Skip Navigation


Behavioral Ecology Advance Access originally published online on September 12, 2006
Behavioral Ecology 2006 17(6):1020-1028; doi:10.1093/beheco/arl042
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Lay Summary
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
17/6/1020    most recent
arl042v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (3)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Murray, C. M.
Right arrow Articles by Pusey, A. E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Murray, C. M.
Right arrow Articles by Pusey, A. E.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Foraging strategies as a function of season and rank among wild female chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Carson M. Murraya, Lynn E. Eberlyb and Anne E. Puseya

a Jane Goodall Institute's Center for Primate Studies, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, 100 Ecology Building, 1987 Upper Buford Circle, St Paul, MN 55108, USA b Division of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, A-465 Mayo, MMC 303, 420 Delaware Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA

Address correspondence to C.M. Murray. E-mail: murr0237{at}umn.edu.

Among mammals, female reproduction is generally thought to be food limited, and dominance should theoretically afford high-ranking females with access to better food resources. Although the importance of dominance rank among female chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) has been debated in the past, mounting evidence suggests that rank is very important among females (P. t. schweinfurthii) at Gombe National Park, Tanzania. In this study, we investigated the influence of season and dominance rank on female foraging strategies. We found that high-ranking females spent less time foraging and tended to have a narrower diet breadth and higher diet quality than subordinate females. In this way, subordinate female foraging strategies were consistent with how females in general adapted to periods of food scarcity. The results of this study therefore suggest that low-ranking females may face persistent "food scarcity" as a result of interference food competition. We also provide evidence that subordinates may forage less efficiently because they occupy lower quality habitats or avoid associating with dominant females in shared areas.

Key words: chimpanzees, dominance rank, foraging strategies, habitat quality, season.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
C. M. Murray, E. V. Lonsdorf, L. E. Eberly, and A. E. Pusey
Reproductive energetics in free-living female chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii)
Behav. Ecol., November 1, 2009; 20(6): 1211 - 1216.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.