Camera Traps Document Infant Corpse Carrying Behaviour in Multiple Unhabituated Chimpanzee Populations

Area of Science:

• Primatology
• Ethology
• Wildlife Conservation

Background:

• Camera traps are vital for wildlife research, aiding in distribution and habitat use studies.
• While used for behavior analysis, their efficacy in detecting rare, unpredictable behaviors like infant corpse carrying (ICC) is less explored.
• Comparative thanatology studies suggest ICC offers insights into animal cognition, maternal bonds, and death awareness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effectiveness of camera traps in capturing infant corpse carrying (ICC) in wild chimpanzees.
• To compare ICC detection rates from camera traps with those from direct observations in habituated populations.
• To analyze demographic and behavioral data associated with ICC events captured by camera traps.

Main Methods:

• Deployed camera traps across four unhabituated chimpanzee populations in West and East Africa, covering 18 communities.
• Compared ICC detection rates and associated data from camera traps against published data from direct observations.
• Analyzed carrying duration, infant age, and carrier demographics for ICC events.

Main Results:

• Camera traps detected ICC in seven communities at a rate of 0.46 cases/year, 2.3 times higher than direct observations (0.20 cases/year).
• Ten ICC cases involved infants aged 0-3 years, with a median carrying duration of 7 days.
• Eight of ten cases featured a single adult female as the carrier, supporting hypotheses on maternal bonds and death awareness.

Conclusions:

• Infant corpse carrying (ICC) is more prevalent in chimpanzees than previously documented.
• Camera traps are a valuable, non-invasive tool for detecting infrequent animal behaviors like ICC across large areas.
• This method enhances the study of animal cognition, maternal behavior, and responses to death in wild populations.