Pan Africa News, 17(2), December 201015

overview of the impact of disease on thepopulation12. In addition to chimpanzees,Gombe is also the site of one of thelongest running studies of baboons, whichwere represented in this symposium by
Akiko Matsumata-Oda’s talk on oestrus
asynchrony in baboons13. Finally, drawing
connections between this symposium
and the previous one, Shadrack Kamenya
presented a talk on conservation in theGreater Gombe Ecosystem14.
Together, these talks show­c ased
the value of long-term behavioral andecological data. Because chimpanzees
live long lives, reproduce slowly, and live
in complex environments that change
greatly from year to year depending on
fluctuations in rainfall and the fruiting
patterns of key food species, long-term
Soiree at Yoshida-Izumidono
data are essential for understanding
9. W r o b l e w s k i E E , J o h n s o n L , M u r r a y C M ,chimpanzee behavior and ecology. Such large datasets,
Henderson J, Stanley A, Pusey AE 2010. Father-offspring
however, present an imposing obstacle for analysis, unlessrelations among the Gombe chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes
the data are computerized. Most of the findings reported in
schwein­furthii).
the symposium relied on the relational database that Anne
10. Pusey AE 2010. Factors influencing number of sexual
Pusey and colleagues have developed from the long-term
cycles in the Gombe chimpanzees.
records. Additionally, many of the talks combined analyses
11. Murray CM, Heintz MR, Santymire RM, Lipende I,Lonsdorf EV 2010. Stress and maternal behavior in wildof these long-term data with information available fromchimpanzees at Gombe National Park, Tanzania.
new technologies on a range of scales, from the molecular
12.
Lonsdorf EV, Travis DA, Lipende I, Murray CM, Raphael(genetics, endocrinology, virology) and microscopic
J, Lonsdorf EV, Gilby IC, Gillespie TR, Terio KA, Kinsel(parasitology) to landscapes (GIS and remote sensing).
MJ, Chosy J, Rudicell R, Hahn BH, Pusey AE, Goodall J
The findings presented in this symposium demonstrated
2010. The impact of disease on the Gombe chimpanzees—
how long-term datasets, focused on the behavior ofpast and present.
individuals, yet also probing for data on scales large and13. Matsumoto-Oda A, Ihara Y, Oda R, Collins DA 2010.
Female baboons adopt a mate strategy of oestrus asyn­small, provide powerful tools for answering key scientificchrony in Gombe.
questions.
14. Kamenya SM, Pintea L, Mtiti ER, Ndimuligo SA 2010.
Following the two symposia, Tetsuro Matsuzawa
Conserving the Greater Gombe Ecosystem.
hosted a soiree for Jane Goodall, current and former
Gombe researchers, and other friends of Gombe atYoshida-Izumidono.

REFERENCES

The following are all talks given at the XXIII Congress of
the International Primatological Society, Kyoto, Japan, 12–18
September, 2010. Abstracts of these talks are available at
http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/psj2/ips/:
1. Matsuzawa T 2010. Support for African/Asian Great Apes
(SAGA): Efforts toward the care and conservation ofchimpanzees.
2. Yamagiwa J 2010. Japanese primatology: Its unique scopeand methodology.
3. Idani G 2010. From the bonobos’ forest to the chimpanzees’
woodland.
4. Wrangham RW, Ross E, Lloyd J, Pokempner AA 2010.
Impacts of long-term research on conservation.
5. Goodall J 2010. My reasons for hope: What I learned fromGombe 50 Years.
6. Wilson ML, Mjungu DC, Pusey AE 2010. Causes ofintergroup aggression among chimpanzees at Gombe.
7. Pintea L, Wilson ML, Gilby IC, Pusey AE 2010. Power
relations among neighboring communities affect party sizeand composition in Gombe chimpanzees: A remote sensing
and GIS analysis.
8. Gilby IC 2010. Alpha male chimpanzees at Gombe:
Consequences of dominance style.

