CHIMPANZEE TOOL USE FOR HONEY AND TERMITE EXTRACTION IN CENTRAL-AFRICA

Observations are presented primarily from two study sites located in t he extreme southwestern tip of the Central African Republic. The use o f flexible stalks and rigid sticks to extract termites from mounds and pounding, prying, and digging tools to penetrate melipone, honey bee, and ground-dwelling bee hives by Pan t. troglodytes are documented or inferred from circumstantial evidence. Functionally, termite extracti on tools were similar to other locations in west and central Africa, b ut the plant species used were considerably different. Extraction of b ees using large pieces of wood as pounding tools has not been recorded elsewhere in wild chimpanzees. No environmental factor that differs b etween the east and west of the range of P. t. troglodytes that would cause the difference in tool use was identified. (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.