The Predatory Behavior of Wild Chimpanzees

Geza Teleki

1973
232 pages
ISBN 9780838777473

The chimpanzee of public performances and laboratory experiments presents a limited view of the species, and one that is largely incompatible with the chimpanzee observed in its natural habitat, where these apes exhibit a wide variety of individual and social behavior which does not occur in captivity. One important behavior that has recently come to light in natural conditions is the hunting of other mammals. Thus, the same ape that has long been considered vegetarian is now emerging as an efficient hunter of young bushbucks, bushpigs and baboons, as well as smaller monkeys, such as the blue, redtail, and colobus.

Geza Teleki has spent two years observing wild chimpanzees at very close quarters in the Gombe National Park of Tanzania. He has compiled this report on predatory behavior, based in part upon a decade of observations by a research team living in the park, but primarily upon numerous episodes he observed since early 1968.

About the author:

Geza Teleki is a Ph.D. candidate in primatology at the University of Georgia.