Behavioral Thermoregulation: Assessing the Influence of Temperature on Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) Ranging Behavior at Gombe National Park, Tanzania
Open AccessIn this study, I test how temperature relates to ranging behavior, as measured by day range and travel speed, among wild chimpanzees at Gombe National Park, Tanzania. This study addresses two central questions. First, to what extent does the temperature at Gombe correlate with the temperature in the nearest town, Kigoma? Understanding this relationship is crucial since local temperature from Gombe is a relatively recent data collection, compared to the depth of behavioral data from the study site. I predict that the sites will be correlated, as expected due to spatial proximity but understanding the extent of differences due to local ecology will inform how researchers use and interpret the longer term Kigoma dataset. Secondly, how does temperature impact ranging behavior? My first hypothesis is that temperature will have an independent effect on ranging behavior from season. I predict that chimpanzee will travel less distance and more slowly in warmer months in order to reduce energetic cost of ranging as well as time spent under the sun. My second hypothesis is that the relationship between temperature and ranging behavior will vary by sex because of the sexually distinct ranging strategies. Thus, I predict that female ranging behavior is influenced by temperature more so than males since male strategies are primarily driven by mating success as well as territorial defense. My results suggest that while female ranging behavior did not vary with temperature, males significantly travelled faster and longer distances on warmer days.
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