Sex differences in tool use acquisition in bonobos (Pan paniscus)

2013 ◽  
Vol 75 (9) ◽  
pp. 917-926 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaree J. Boose ◽  
Frances J. White ◽  
Audra Meinelt
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Tool Use ◽  
Pan Paniscus

scholarly journals Sex differences in object manipulation in wild immature chimpanzees and bonobos: Preparation for tool use?

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathelijne Koops ◽  
Takeshi Furuichi ◽  
Chie Hashimoto ◽  
Carel P. van Schaik
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Tool Use ◽  
Pan Paniscus ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Late Onset ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Object Manipulation ◽  
Behavioral Differences ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Object Play

Sex differences in immatures predict behavioral differences in adulthood in many mammal species. Because most studies have focused on sex differences in social interactions, little is known about possible sex differences in ‘preparation’ for adult life with regards to tool use skills. We investigated sex and age differences in object manipulation in immature apes. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) use a variety of tools across numerous contexts, whereas bonobos (Pan paniscus) use few tools and none in foraging. In both species, a female bias in adult tool use has been reported. We studied object manipulation in immature chimpanzees at Kalinzu (Uganda) and bonobos at Wamba (Democratic Republic of Congo). We confirmed that chimpanzees showed higher rates and more diverse types of object manipulation than bonobos. Against expectation, male chimpanzees showed higher object manipulation rates than females, whereas in bonobos no sex difference was found. However, object manipulation by male chimpanzees was play-domi nated, whereas manipulation types of female chimpanzees were more diverse. Manipulation by young immatures (<3 years old) of both species was similarly dominated by play, but only in chimpanzees did it become more diverse with age. In chimpanzees, object types became more tool-like (i.e. sticks) with age, further suggesting preparation for tool use in adulthood (i.e. ant-dipping). The male bias in object manipulation in immature chimpanzees, along with the late onset of tool-like object manipulation, indicates that not all (early) object manipulation in immatures prepares for subsistence tool use. Object play may also function in motor skill practice for male-specific behaviors like dominance displays.

scholarly journals Sex differences in object manipulation in wild immature chimpanzees and bonobos: Preparation for tool use?

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathelijne Koops ◽  
Takeshi Furuichi ◽  
Chie Hashimoto ◽  
Carel P. van Schaik
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Tool Use ◽  
Pan Paniscus ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Late Onset ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Object Manipulation ◽  
Behavioral Differences ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Object Play

Sex differences in immatures predict behavioral differences in adulthood in many mammal species. Because most studies have focused on sex differences in social interactions, little is known about possible sex differences in ‘preparation’ for adult life with regards to tool use skills. We investigated sex and age differences in object manipulation in immature apes. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) use a variety of tools across numerous contexts, whereas bonobos (Pan paniscus) use few tools and none in foraging. In both species, a female bias in adult tool use has been reported. We studied object manipulation in immature chimpanzees at Kalinzu (Uganda) and bonobos at Wamba (Democratic Republic of Congo). We confirmed that chimpanzees showed higher rates and more diverse types of object manipulation than bonobos. Against expectation, male chimpanzees showed higher object manipulation rates than females, whereas in bonobos no sex difference was found. However, object manipulation by male chimpanzees was play-domi nated, whereas manipulation types of female chimpanzees were more diverse. Manipulation by young immatures (<3 years old) of both species was similarly dominated by play, but only in chimpanzees did it become more diverse with age. In chimpanzees, object types became more tool-like (i.e. sticks) with age, further suggesting preparation for tool use in adulthood (i.e. ant-dipping). The male bias in object manipulation in immature chimpanzees, along with the late onset of tool-like object manipulation, indicates that not all (early) object manipulation in immatures prepares for subsistence tool use. Object play may also function in motor skill practice for male-specific behaviors like dominance displays.

Cradle Under the Canopy The Forest Origins of our Ape and Hominin Ancestors and the Tropical Forest Forays of the Genus Homo

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Tool Use ◽  
Pan Paniscus ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Last Common Ancestor ◽  
Great Ape ◽  
Tropical Environments ◽  
Genus Homo ◽  
In Captivity ◽  
Game Hunting ◽  
The Tropics

The evolutionary proximity of the non-human great apes to us is often stressed in studies of animals, such as Kanzi, a bonobo (Pan paniscus) bred in captivity, that demonstrate their capacity to undertake tool-use and even utilize and comprehend language (Toth et al., 1993; Savage-Rumbaugh and Lewin, 1996; Schick et al., 1999). Likewise, studies of chimpanzees (Pan spp.) have highlighted the similarity of their emotional and empathetic capacities to those of humans (Parr et al., 2005; Campbell and de Waal, 2014). However, as noted by Savage- Rumbaugh and Lewin (1996), in palaeoanthropology and archaeology more broadly, the emergence of the hominin clade and, later, our species, is referenced in terms of the ‘chasm’ between ourselves and other extant great apes. Indeed, despite our genetic and behavioural proximity, extant non-human great ape taxa are often popularly characterized as living fossils of how we used to be. They are used as analogues for the subsistence and behaviour of the Last Common Ancestor (LCA) of humans and non-human great apes (Clutton-Brock and Harvey, 1977; Goodall, 1986; Foley and Lewin, 2004) and it is almost as if the fact that they still occupy the tropical environments in which these hominoids likely evolved (though see Elton, 2008) allows them to be treated as static comparisons (Figure 3.1). Since Darwin wrote the Descent of Man in 1871, the forests of the tropics, and their modern non-human great ape inhabitants, have tended to be perceived as being left behind as the hominin clade gained increasingly ‘human’ traits of tool-use, medium to large game hunting, and upright locomotion on open ‘savanna’ landscapes (Dart, 1925; Potts, 1998; Klein, 1999). From this perspective it is perhaps unsurprising that tropical forests are seen as alien to the genus Homo and its closest hominin ancestors.

