The chimpanzees of Bossou in Guinea, West Africa, form a unique community which displays an exceptional array of tool use behaviors and behavioral adaptations to coexistence with humans. This community of Pan troglodytes verus has contributed more than three decades of data to the field of cultural primatology, especially chimpanzees’ flexible use of stones to crack open nuts and of perishable tools during foraging activities. The book highlights the special contribution of the long-term research at Bossou and more recent studies in surrounding areas, particularly in the Nimba Mountains and the forest of Diécké, to our understanding of wild chimpanzees’ tool use, cognitive development, lithic technology and culture. This compilation of research principally strives to uncover the complexity of the mind and behavioral flexibility of our closest living relatives. This work also reveals the necessity for ongoing efforts to conserve chimpanzees in the region. Chimpanzees have shed more light on our evolutionary origins than any other extant species in the world, yet their numbers in the wild are rapidly declining. In that sense, the Bossou chimpanzees and their neighbors clearly embody an invaluable cultural heritage for humanity as a whole.
Readers can enjoy video clips illustrating unique behaviors of Bossou chimpanzees, in an exclusive DVD accompanying the hardcover or at a dedicated website described in the softcover.
Primatology Monographs
Series Editors Tetsuro Matsuzawa Inuyama, Japan Juichi Yamagiwa Kyoto, Japan
For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/8796
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Tetsuro Matsuzawa Tatyana Humle Yukimaru Sugiyama ●
Editors
The Chimpanzees of Bossou and Nimba
Editors Tetsuro Matsuzawa, Ph.D. Professor Director, Primate Research Institute Kyoto University 41-2 Kanrin, Inuyama Aichi 484-8506, Japan
[email protected]
Yukimaru Sugiyama, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus Primate Research Institute Kyoto University 41-2 Kanrin, Inuyama Aichi 484-8506, Japan
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Tatyana Humle, Ph.D. School of Anthropology and Conservation The Marlowe Building University of Kent Canterbury CT2 7NR, UK
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ISSN 2190-5967 e-ISSN 2190-5975 ISBN 978-4-431-53920-9 e-ISBN 978-4-431-53921-6 DOI 10.1007/978-4-431-53921-6 Springer Tokyo Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2011921514 © Springer 2011 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover Front cover: From top, clockwise: An infant female chimpanzee (Joya) watching her mother (Jire) cracking nuts with a pair of stone tools (photo by Etsuko Nogami). Tree nursery for the green corridor project (photo by Tatyana Humle). World Natural Heritage site, the Nimba Mountains, a natural boundary between Guinea, Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire (photo by Kathelijne Koops). A group of chimpanzees at Bossou crossing a road in front of vi