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Using Epistemic Network Analysis to Explore Flexibility and Development of Termite Fishing Techniques in Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes ellioti)

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Advances in Quantitative Ethnography (ICQE 2023)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 1895))

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Abstract

This work applies quantitative ethnographic techniques to a novel research context: animal behavior research in the field of biological sciences. Chimpanzee tool use is complex, culturally transmitted, and differs even between populations with similar ecological materials available. Tool use involves the flexible combination of behavioral elements to modify and utilize environmental materials and can expand an organisms’ ecological niche by allowing access to otherwise inaccessible resources. Novel tool using behaviors and unique techniques (i.e., variations within a specific tool using behavior) can be innovated, transmitted from mothers to offspring, or spread among cohort members via observation. The ability to flexibly adjust one’s behavior is vital to surviving new or changing habitats, but remains difficult to study empirically or quantitatively. In this study, we use Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA) to visualize and compare patterns of termite fishing behavioral elements – a ubiquitous tool-using behavior in chimpanzees – in a population of Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes ellioti) in Mbam & Djerem National Park, Cameroon. We coded 87 videos representing over one hour of termite fishing observations of 12 individual chimpanzees of various ages (Adult: n = 6, Juvenile: n = 4, Infants: n = 2). Networks revealed variation in the combinations of termite fishing behavioral elements between age classes. Results suggest that flexibility in termite fishing is high in limited combinations with Infants, but overall flexibility increases with age and may be shaped by practice. Findings also highlight the utility of ENA in the study of behavioral flexibility and inform future research applications around cultural variation in chimpanzees.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Tyler Andres-Bray

  2. Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Amanda Barany

  3. Cameroon Biodiversity Protection Program, Yaoundé, Cameroon

    Tyler Andres-Bray & Mary Katherine Gonder

  4. Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Mary Katherine Gonder

Authors
  1. Tyler Andres-Bray
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  2. Amanda Barany
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  3. Mary Katherine Gonder
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Correspondence to Tyler Andres-Bray .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA

    Golnaz Arastoopour Irgens

  2. University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia

    Simon Knight

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Andres-Bray, T., Barany, A., Gonder, M.K. (2023). Using Epistemic Network Analysis to Explore Flexibility and Development of Termite Fishing Techniques in Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes ellioti). In: Arastoopour Irgens, G., Knight, S. (eds) Advances in Quantitative Ethnography. ICQE 2023. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1895. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47014-1_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47014-1_11

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