.
Gombe Chimpanzee Hunting Behavior
When Jane Goodall started studying chimpanzees in Gombe, Africa, the primates were thought of just herbivores and insectivores. They were also thought of as “peaceful creatures” and the idea of them killing for meat was thought to be absurd. Therefore, when Goodall first recorded and relayed the information of the chimpanzees in Gombe as hunters of mammals, her observations were met with skepticism. However, throughout the years she was in Africa, more and more of this characteristic was seen in Tanzania, Uganda, and in the Senegal and Ivory Coast. It is now widely known and accepted by scientists that chimpanzees, whether in groups or individually, hunt, kill, and eat medium-sized mammals.
Chimpanzees’ prey weigh up to 20 kilograms, and include arboreal (e.g. colobus) monkeys, bush pigs, bushbuck fawns, baboons, (occasionally) human infants, and even the young of their own species. Hunting may be opportunistic or it may be driven by the desire for meat. The colobus monkeys are the most frequently eaten prey, accounting for fifty-nine percent of the total number of quarry caught and eaten. Before starting the hunt, chimps usually spend time on the ground gazing up into the canopy where the colobus moneys are active. The chimpanzees seem to assess the situation: such as understand the pathways the colobus are using, looking for mother-infant pairs and/or juveniles and where they are located and arboreal pathways that the colobus could use as escape routes. These monkeys can be hunted successfully by an individual or a group; the latter more successful and more prey can be caught. Chimpanzees hunt these monkeys by stationing part of the group up in the trees while others stay on the ground following the chase, in case a monkey in knocked onto the ground. There have been several occasions where the colobus monkeys successfully defend and even attack the chimps to avoid being consumed. Read the rest of this entry »
