scholarly journals Differential utilization of cashew—a low-conflict crop—by sympatric humans and chimpanzees

Oryx ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberley J. Hockings ◽  
Claudia Sousa
Keyword(s):  
Pan Troglodytes ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
National Park ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Economic Importance ◽  
Crop Damage ◽  
Pan Troglodytes Verus ◽  
Agricultural Matrix ◽  
Cashew Nut ◽  
Local Farmers

AbstractModification of natural areas by human activities mostly has a negative impact on wildlife by increasing the geographical and ecological overlap between people and animals. This can result in escalating levels of competition and conflict between humans and wildlife, for example over crops. However, data on specific crops and crop parts that are unattractive to wildlife yet important for human livelihoods are surprisingly scarce, especially considering their potential application to reducing crop damage by wildlife. Here we examine the co-utilization of a nationally important and spatially abundant cash crop, cashew Anacardium occidentalis, by people and chimpanzees Pan troglodytes verus inhabiting a forested–agricultural matrix in Cantanhez National Park in Guinea-Bissau. In this Park people predominantly harvest the marketable cashew nut and discard the unprofitable fruit whereas chimpanzees only consume the fruit. Local farmers generally perceive a benefit of raiding by chimpanzees as they reportedly pile the nuts, making harvesting easier. By ensuring that conflict levels over crops, especially those with high economic importance, remain low, the costs of living in proximity to wildlife can potentially be reduced. Despite high levels of deforestation associated with cashew farming, these findings point to the importance of cashew as a low-conflict crop in this area.

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) and their mammalian sympatriates: Mt. Assirik, Niokolo-Koba National Park, Senegal

Primates ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 525-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
William C. McGrew ◽  
Pamela J. Baldwin ◽  
Linda F. Marchant ◽  
Jill D. Pruetz ◽  
Caroline E. G. Tutin
Keyword(s):  
Pan Troglodytes ◽  
National Park ◽  
Pan Troglodytes Verus

scholarly journals Sustainable Peeling of Kapok Tree (Ceiba pentandra) Bark by the Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) of Comoé National Park, Ivory Coast

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 962-988 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Lapuente ◽  
Mimi Arandjelovic ◽  
Hjalmar Kühl ◽  
Paula Dieguez ◽  
Christophe Boesch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pan Troglodytes ◽  
Ivory Coast ◽  
National Park ◽  
Camera Traps ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Pan Troglodytes Verus ◽  
Papio Anubis ◽  
Ceiba Pentandra ◽  
Fallback Food ◽  
Bark Peeling

AbstractPrimates often consume either bark or cambium (inner bark) as a fallback food to complete their diet during periods of food scarcity. Wild chimpanzees exhibit great behavioral diversity across Africa, as studies of new populations frequently reveal. Since 2014, we have been using a combination of camera traps and indirect signs to study the ecology and behavior of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in Comoé National Park, Ivory Coast, to document and understand the behavioral adaptations that help them to survive in a savanna–forest mosaic landscape. We found that Comoé chimpanzees peel the bark of the buttresses of kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra) trees to eat the cambium underneath. Individuals of all sex/age classes across at least six neighboring communities peeled the bark, but only during the late rainy season and beginning of the dry season, when cambium may represent an important fallback food. Baboons (Papio anubis) also target the same trees but mainly eat the bark itself. Most of the bark-peeling wounds on Ceiba trees healed completely within 2 years, seemingly without any permanent damage. We recorded chimpanzees visiting trees in early stages of wound recovery but leaving them unpeeled. Only 6% of peeled trees (N = 53) were reexploited after a year, suggesting that chimpanzees waited for the rest of the trees to regrow the bark fully before peeling them again, thus using them sustainably. Many human groups of hunter-gatherers and herders exploited cambium sustainably in the past. The observation that similar sustainable bark-peeling behavior evolved in both chimpanzees and humans suggests that it has an important adaptive value in harsh environments when other food sources become seasonally scarce, by avoiding the depletion of the resource and keeping it available for periods of scarcity.

scholarly journals Sorcery and nature conservation

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOANA SOUSA ◽  
ANDREW AINSLIE ◽  
CATHERINE M HILL
Keyword(s):  
Nature Conservation ◽  
Pan Troglodytes ◽  
National Park ◽  
Conservation Priorities ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Pan Troglodytes Verus ◽  
Abuse Of Power ◽  
Close Analysis ◽  
Local Narratives ◽  
Local Representations

SUMMARYRepresentations of animals are diverse and can portray local understandings of nature conservation, information that is often missing from conservation debates. In Cantanhez National Park (southern Guinea-Bissau), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) are recognized as animals that share certain features with humans but live independently of them in the forest. However, chimpanzees are also integral to socially mediated, deep-rooted local narratives about sorcery and nature conservation. We use results from ethnographic research to explore local interpretations of chimpanzee attacks on people. Attacks by ‘bush’ chimpanzees occur when an animal is provoked by someone's actions towards it. Unprovoked attacks, however, are either interpreted as the act of a shape-shifted chimpanzee (i.e. a sorcerer) or as the responsibility of conservation stakeholders. In the case of unprovoked attacks, chimpanzee aggression is linked to a perceived abuse of power and to greed, with implications for nature conservation locally. Close analysis of local representations of animals contributes to a broader consideration of conservation priorities and practice.

Farmer attitudes towards conservation in Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park, Bhutan

2006 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
SONAM WANGYEL WANG ◽  
JAMES P. LASSOIE ◽  
PAUL D. CURTIS
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Wildlife Conservation ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Crop Damage ◽  
Conservation Policies ◽  
Human Land Use ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Land Holdings ◽  
Local Farmers

The attitudes and feelings of people concerning conservation policies and wildlife conflicts affect their behaviour, and understanding this is important in involving local people in conservation planning and decision-making processes. This paper examines these important issues in Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park, located in central Bhutan. A survey of 274 house-holds was carried out to assess farmers' perceptions of the influence of Park management policies and protection regimes on traditional resource uses, and their attitudes towards the Park and conservation policies set forth in the Forest and Nature Conservation Act of 1995, integrated conservation development programmes (ICDPs) and wildlife conservation, and determine how demographic and socioeconomic variables influence these attitudes. Among local farmers, 52.2% disliked the Park and the Conservation Act, and 67.5% supported exterminating problem wildlife. Negative attitudes were linked to loss of resource use rights, livestock depredation and crop damage, lack of compensation strategies and exclusion of farmers from the Park's planning processes. However, 76.3% of the respondents appreciated the Park's development programmes, the positive attitudes associated with an expectation that significant economic benefits would be available from ICDPs sponsored by the Park. Empowerment of local communities associated with monetary benefits from non-timber forest products and compensation for loss of crops and livestock were emphasized by more than 70% of the respondents. These attitudes were related to age and literacy of the respondents, number of livestock owned and size of land holdings. Though important to the future of Bhutan's parks, study results also have wider applicability to conservation professionals throughout the developing world for resolving human-land use conflicts and involving local farmers in the protection of nature.

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