AS-HOPE report

Number:AS-22-008

Ecological study of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in the savanna woodland, Tanzania.

Report:Yoshikawa Midori

Date:2010/07/19 - 2010/09/09

I studied ecology of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in the savanna woodland, Ugalla area, western Tanzania from July to September 2010. Because the chimpanzees in the study area were not habituated and very cautions, observers were not able to closely observe them. However, I could directly observe feeding and ranging behaviors of the chimpanzees by using binocular, and recorded their feeding items and ranging routes. Direct observations and fecal analyses showed that the chimpanzees ate young leaves of Brachystegia bussei and fruits in the savanna woodland. I compared sleeping sites and non-sleeping sites of chimpanzees to examine their selectivity of sleeping sites. I divided the study area into 4 categories, (1) savanna woodland in flat area, (2) savanna woodland in slope, (3) evergreen forest in flat area, and (4) evergreen forest in slope. Using a quadrat method, I recorded tree species in each quadrat, location of the trees, tree height, undergrowths, and number of mammalian trails. The preliminary analysis showed that the evergreen forest contained more lianas. Furthermore, I made a preliminary research of chimpanzee predators in order to understand how chimpanzees avoid encounter with and escape from their predators. I recorded the footprints of Lions (Panthera leo) at two times, and recorded leopards (Panthera pardus) at two times by a direct observation and using an automatic camera.

The landscape of study area in the dry season


The savanna woodland chimpanzees


The Leopard of savanna woodland

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