Exciting new preprint from Sophie Berdugo and colleagues

Congratulations to our Lab’s own Sophie Berdugo for her groundbreaking work revealing long-term individual variations in wild chimpanzee nut-cracking efficiency which offers new insights into ape behaviour and tool use. Check out the preprint here and read more about the research in Sophie's own words below.

The preprint on my PhD research establishing stable and reliable individual variation in the efficiency of wild chimpanzee nut-cracking is now out, co-authored with @chammeeno, @Arran_Davis, Tetsuro Matsuzawa, and @carvalhoprimate:https://t.co/sFbBF49F6Y

— Sophie Berdugo (@sophie_berdugo) November 22, 2023

Variation in technological efficiency has loads of implications (e.g., for how we interpret hominin archaeological remains, and for social learning), but long-term individual variation in primate extractive foraging efficiency have never been investigated.

— Sophie Berdugo (@sophie_berdugo) November 22, 2023

Thanks to the immense contribution of the field assistants and researchers at the long-term chimp field site in Bossou, Guinea, we have a video archive of wild chimps using stones to crack nuts (among other things!).
Photo credit: Kyoto University pic.twitter.com/kcLsID9LfZ

— Sophie Berdugo (@sophie_berdugo) November 22, 2023

I spent a *very* long time collecting data from all the chimps aged 6+ between 1992-2017, resulting in 3,882 nut-cracking bouts from 21 individuals.

— Sophie Berdugo (@sophie_berdugo) November 22, 2023

We found long-term stable and reliable individual differences in four measures of efficiency, making this the first research to (1) show individual variation in chimp stone tool use, and (2) show systematic individual variation in the technological efficiency of wild chimps.

— Sophie Berdugo (@sophie_berdugo) November 22, 2023

Many thanks to all the field researchers and assistants for making this research possible, specifically Henry Didier Camara, Cé Vincent Mami, Gouanou Zogbila, Boniface Zogbila, Jules Doré, Guana Goumy, Tino Camara, Pascal Goumy, Paquílé Cherif, Jiles Gondo Doré, and Marcel Doré

— Sophie Berdugo (@sophie_berdugo) November 22, 2023