<NOTE>

Poke-type Social Scratching
Persists at MahaleMichio Nakamura
Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, Japan(E-mail: nakamura@wrc.kyoto-u.ac.jp)

Introduction

Social scratch is a grooming pattern observed
consistently in Mahale, whereby one individual scratches
the body of another individual1. A different type of social
scratch is customarily observed at Ngogo 2 . Mahale
chimpanzees employ stroke-type scratching, whereas
Ngogo chimpanzees employ poke-type scratching 2(Figure 1). Although Shimada3 reported that three Gombe
chimpanzees performed social scratch, there are no reportsof this behavior from other study sites.
Although the dominant type of social scratching at

Pan Africa News, 17(2), December 201016

in transition from juvenility to adolescenceduring my study period. She showed thepoke-type twice and the stroke-type 7 times(Table 1). Although Acadia’s poke-type was
first seen only in 2006 (in the same day), it
is difficult to say whether or not she changed
her type because she showed the stroketype before and after 2006. Acadia was last
seen by observers in September 2009, andbecause she had started to show adolescentestrous swelling and was in good health, itStroke-type
Poke-typewas assumed that she emigrated to anothergroup.
Figure 1. Two types of social scratch: stroke-type and poke-type.
Ako also has a son, Agano, born in2004,
but he was not seen to perform social
Mahale is the stroke-type, one adult female Ako showed
the poke-type scratch2,4: According to Nishida et al.4, Ako scratching during the study period.
was first seen to show this pattern in 1999, used both types
equally (8 pokes vs 7 strokes) between 2002 and 2003, andceased to show the poke-type in 2004. Nishida et al.4 also
stated that there was no evidence of social transmission
in the different types of social scratch, because Ako’s
daughter Acadia never showed the poke-type.
However, I observed several cases of poke-type social
scratching by Ako and Acadia after 2004, as reported here.

Observations
Between November 2005 and July 2010, I made 9
short visits to Mahale (each visit consists of about one
to two months), during which I saw 22 cases of social
scratch by Ako (Figure 2). Twelve of them were the poketype and 10 were the stroke-type (Table 1). Although thedata-set is small, it seems Ako has not changed her social
scratching types over the years. On September 24, 2008,
she showed 4 cases of poke-type and 4 cases of stroketype intermittently within 10 min, directed to the same
adult female Abi. Thus, Ako mixed both types even in thesame grooming session.
I saw her show the poke-type during my last visit, in2010.
In the same study period from 2005, I observed 9cases of social scratch by Ako’s daughter Acadia. Acadia
was the first offspring born to Ako in 1998; thus, she wasTable 1. Two types of social scratch by Ako andAcadia at Mahale.

Year
2002–2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
20092010
Subtotal of2005–2010

Akopoke stroke
870
10
10
10008
91
1
10
12

10

Acadiapoke stroke
––––
02
2
1
0
0
0
4
––––
2Source
Ref 4
Ref 4This study
This study
This study
This study
This study
This study

7

Opportunities for observing Ako and Acadia differ year-by-year (e.g., they
were seldom seen in 2007 during my visit), so it makes no sense to compare
the frequencies across years. Acadia emigrated to a different group by the2009 study period.

Figure 2. Ako (left) just after performing the poke-type
scratch. Ako’s son, Agano, sits in front.

Discussion
Contrary to the report by Nishida et al.4, Ako did notcease the poke-type social scratch in 2004 but instead she
continues to use both types equally. It is puzzling why
she did not show any poke-type scratching in 2004, but itmight be an observational bias, as she has kept showing
this pattern every year, except for 2007. So, the poke-type
scratch still survived in Mahale’s M group.
It is notable that Ako’s daughter Acadia showed,
although only twice, the same poke-type scratch. As sofew individuals showed the poke-type scratch at Mahale4, I
suspect that Acadia somehow copied this pattern from her
mother, the most frequent performer of the pattern, rather
than surmise that Acadia invented this pattern by herself.
Unfortunately, we cannot do a follow-up study of whether
or not Acadia continues to use the poke-type, as she hasemigrated.
As of 2010, I have not observed Agano, Ako’s son,performing social scratching. This is partly due to his
young age and partly due to short observation periods, so
he is not yet observed to groom others often. He should
start soon to groom others, and perhaps he will show
more social scratching when he enters adolescence. It will
be interesting to see whether or not he will employ thepoke-type in the near future, as he had many chances toPan Africa News, 17(2), December 2010
watch his mother doing the pattern and he also sometimes
received the poke-type scratch from Ako.

Acknowledgments
I thank COSTECH, TAWIRI, TANAPA for permission
to conduct research at Mahale, Dr. W. C. McGrew for hiscomments on the manuscript, and Japanese MEXT for financial
support (#21770262 to MN, #19107007 to J. Yamagiwa and#19255008 to T. Nishida).

