Chimp & See Talk

What fruit/nut are the duiker eating?

  • luca-chimp by luca-chimp

    Does anybody know, what kind of tree with its fruits is so interesting for duiker, monkey and chimp?

    Posted

  • LirSam by LirSam scientist

    It looks like Irvingia (or forest mango)

    Posted

  • MimiA by MimiA scientist, moderator

    Thanks @LirSam!!! 😄

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  • luca-chimp by luca-chimp

    Oh yes, thanks a lot! mhm forest mango sounds yummie 😃

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  • luca-chimp by luca-chimp

    Ah, just read the wiki. Is the seed of irvingia the "nut" (dika) our chimps are hammering?

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  • MimiA by MimiA scientist, moderator

    as far as I know the nut species chimps are known to crack are:

    Coula edulis, Parinari excelsa, Panda oleosa, Sacoglottis gabonensis, Elaeis guineensis and Detarium senegalensis

    http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047248484710207
    and http://www.issr-journals.org/links/papers.php?journal=ijias&application=pdf&article=IJIAS-15-011-02

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  • luca-chimp by luca-chimp

    Ah okay. It was only a thought, because obviously all the animals like theese fruits, and in Wiki is cited: "The seed coat has to be cracked open to get to the endosperm. " So I thought, maybe this is what our chimps are hammering on. But as Im no biologist, I cannot recognize the nut trees they sit under 😃

    Now I first have to google all the nuts and read the article 😃 Thanks MimiA

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  • luca-chimp by luca-chimp

    @LirSam: Sorry for nagging. I need help: Wiki says: Irvingia flowers from March to June and has two fruiting seasons: from April to July and from September to October.
    I searched long, as to find the beginning of the sequence

    ACP000efj7

    It says: 03-12-2015
    What does that mean? 3. December or 12th March? And both are not fitting in the above fruiting seasons?

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  • MimiA by MimiA scientist, moderator

    I jump in before @LirSam answers 😉

    With nuts like this, usually the animals first eat the fruit and then the nuts/seeds dry on the forest floor and then are consumed later.

    For example, Parinari fruit are eaten in January (https://books.google.de/books?id=t7YhAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA185&lpg=PA185&dq=chimpanzee+parinari+fruit&source=bl&ots=R_qnD9B3GQ&sig=Eorf6RQF8XnHsxvZqsqjvqQnCp8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjT3q-59rnNAhVKD8AKHerXDX4Q6AEIJDAB#v=onepage&q=chimpanzee parinari fruit&f=false)

    but the parinari nuts are cracked from June to October (http://www.eva.mpg.de/fileadmin/content_files/staff/boesch/pdf/behav_optim_nut-cracking.pdf)

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  • LirSam by LirSam scientist

    Hey @luca-chimp!
    first feel free to ask as many questions, no problem

    to add on to @MimiA
    the chimps do feed on the Irvingia nuts but they do not use tools to crack the shell open. they just use their teeth.
    second, about the fruiting season. I am not at all a botanist but I have already seen chimps feeding on Irvingia fruits in March and on other cases feeding on the nuts in January. Fruiting seasons can shift quite a bit, I assume depending on rainfall, sun exposure etc.. So it is not impossible 😃

    hope it helped!

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  • AnLand by AnLand moderator

    To answer the date question - it's an American format MM-DD-YYYY (month - day - year), so it's March 12th, 2015

    enter image description here

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  • luca-chimp by luca-chimp

    Thanks at all! Yes, march may be the first of the fruits 😃 Lucky whose teeth are strong enough
    @AnLand, what me confused with the time is, that sometimes there are other forms: I see most of the time the other way round, perhaps 2015-12-3 and so I was quite unsure, which format is meant.

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