Paco BertolaniBACKGROUND: 1994: European Certificate in Primatology, University “Louis Pasteur”, Strasbourg, France. Dissertation: Feeding competition and the evolution of primate social systems. 1997: Laurea (MSc equivalent) in Biology. University “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy Disseration: Habituation and analysis of a possible case of adoption in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in Taï National Park, Côte d’Ivoire. FIELD EXPERIENCE: 1994-1996: 24 months. Parc National de Taï, Côte d’Ivoire. Habituation and behavioural observations of forest chimpanzees. 1998-2000: 19 months. Reserva de Producción Faunística Cyuabeno, Ecuador. Cooperative management of fresh water turtle (Podocnemis expansa and P. unifilis) in Cuyabeno Reserve. 2004-2006: 11 months. Fongoli, Senegal. Habituation and behavioural observations of savanna chimpanzees. |
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PROJECT TITLE: GIS-based study of chimpanzee ranging: forest and savanna compared.
SUPERVISOR: Dr. W.C. McGrew
RESEARCH DESCRIPTION
I propose a comparative study of the ranging behaviour of chimpanzees living in different environments: Ugandan tropical forest and Senegalese mosaic dry savanna. Eight months of fieldwork at each site will provide comparable GIS and behavioural data on habituated chimpanzees.
My objective is to test whether contrasting landscapes determine significant differences in ranging patterns: habitat use and route choice. The greater habitat diversity in the savanna site may lead to more highly-revisited locations separated by less-visited areas. These locations likely overlap with closed-canopy habitat types, which are associated with temporary riverbeds. Differential exploitation may be particularly evident for resting activities that are not linked to the distribution of any food tree species, but instead to generic canopy cover, which in the forest is more homogeneously distributed.
Savanna habitat-use patterns may resemble aspects of early paleo-archaeological sites in East Africa, suggesting that Plio/Pleistocene hominids had a social organization similar to modern chimpanzees living in a mosaic savanna habitat.
Travelling routes between feeding and resting sites will also be monitored, with the aim of providing insights into the factors affecting route choice, and the navigation system(s) chimpanzees need to orient in space and time.
PUBLICATIONS
Caputo, FP, Nardi, G and Bertolani, P (2006). Observations of predaceous diving betles (Insecta, Coleoptera, Dytiscidae) attacking Terecay, Podocnemis unifilis, (Reptilia, Testudines, Pelomedusidae) in Ecuador. Herpetological Bulletin. 96: 14-16.
Pruetz, JD and Bertolani, P (2007). Savanna chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) hunt with tools. Current Biology 17: 412-417.
Pruetz, JD and Bertolani, P (2007). Chimpanzee behavioral response to stresses associated with living in a savanna-mosaic environment: Implications for hominin adaptations to open habitats (Abstract). Paleoanthropology Society Annual Meeting 2007.
Bertolani, P, Sholes, C, McGrew, WC and Pruetz, JD (2007). Laterality in termite-fishing by Fongoli chimpanzees: preliminary report. Pan Africa News 14(1).
Bertolani, P and Boesch, C (in review). Habitiuation of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) of the South Group at Taï forest, Côte d’Ivoire: empirical measure of progress. Folia Primatologica.
