Abstract
Variation in army ant consumption strategies highlights cultural differences between chimpanzee communities in forest habitats. Since these strategies have not been studied in detail in savannas, variation across habitat types remains largely unknown. Here, we report the ant-consumption strategies of savanna chimpanzees at Dindefelo, Senegal. From 2018 to 2022, we collected and measured 151 ant-dipping tools from nine ant nest sites. We assessed tool raw material availability and chimpanzee material selection at four sites. We recorded ant-dipping behaviour at six sites, and examined age, sex, community, individual, and location differences. We collected ants during 47 ant colony encounters and found that all samples belonged to one species closely related to Dorylus nigricans. Chimpanzees made tools from eight plant species and mostly selected lianas. They bent vegetation to position themselves while ant-dipping. Chimpanzees in Dindefelo ant-dipped faster than in forest sites. However, all their ant-consumption strategies have been reported for chimpanzees in forest sites. Although ants are scarce and patchily distributed in savannas, this does not seem to influence chimpanzee ant-eating strategies. Ant aggressiveness appears to determine the ant-consumption strategies used by chimpanzees across habitats. These results expand our understanding of the role ecology and culture play in chimpanzee insect-foraging strategies.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the Direction des Eaux, Forêts, Chasses et de la Conservation des Sols of the Republic of Senegal and the Réserve Naturelle Communautaire de Dindéfélo for allowing us to conduct our research. We thank the Jane Goodall Institute Spain (JGIS) field assistants and volunteers for their hard work during this study: Mamadou Ndioum, Cheikh Ndiaye Camara, Daouda Diallo, Samba Diallo, Alsainy Diallo, Abdoul Karim Diallo, Abdou Salam Diallo, Amadou Sidy Diallo, Mamadou Samba Sylla, Angélica Bas, Mar Repullés, Jordi Vilanova, Ana Orós, and especially to Mamadou Foula “Wandou” Diallo and Aïssatou Lamarana Sy. We thank Yahya Abeid for his help with plant species identification and David Leiva for his advice on statistical analysis. The JGIS is grateful for financial support to Jane Goodall Institute USA, Jane Goodall Institute Canada, Jane Goodall Institute Austria, Jane Goodall Institute Germany, and Youssef Warren Foundation. We are grateful to the members and donors of the JGIS for their support. A.S.M. received the support of a fellowship from the “la Caixa” Foundation (ID 100010434) with code “LCF/BQ/DR24/12080012”. A.A. is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities through the Ramón y Cajal Grant (RYC2022-037569-I) funded by MICIU/AEI/https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 and by ESF +. J.G. and R.A.H.A. are supported by the Generalitat de Catalunya grant “2021SGR00366”. R.A.H.A. thanks the Serra Hunter Programme for support. We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions that greatly improved this manuscript.
Funding
A.S.M. received the support of a fellowship from the “la Caixa” Foundation (ID 100010434) with code “LCF/BQ/DR24/12080012”. A.A. is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities through the Ramón y Cajal Grant (RYC2022-037569-I) funded by MICIU/AEI/https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 and by ESF +. J.G. and R.A.H.A. are supported by the Generalitat de Catalunya grant “2021SGR00366”.
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Sánchez-Megías, A., Galán-Plana, C.F., Mirghani, N. et al. Chimpanzee army ant consumption strategies show no habitat-specific pattern. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-42278-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-42278-5
