Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 470 pp.
Published in 2019
Online ISBN: 9781108674218
DOI: 10.1017/9781108674218

This recently published volume was prepared in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the chimpanzee research project at Taï Forest, Côte d’Ivore. As already introduced by Wittig (2018), the Taï Chimpanzee Project began in 1979 by Christophe and Hedwige Boesch. The project has been continued since then and is now one of the world’s most eminent primate research projects.

From this volume, we can learn how long-term logistic efforts have been essential to run a large research project as well as to continue conservation actions for the target species. It is also interesting to see that some chapters are allocated for observation protocols and data sharing methods. Such common protocols are essential for long-term monitoring by various researchers and contributed to elucidation of very basic, yet very important findings about demography, life history, culture, diet, behavioral diversity, etc. of this long-living species.

Although the direct behavioral observation is a basic research protocol employed at chimpanzee field sites, there are growing importance of contributions from lab works in recent decades, such as genetic analyses, endocrinological analyses, identifying microorganism ecology and cause of infectious diseases. Such field–lab collaborative works have been conducted since relatively early days at Taï, and several chapters in this volume are allocated for reviews of such types of studies there.

More specific research topics found in this volume are very wide: adoption, spatial integration of females, tool use, social play, female rank changes, association networks, sharing meat, vocalizations, gesture, spatial and temporal cognitive abilities and so on.

Altogether 42 authors have contributed to 28 chapters in this volume.

We sincerely congratulate the 40-year achievement of the Taï Chimpanzee Project and acknowledge their very important contributions to the primatological literature.

Wittig RM (2018) 40 years of research at the Taï Chimpanzee Project. Pan Afr News 25: 16–18. https://doi.org/10.5134/236289

Preface (pp. xiii–xvi) / Christophe Boesch & Roman Wittig

Acknowledgements (pp. xvii–xviii)

Chapter 1. War and peace in the Taï chimpanzee forest: running a long-term chimpanzee research project (pp. 1–27) / Christophe Boesch

Chapter 2. Developments in statistical methods applied over four decades of research in the Taï Chimpanzee Project (pp. 28–43) / Roger Mundry

Chapter 3. Observation protocol and long-term data collection in Taï (pp. 44–57) / Roman Wittig & Christophe Boesch

Chapter 4. The Wild Chimpanzee Foundation (WCF) and the Taï Chimpanzee Project (TCP) (pp. 58–69) / Emmanuelle Normand, Ilka Herbinger, Kouassi A.K. Joseph & Yves A. Kablan

Chapter 5. Insights from genetic analyses of the Taï chimpanzees (pp. 70–77) / Linda Vigilant

Chapter 6. Endocrinological analyses at Taï (pp. 78–88) / Tobias Deschner & Verena Behringer

Chapter 7. Chimpanzee behavioural diversity and the contribution of the Taï Chimpanzee Project (pp. 89–103) / Christophe Boesch

Chapter 8. An energetic model of foraging optimization: wild chimpanzee hammer selection for nut-cracking (pp. 104–124) / Giulia Sirianni, Lydia V. Luncz & Paolo Gratton

Chapter 9. Demography and life history of five chimpanzee communities in Taï National Park (pp. 125–140) / Roman Wittig & Christophe Boesch

Chapter 10. Adoption in the Taï chimpanzees: costs, benefits and strong social relationships (pp. 141–158) / Liran Samuni, Roman Wittig & Catherine Crockford

Chapter 11. Spatial integration of unusually high numbers of immigrant females into the South Group: further support for the bisexually bonded model in Taï chimpanzees (pp. 159–177) / Sylvain Lemoine, Catherine Crockford & Roman Wittig

Chapter 12. Forty years striving to capture culture among the Taï chimpanzees (pp. 178–193) / Christophe Boesch

Chapter 13. Cultural diversity of nut-cracking behaviour between two populations of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in the Côte d’Ivoire (pp. 194–220) / Lydia V. Luncz, Roger Mundry, Serge Soiret & Christophe Boesch

Chapter 14. Ecological and social influences on rates of social play in immature wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) (pp. 221–241) / Yasmin Moebius, Peter D. Walsh, Grégoire K. Nohon & Christophe Boesch

Chapter 15. Long-term diet of the chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in Taï National Park: interannual variations in consumption (pp. 242–260) / Zoro Bertin Goné Bi & Roman Wittig

Chapter 16. Why Taï mangabeys do not use tools to crack nuts like sympatric-living chimpanzees: a cognitive limitation on monkey feeding ecology (pp. 261–271) / Karline R.L. Janmaat & Richard Byrne

Chapter 17. Providing research for conservation from long-term field sites (pp. 272–289) / Marie-Lyne Després-Einspenner, Yves A. Kablan, Celestin Y. Kouakou, Hjalmar S. Kühl & Paul K. N’Goran

Chapter 18. Rank changes in female chimpanzees in Taï National Park (pp. 290–300) / Alexander Mielke, Catherine Crockford & Roman Wittig

Chapter 19. Effects of large-scale knockouts on chimpanzee association networks (pp. 301–315) / Julia Riedel, Christophe Boesch & Mathias Franz

Chapter 20. Why do the chimpanzees of the Taï Forest share meat? The value of bartering, begging and hunting (pp. 316–338) / Cristina M. Gomes, Roger Mundry & Christophe Boesch

Chapter 21. Group-specific social dynamics affect urinary oxytocin levels in Taï male chimpanzees (pp. 339–365) / Preis Anna, Samuni Liran, Deschner Tobias, Crockford Catherine & Wittig Roman

Chapter 22. The chimpanzees of the Taï Forest as models for hominine microorganism ecology and evolution (pp. 366–384) / Jan F. Gogarten, Grit Schubert, Fabian Leendertz & Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer

Chapter 23. Acute infectious diseases occurring in the Taï chimpanzee population: a review (pp. 385–393) / Livia Victoria Patrono & Fabian Leendert

Chapter 24. Why does the chimpanzee vocal repertoire remain poorly understood and what can be done about it? (pp. 394–409) / Catherine Crockford

Chapter 25. Evidence for sexual dimorphism in chimpanzee vocalizations: a comparison of male and female call production and acoustic parameters (pp. 410–421) / Kalan K. Ammie

Chapter 26. Gestural usage and development in two chimpanzee groups of different subspecies (Pan troglodytes verus/P. t. schweinfurthii) (pp. 422–439) / Fröhlich Marlen & Pika Simone

Chapter 27. Spatial cognitive abilities in foraging chimpanzees (pp. 440–450) / Simone D. Ban & Emmanuelle Normand

Chapter 28. Temporal cognition in Taï chimpanzees (pp. 451–466) / Karline R.L. Janmaat

Index (pp. 467–470)