Tables of behaviors

Have you seen these behaviors elsewhere?

The first table presented here (Table 1)  includes great ape locally unique behaviors that are only reported in a single population of a single great ape species. The second table (Table 2) includes great ape locally restricted behaviors that have only been found in a single population of a great ape species but in this case, they are also present in other great ape species elsewhere. The following diagram illustrates an example of the distribution of a locally unique behaviour (green) and an example of a locally restricted behaviour (purple). 

In the tables, we included the population where the behavior was described as restricted for the first time (see map at the end of the page), as well as the corresponding reference. Please look through these tables, and if you would like to contribute there is more information at the bottom of the page (see "How can you contribute?" below ).

Table 1

 Locally unique great ape behaviors (potentially) only found in a single population (or connected populations) of a single great ape species. In bold are the highlighted the physical actions involved in each behaviour.

Table 2

Locally restricted great ape behaviors that are only found in a single population (or connected populations) of a certain great ape species but that are alsopresent in other great ape species. Chimp= Chimpanzees; B Ora= Bornean Orangutans; S Ora= Sumatran  Orangutans; W Gor= Western Lowland Gorillas; M Gor= Mountain Gorillas; Bon= Bonobos. In bold are the highlighted the physical actions involved in each behaviour.

How can you contribute? 

Whenever you recognise a behavior on the Tables, please check if you have seen it in a different population (wild or captive) - or even a different species of apes -  from the one that we report (please check the map below for locations). For the behaviours in Table 1 we are interested in observations of these behaviours in the same or other great ape species. For the behaviours in Table 2 we are specially interested in observations of these behaviours in additional populations of the same species different from the one reported. If you have conducted additional observations of these behaviours, please let us know via email.

 If you think there is a potential locally restricted behavior that we have missed and is not in the tables above, please also write us an email so we can add it to the list! If you would like to check the behaviours the we already investigated for this project, please check the supplementary Table 2 of our recent publication on this topic here.

In your email please include the behavior you have seen, where (site and if in the wild or captivity), the rearing background of the subject (human or mother reared), the species, when did you see it (if possible) and in how many individuals.

All contributions will be acknowledged in future publications in the "Acknowledgements" section (if you would like to remain anonymous, let us know in your email - though note that we will keep the information in internal files).

To know more about how these tables were compiled please check "The Project". 

New candidate behaviours reported since our publication

We are happy to announce that since the publication of our manuscript detailing the Method of Local Restriction and its application to the study of great ape cultures, new candidate locally restricted behaviours have been brought to our attention. In the following table we detail these new reports as well as whether these behaviors have been reported elsewhere.

Note: Although in the original publication we did not make this distinction (see tables above), in the Table 3 below we have only included new candidate behavioural actions. If what the authors report to be unique or restricted are the targets, objects or materials involved in the behaviour rather than the actions per se, these examples are not included below. For instance, we did not consider as candidate locally restricted behaviours eating mangrove leaves and drinking salty water by Cantanhez chimpanzees (doi.org/10.1098/rsos.211518) because the actions (eating leaves and drinking water) appear elsewhere.  We also did not consider tortoise bashing by chimpanzees in Gabon (doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-43301-8) because although the target was new, chimpanzees bash objects against hard surfaces elsewhere.

Table 3

New candidate locally restricted behaviours (i.e. actions) reported after the publication of our original paper.

Map of the locations mentioned in the tables