scholarly journals Sex Bias and Social Influences on Savanna Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) Nest Building Behavior

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 849-869 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona A. Stewart ◽  
Jill D. Pruetz
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Pan Troglodytes ◽  
Tool Use ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Nest Building ◽  
Pan Troglodytes Verus ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Extractive Foraging ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Adult Females

AbstractMany primates show sex differences in behavior, particularly social behavior, but also tool use for extractive foraging. All great apes learn to build a supportive structure for sleep. Whether sex differences exist in building, as in extractive foraging, is unknown, and little is known about how building skills develop and vary between individuals in the wild. We therefore aimed to describe the nesting behavior of savanna chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in Fongoli, Senegal to provide comparative data and to investigate possible sex or age differences in nest building behaviors and nest characteristics. We followed chimpanzee groups to their night nesting sites to record group (55 nights) and individual level data (17 individuals) on nest building initiation and duration (57 nests) during the dry season between October 2007 and March 2008. We returned the following morning to record nest and tree characteristics (71 nests built by 25 individuals). Fongoli chimpanzees nested later than reported for other great apes, but no sex differences in initiating building emerged. Observations were limited but suggest adult females and immature males to nest higher, in larger trees than adult males, and adult females to take longer to build than either adult or immature males. Smaller females and immature males may avoid predation or access thinner, malleable branches, by nesting higher than adult males. These differences suggest that sex differences described for chimpanzee tool use may extend to nest building, with females investing more time and effort in constructing a safe, warm structure for sleep than males do.

A comparative assessment of handedness and its potential neuroanatomical correlates in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus)

Behaviour ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 152 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 461-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
William D. Hopkins ◽  
Jennifer Schaeffer ◽  
Jamie L. Russell ◽  
Stephanie L. Bogart ◽  
Adrien Meguerditchian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tool Use ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Pan Paniscus ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Precentral Gyrus ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Evolutionary Origins ◽  
Bimanual Actions ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Hand Area

The evolutionary origins of human right-handedness remain poorly understood. Some have hypothesized that tool use served as an important preadaptation for the eventual evolution of population-level right-handedness. In contrast, others have suggested that complex gestural and vocal communication served as prerequisite for the evolution of human right-handedness. In this study, we tested these competing hypotheses by comparing the handedness of bonobos and chimpanzees, two closely related species of Pan, on three different measures of hand use including simple reaching, manual gestures and coordinated bimanual actions. Chimpanzees are well known for their tool using abilities whereas bonobos rarely use tools in the wild. In contrast, many have suggested that bonobos have a more flexible gestural and vocal communication system than chimpanzees. The overall results showed that chimpanzees were significantly more right-handed than bonobos for all three measures suggesting that adaptations for tool use rather than communication may have led to the emergence of human right-handedness. We further show that species differences in handedness may be linked to variation in the size and asymmetry of the motor-hand area of the precentral gyrus. The results are discussed within the context of evolutionary theories of handedness, as well as some limitations in the approach to handedness measurement in nonhuman primates.

scholarly journals Sex Differences in Performance with the Hand and Arm in near and Far Space: A Possible Effect of Tool Use

2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 147470490700500 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoff Sanders ◽  
Marta Perez
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Motor Control ◽  
Tool Use ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Relative Performance ◽  
Visual Neglect ◽  
Near Space ◽  
Visual Systems

Using novel tasks, we tested two predictions from the hunter-gatherer hypothesis concerning sex differences in the motor control of hand and arm and in the visual processing of near and far space. In Study 1 we replicated earlier findings by demonstrating that women scored higher with the hand while men scored higher with the arm. Study 2 tested the motor and visual predictions concurrently and showed that the Muscle*Sex interaction, seen in Study 1, occurs in far as well as near space. However, we failed to confirm that women perform better with visual information from near and men from far space. Instead the relative performance of women and men was the same in far as it was in near space. Drawing on evidence from studies of selective visual neglect we suggest that this outcome arose because tool use causes far space to be re-mapped as near space. Finally, the selective visual neglect literature indicates that the processing of far and near space is located in the ventral and dorsal cortical streams, previously described as two “what”/“where” visual systems. We draw attention to their additional “there”/“here” functions that are sex dimorphic and, as we have shown, modulated by tool use.

scholarly journals Handedness for tool use in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): sex differences, performance, heritability and comparison to the wild

Behaviour ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 146 (11) ◽  
pp. 1463-1483 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
◽  
◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Pan Troglodytes ◽  
Tool Use ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Left Handedness ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
In Captivity ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Hand Preferences

AbstractThere is continued debate over the factors influencing handedness in captive and wild primates, notably chimpanzees. Previous studies in wild chimpanzees have revealed population-level left-handedness for termite fishing. Here we examined hand preferences and performance on a tool use task designed to simulate termite fishing in a sample of 190 captive chimpanzees to evaluate whether patterns of hand use in captive chimpanzees differed from those observed for wild apes. No population-level handedness was found for this task; however, significant sex differences in preference and performance were found, with males showing greater left-handedness and poorer performance compared to females. We also found that the hand preferences of offspring were significantly positively correlated with the hand preferences of their mothers. Lastly, older females performed more slowly on the task compared to younger individuals. The overall results neither confirm nor reject previous hypotheses claiming that raising chimpanzees in captivity induces right-handedness, but rather suggest that other factors may account for differences in hand preferences for tool use seen in wild and captive chimpanzees.

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