Collaborative Research: The Ecological Basis of Hunting and Meat Sharing in Female Savanna Chimpanzees

合作研究：雌性稀树草原黑猩猩狩猎和分享肉类的生态基础

• 批准号: 2022286
• 负责人: Leslie Knapp
• 金额: $ 15.22万
• 依托单位: University of Utah
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-08-15 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2022286&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Ecological; Basis; Hunting

Hunting with tools may enable female chimpanzees to routinely ingest and share meat on a seasonal basis without the need for being provisioned by males. This project will capture the dietary impacts of female chimpanzee hunting with tools and compare these findings with other studies that have focused primarily on male chimpanzee hunting behaviors. The findings from this project will advance knowledge and broaden perspectives about primate models for understanding human behavioral evolution. This project increases capacity for chimpanzee research by fully engaging with and supporting local partners and students. The research is part of a long-term program that supports habitat preservation in protected and unprotected areas for the critically-endangered western chimpanzee. The research further engages in conservation activities through the active study of conservation genetics, development of conservation action plans, and support of local research and community services in the research area. The project provides exceptional research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, especially underrepresented minority and first-generation students to support diversity and inclusion efforts in biological anthropology and STEM, more broadly. This project also interfaces with Purdue University’s EPICS program (Engineering Projects in Community Service) to provide collaborative design experiences for undergraduate students.Sexual selection theory and patterns of male-biased hunting and meat eating for chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have been traditionally integrated with models of human behavioral evolution. While there is a well-documented understanding of these behaviors in forest chimpanzees, a significant gap exists on how chimpanzees hunt and eat meat in savannas. What little is known about hunting and meat-eating in savanna chimpanzees, however, starkly contrasts with the typical species pattern. In the hottest, driest, and most open landscapes inhabited by chimpanzees, tool use and female-biased hunting comprise a major component of hunting strategy. This study will test for environmental pressures that may explain this behavior. Little is known about female-biased hunting because these timid chimpanzees are not habituated for intensive behavior sampling, and are not being habituated due to their conservation status combined with risk of infant poaching for the pet trade. To confront this challenge, the project combines behavioral, isotopic, nutritional, genetic, visual analytic, and geographic approaches to compare hunting and meat ingestion between females and males, and in relation to climate and food availability. This interdisciplinary and multi-site study is a part of the HUNTRESS project on HUnting, Nutrition, Tool-use, Reproductive Ecology, and meat Sharing in Savanna chimpanzees to holistically assess female-biased hunting. The project will measure meat ingestion with stable isotope and feeding trace analyses, and compare these signatures to direct observations of hunting and meat ingestion in a reference group of habituated adult males. Furthermore, the project will compare meat ingestion to annual climate trends as well as food and macronutrient availability. A molecular component will enable sex-determination and individualization information from hair and feces. The video analytics component will measure mammal (prey) availability remotely from camera-trap videos and still images. At the same, the research will advance machine-learning capabilities by incorporating domain knowledge to improve accuracy and precision of mammal localization.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

使用工具狩猎可以使女性黑猩猩可以经常摄入和分享季节性，而无需男性提供。该项目将使用工具捕捉女性黑猩猩狩猎的饮食影响，并将这些发现与其他主要集中在男性黑猩猩狩猎行为上的研究进行比较。该项目的发现将提高知识并扩大有关理解人类行为进化的主要模型的观点。该项目通过与当地合作伙伴和学生充分互动和支持，从而提高了黑猩猩研究的能力。这项研究是一项长期计划的一部分，该计划支持批判性西方黑猩猩的受保护和不受保护区域的栖息地制备。这项研究通过积极研究保护遗传学，保护行动计划的制定以及研究领域的当地研究和社区服务的支持进一步从事保护活动。该项目为本科生和研究生提供了卓越的研究机会，尤其是代表性不足的少数群体和第一代学生，以更广泛地支持生物人类学和STEM的多样性和包容性工作。该项目还与普渡大学的史诗计划（社区服务工程项目）互动，以为本科生提供协作设计经验。种族隔选择理论和男性偏见的狩猎和肉类饮食的模式（pan troglodytes）传统上与人类行为进化的模型相结合。虽然在森林黑猩猩中对这些行为有充分的文献了解，但黑猩猩如何在稀树草原中狩猎和吃肉存在很大的差距。然而，对于稀树草原黑猩猩的狩猎和吃肉知之甚少，与典型的物种模式形成鲜明对比。在最热，最干燥，最干燥，最开放的景观中，被黑猩猩感染，工具使用和女性偏见的狩猎是狩猎策略的主要组成部分。这项研究将测试可能解释这种行为的环境压力。关于女性偏见的狩猎知之甚少，因为这些胆小的黑猩猩不习惯于进行密集的行为采样，并且由于其保护状况加上婴儿偷猎宠物贸易的风险而没有习惯。为了应对这一挑战，该项目结合了行为，同位素，营养，遗传，视觉分析和地理方法，以比较女性和男性之间的狩猎和肉食，以及与攀岩和食物的可用性有关。这项跨学科和多站点的研究是Huntress狩猎，营养，工具使用，生殖生态学以及在Savanna Chimpanzees中的肉类共享的一部分，以整体评估女性偏见的狩猎。该项目将用稳定的同位素和进食痕量分析来测量肉类摄入，并将这些签名与参考成年男性参考组中的狩猎和摄入量进行比较。此外，该项目将将肉食的摄入与年度气候趋势以及食品和大量营养素的供应量进行比较。分子成分将从头发和粪便中实现性别决定和个性化信息。视频分析组件将从相机陷阱视频和静止图像中远程测量哺乳动物（猎物）的可用性。同样，这项研究将通过结合域知识来提高哺乳动物本地化的准确性和精确度来提高机器学习能力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的知识分子和更广泛的影响评估标准来通过评估来表现出珍贵的支持。