. Earth Science News .
ABOUT US
Chimpanzee foods are mechanically more demanding than previously thought
by Staff Writers
Leipzig, Germany (SPX) Aug 13, 2018

The outer casing of the Strychnos fruit had much higher toughness and stiffness values than the plant tissues the researchers tested from the rainforest.

Chimpanzees are generally known as the ripe fruit specialist among the great apes but also incorporate other food items such as leaves and seedpods into their diets. Savannah chimpanzees are thought to rely on these non-fruit resources more than their forest counterparts.

The mechanical properties of plant foods can vary substantially but to date there were no comparative data available for chimpanzee populations living in distinct habitat types. Adam van Casteren of the Max Planck Weizmann Center for Integrative Archaeology and Anthropology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology went out to compare the material properties of various plant foods eaten by chimpanzees in a tropical rainforest (Ngogo, Uganda) and a savannah woodland (Issa Valley, Tanzania).

Using a portable mechanical tester, he measured the physical properties of plant tissues and found that some plant parts from the mosaic savannah woodland habitat, such as the outer casing of the Strychnos fruit, had much higher toughness and stiffness values than the plant tissues he tested from the rainforest.

"I was surprised to see that some values even exceed those recorded for orangutan foods as they are generally considered to consume the most mechanically challenging diet of all the great apes," says van Casteren.

The scientists also combined their plant food mechanical data with data from a stable isotope analysis from both plant and chimpanzee hair samples. Carbon stable isotopes are commonly used to reconstruct dietary ecology and habitat use of living and extinct primates.

Although the carbon isotope values of plants were remarkably similar in both habitats, the isotope data obtained from chimpanzee hair suggested that savannah chimpanzees frequently feed on plants growing in open canopy areas.

These likely include those plants which are particularly demanding when processed with the teeth. The authors believe that the consumption of such tough foods is facilitated by the large front teeth of chimpanzees.

"While some chimpanzee populations are using tools to crack open nuts, others like these savannah chimpanzees still rely on their teeth to get access to nutrients. Such differences in selection pressures acting on the teeth are likely to have played a key role during the evolution of hominins," says Kornelius Kupczik, co-author and Track Leader of the Max Planck Weizmann Center.

Dental morphology, food mechanical properties and carbon stable isotopes are all highly relevant for reconstructing past diets of our early ancestors in Africa.

"If we better understand the foundations and interactions of food material properties, dental wear processes and isotopes in extant chimpanzees this opens a window into the past and helps to interpret the data obtained from fossil specimens who lived in the African savannah several million years ago," concludes co-author Vicky Oelze from the University of California in Santa Cruz and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, who conducted the stable isotope analysis.

Research Report: Food mechanical properties and isotopic signatures in forest versus savannah dwelling eastern chimpanzees.


Related Links
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
All About Human Beings and How We Got To Be Here


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


ABOUT US
Modern Flores Island pygmies show no genetic link to extinct 'hobbits'
Princeton NJ (SPX) Aug 08, 2018
Two pygmy populations on the same tropical island. One went extinct tens of thousands of years ago; the other still lives there. Are they related? It's a simple question that took years to answer. As no one has been able to recover DNA from the fossils of Homo floresiensis (nicknamed the "hobbit"), researchers had to create a tool for finding archaic genetic sequences in modern DNA. The technique was developed by scientists in the lab of Joshua Akey, a professor of ecology and evolutio ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

ABOUT US
Japan's crippled Fukushima plant stops selling souvenirs

For wetter or worse: Philippine bride defies storm

Lombok quake sends shudders through tourist industry

Disaster relief: How can AI improve humanitarian assistance?

ABOUT US
Wearable 'microbrewery' saves human body from radiation damage

PhD student develops spinning heat shield for future spacecraft

Northrop Grumman successfully tests APG-83 radar on F/A18

UNH researchers find seed coats could lead to strong, tough, yet flexible materials

ABOUT US
Tonga PM calls on China to write-off Pacific debt

Corals are becoming more tolerant of rising ocean temperatures

New Caledonia protects huge swathe of coral reefs

Does rain follow the plow

ABOUT US
NASA scientist reveals details of icy Greenland's heated geologic past

The Arctic Carbon Cycle is Speeding Up

Concern for climate as Sweden's highest peak melts away

Carbon 'leak' may have warmed the planet for 11,000 years, encouraging human civilization

ABOUT US
Blocking sunlight to cool Earth won't reduce crop damage from global warming

US jury orders Monsanto to pay $290mn to cancer patient over weed killer

Cultivated areas halve in Iraq as drought tightens grip

Glyphosate under fire from San Francisco to Sri Lanka

ABOUT US
Sierra Leone remembers victims of deadly mudslide

Earthquakes can be weakened by groundwater

Flash floods kill 37 in India's tourist hotspot Kerala

Hero dog saves Indian family in flood-hit Kerala

ABOUT US
Arms, investment and 'instructors': Russia boosts Africa role

South Sudan president pardons rival, rebels: state radio

Three Congo soldiers walk free after 'mass murder' convictions

Canadian UN peacekeepers return to Africa after 24 years

ABOUT US
New light shed on the people who built Stonehenge

Modern Flores Island pygmies show no genetic link to extinct 'hobbits'

Homo sapiens developed a new ecological niche that separated it from other hominins

Two baby mountain gorillas born in DR Congo's Virunga park









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.