New observations on chimpanzee accumulative stone throwing in Boé, Guinea Bissau

Abstract

Abstract Chimpanzee accumulative stone throwing at trees has been described by Kühl, H.S., Kalan, A.K., Arandjelovic, M., Aubert, F., D'Auvergne, L., Goedmakers, A., Jones, S., Kehoe, L., Regnaut, S., Tickle, A., et al. (2016). Chimpanzee accumulative stone throwing. Sci. Rep. 6: 1–8, but we lack important details about the social and ecological context for this rare behavior. Further observations may enhance future research, as the described observations have not yet been shared in the literature. We analyzed camera trap records from 2010 to 2020 of various research projects conducted in the Boé sector of Gabu Province in south-east Guinea Bissau, West-Africa, to identify ecological and social factors that might potentially influence chimpanzee accumulative stone throwing behavior (on a total of 298 records). From September 2019 until November 2019, we filmed five trees over 48 days to conduct a further exploratory study of this behavior. We discuss the importance of study design when investigating a little-described phenomenon, and the threat posed to chimpanzee populations in West-Africa by the expected expansion of mining activities. More knowledge on chimpanzee accumulative stone throwing is needed as the chimpanzee population is under stress because of increased mining activities in the area. With habitat rapidly being disturbed and destroyed, this population and its rare behavior are increasingly at risk of extermination.