Geza Teleki

Chimpanzee subsistence technology: Materials and skills

Abstract Beyond reviewing basic data on Primate technological behavior, the aim of this report is to document the nature of chimpanzee technical skills by examining some of the mental as well as physical expertise which chimpanzees bring to bear on subsistence activities. This task is approached along several avenues: first, an outline is drawn of current knowledge about chimpanzee subsistence technology throughout Africa; second, a sketch is made of technological variability in several chimpanzee populations; third, the results of a personal investigation into the skills needed by chimpanzees to probe for insects are provided; and fourth, a comparison is made of the baboon, chimpanzee and human techniques used to exploit termites as a food resource. Instead of focusing on the unique features of human subsistence technology, the report attempts to show that many technical skills are and probably were firmly rooted in Primate prehistory, well before the advent of the earliest hominids. An integrated model of technological achievements among extant Primates, based on a sample of African cercopithecid, pongid and hominid populations representing stages in a phylogentic sequence, is offered as a foundation for reconstructing the gradual evolution of primate subsistence technology. This approach is intended to provoke contemplation and discussion among those investigators of human behavior and society who favor the thesis that the criterion of technology, together with the cultural transmission of technical skills, separates the human from the nonhuman Primates.

Primate subsistence patterns: Collector-predators and gatherer-hunters

Abstract Hominization via predation has become a pervasive anthropological theme in recent years. Indeed, the assumption that hunting behavior originated within the primate phylogenetic sequence as a “human” subsistence pattern has generated numerous subsidiary hypotheses about how secondary traits were initiated, propagated or enhanced when a terrestrial, savanna-dwelling, meat-eating hominid line emerged from an arboreal, forest-dwelling, plant-eating ancestral stock. New field evidence on the behavioral and organizational features of subsistence in nonhuman and human primates now provides the basis for reconsidering these views. Many monkey, ape and human populations no longer seem to fit the stereotyped images sketched in past decades, when little or no comparative information was available to anthropologists. The discrepancy between the old concepts and new facts is particularly evident in Sub-Saharan Africa, where numerous primate taxa have been studied in climatically and biotically similar zones. In this region alone, more than 364 cases of predation, involving 22 different species of mammalian prey, have been recorded among at least 10 supposedly “vegetarian” baboon and chimpanzee populations dispersed between Ethiopia and South Africa. Furthermore, many of the human populations living within this same region—such as the Mbuti pygmies, the Hadza and the Kalahari bushmen—have been characterized as “hunters” but actually subsist for the most part on foods other than meat. These basic facts about collector-predator and Gatherer-hunter subsistence patterns are a mere beginning, however, for popular conceptions of primate lifestyles are eroding swiftly along many axes of investigation. It is becoming clear, for instance, that many primates—from prosimians to humans—are actually omnivores even though anthropologists have persistently miscast them as frugivores or carnivores. This false dichotomization of nonhuman versus human diets has led to a series of equally erroneous dichotomies in nonhuman versus human behavior. Thus, the possession of culture, technology, language and other similarly amorphous traits, many of which were in fact derived from this presumed shift in subsistence, have become entrenched as concepts of human uniqueness. In recent years, however, many new discoveries in primatology, and in ethnography and archeology, have weakened the theoretical structure to which “man-the-hunter” has been pinned. It is probable that savanna-dwelling, tool-using, seed-eating, scavenging and other independent schemes can now be replaced by a single, much simpler model wherein subsistence shifts among both nonhuman and human primates are perceived as smooth transitions within a graded continuum of evolution. Thus, the central objective of this report is to show that the subsistence activities of several extant cercopithecid, pongid and hominid populations in Africa can be arranged along an integrated spectrum which reflects gradual processes in the evolution of primate behavior and organization. This spectrum serves as the crux for a unifying model of behavioral evolution, and can in turn be broken down into a linked series of subsidiary models which elucidate specific aspects of primate prehistory.

Demographic observations (1963–1973) on the chimpanzees of Gombe National Park, Tanzania

Abstract This report provides a longitudinal demographic profile for a small study population of chimpanzees living in the Gombe National Park of Tanzania, East Africa. The size and composition of this study population, and the trends in mortality, natality and migratory patterns it experienced over a span of ten years, are described and analysed within various ethological and ecological frameworks. The validity of the demographic profile is examined in relation to field methodology, as the study population was intensively provisioned with bananas for several years. The results yield some guidelines for managing and conserving wild chimpanzee populations, and special emphasis is placed upon protection from diseases that involve human vectors. The data presented here may also offer some novel insights to the evolution of pongid and hominid populations, so tentative steps are taken to place the Gombe profile into a broader demographic perspective.

Notes on chimpanzee interactions with small carnivores in Gombe National Park, Tanzania

Although interspecific interactions between chimpanzees and various mammals have been reported from several field studies, relatively few encounters with carnivores of any size have been observed in natural conditions. The previously documented examples are here supplemented by three events describing wild chimpanzee responses to small carnivores. The observations now available suggest that chimpanzee responses are flexible rather than strictly patterned.

Field research on langur and proboscis monkeys: An historical, geographical, and bibliographical listing

This is the fourth in a series of reports about field research on the ethology and ecology of nonhuman primates. Previous reports have covered: (a) the African baboons, drills and geladas (BALDWIN & TELEKI, 1972) ; (b) the African apes (BALDWIN & TELEKI, 1973); and (c) the Asian apes (BALDWIN & TELEKI, 1974). The current listing for the Asian colobine monkeys--namely, langurs and proboscis monkeys-was planned and compiled together with another listing on the African colobine and cercopithecine monkeys. This latter listing will be the next report in the series. Although various African baboon types, as well as Asian and North African macaques, are not to be excluded from the Cercopithecidae family, we nonetheless elected to treat the baboon and macaque research separately for behavioral and ecological reasons, and also because studies on these genera are extremely numerous. We have, in turn, separated the Asian colobines from the African colobines/cercopithecines in order to maintain geographical identity. The five genera of Asian colobines (Presbytis, Nasalis, Simias, Pygathrix, Rhinopithecus) have by no means received equal amounts of attention from field investigators. In fact, only the former three genera have been or are being studied in natural conditions. The various Presbytis species have received by far the most intensive and extensive attention, while Nasalis and particularly Simias remain by comparison very poorly documented. As in the case of primatological research in other world regions, projects on the Asian colobines----especially on Presbytis--began in the early 1950s, underwent rapid expansion during the 1960s, and may be showing signs of tapering off in the 1970s.

Primate aggression, territorially, and Xenophobia: Current research trends

Ralph L. Holloway, ed. Primate Aggression, Territoriality, and Xenophobia: A Comparative Perspective. New York: Academic Press, 1974. xiv + 513 pp. References, figures, tables, map, and index.

Field research on chimpanzees and gorillas: An historical, geographical, and bibliographical listing

29.50.