References

1. Nakamura M, McGrew WC, Marchant LF, Nishida T
2000. Social scratch: another custom in wild chimpanzees?
Primates 41:237–248.
2. Nishida T, Mitani JC, Watts DP 2004. Variable grooming
behaviours in wild chimpanzees. Folia Primatol 75:31–36.
3. Shimada M 2002. Social scratch among the chimpanzeesof Gombe. Pan Afr News 9:21–23.
4. Nishida T, Matsusaka T, McGrew WC 2009. Emergence,
propagation or disappearance of novel behavioral patterns
in the habituated chimpanzees of Mahale: a review.
Primates 50:23–36.

<NOTE>

Two Observations of Galago
Predation by the Kasakela
Chimpanzees of Gombe Stream
National Park, Tanzania.
Robert C. O’Malley
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern
California, USA(E-mail: romalley@usc.edu)

INTRODUCTION

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are known to prey on avariety of vertebrate prey across Africa1. By a wide margin,
the most common prey for the Kasakela chimpanzees ofGombe Stream National Park, Tanzania are red colobus
monkeys (Colobus badius), followed by bushpig piglets(Potamochoerus larvatus*), bushbuck fawns (Tragelaphusscriptus) and young baboons (Papio anubis). Membersof this community have occasionally been observed tocapture and consume blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis)and red-tailed monkeys (Cercopithecus ascanius) as wellas smaller mammals and birds2.
In five decades of observation there have been no
published reports of Gombe chimpanzees consuming
galagos, though at least three species (Otolemurcrassicaudatus monteiri, Galago matschiei, and Galago
senegalensis 3) are believed to be endemic to the park
(Collins personal communication). Predation on galagos
by chimpanzees has been observed (rarely) in thechimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains in Tanzania 4,5.
Galago remains were identified from chimpanzees fecal
samples at Mt. Assirik, Senegal6 and galago predation isregularly observed by chimpanzees at Fongoli7, also inSenegal. Chimpanzees in the latter population usually(though not always) use long sticks to assist in capturing

17
galagos from their nests in hollow trees or other cavities.
Blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis) have been observed
to prey on galagos in the Kibale Forest of Uganda8, thoughchimpanzees there have not been reported to do so.
In this report I document two recent observations ofpredation on galagos by chimpanzees of Gombe Stream
National Park, Tanzania.

OBSERVATION #1:

February 21, 2008, 13:15.
While following a mixed party of chimpanzees, I
observed a 15-year old male (Zeus) visually investigating
an upright dead tree trunk. After a few seconds he began
systematically breaking off bark and wood around the treebole with both hands, occasionally reaching down into thehollow log. After approximately 2 min of this activity, hesuccessfully retrieved an adult galago (not conclusively
identified, but probably Galago senegalensis based on
body size) from the trunk. Zeus immediately killed it witha bite to the face, then quickly and quietly moved to a
nearby tree and began consuming it.
Zeus’ activities were closely observed by several
juveniles in the party (including his 9-year old sister,Zella), some of whom investigated the hole after he had
moved away. One juvenile (ID unknown) retrieved what
seemed to be a large piece of loose fur or bedding material
from the hole after Zeus had moved away, but discarded
it after smelling it. None of the adults present showed any
interest in Zeus’ activities.
The majority of the group were resting and grooming
while Zeus captured the galago. Zeus consumed the entire
carcass without interference or apparent interest by otheradults in the party over the next 90 min. The juveniles inthe party watched Zeus closely but none approached closer
than 3 m or attempted to beg for meat.

OBSERVATION #2

October 21, 2009, 15:25.
While following a large mixed party from afeeding session in a mango stand, Zella (now 10 yearsold) appeared with the freshly-killed body of a galago(Galago senegalensis). The actual predation event was
not observed, though several pairs of human observers
were present. Zella carried the galago in her mouth,
occasionally stopping and tearing at the skin with her teeth(Figure 1). The flesh had already been stripped from thegalago’s tail and its gastrointestinal tract was hanging free.
I observed her successfully bite off the left hind leg andbegin to consume it. She was briefly approached by Fundi(9-year old male) who watched from <1 m away but did
not attempt to beg for meat or steal the carcass, and whosoon moved off.
Less than 3 minutes after appearing with the galago,
Zella abandoned the carcass on a trail (Figure 2), directlyin the path of two approaching adults and continued onwith the group. Both Frodo (33-year old adult male) andGremlin (39-year old adult female) stepped directly overthe carcass with no hesitation or interest whatsoever.
Following behind his mother Gremlin, Gimli (5-year oldmale) immediately seized the carcass and flung it over
his shoulder as he continued after her. The group traveled