Abstract
The goal of this study was to explain the patterns of diversity and distribution of arboreal social bees nesting in forest habitats of the Comoé National park, within the home-ranges of wild chimpanzees that consume their honey. Investigations were done using a total sixteen plots, one hectare each, established in three habitat types (mature forest island, secondary forest island and gallery forest). The diversity and distribution of arboreal social bees was estimated with visuals searches. The exploitation of the beehives of these bee by the chimpanzees was also evaluated using chimpanzees’ honey dipping tools as indicators. Results revealed five bees’ species belonging to two tribes; Meliponini (Meliponula ferruginea, Meliponula togoensis, Meliponula bocandei, Hypotrigona gribodoi) and Apini (Apis mellifera). Frequent exploitation of the honey of stingless bees by the chimpanzees was observed, except for H. gribodoi. Meliponula ferruginea was the most exploited species by chimpanzees. A total of 114 beehives were found in the overall established plots leading to an estimated density of 2.4 beehives/ha in the study area. Among the surveyed habitats, mature forest island was found to harbor the highest beehive density (4.2 beehives/ha), followed respectively by secondary-forest island (1.9 beehives/ha) and gallery forest (1.1 beehives/ha). Finally, all bee species were found nesting in cavities of trees with a DBH ranging from 15 to 87.3 cm, with a special preference for Dialium guinneense. However, the DBH of nesting trees and beehives’ height, measured from the ground level, did not significantly influence the honey exploitation by chimpanzees. In sum bee species diversity and distribution might be important in the survival of chimpanzees of a forest savanna landscape.
Highlights
Invertebrates are included in the diet of many primates (Redford, 1987; Pruetz, 2006)
We identified the used chimpanzee tools by the following characteristics: a portion of a branch cut to a determined length, stripped from leaves and lateral branches, often with a brush tip made by chimpanzees using their teeth and clear signs of wear from being used, such as frayed or blunt ends, remains of honey or wax, dirt left by the hand grip
The highest values of these indexes were found for the mature forest island, followed by the gallery forest and the secondary forest island
Summary
Invertebrates are included in the diet of many primates (Redford, 1987; Pruetz, 2006). Some populations of the chimpanzee subspecies have been found to prey upon brood and stored honey of Apini and Meliponini (Sommer et al, 2012) Many of these studies revealed the use of tools by the chimpanzees to collect the honey (Crickette & David, 2008; Boesch et al, 2009; McLennan, 2011; Sommer et al, 2012). Honey gathering using tools typically involves inserting probes in beehives These probes can be modified to obtain frayed ends for honey dipping (Sommer et al, 2012). Such tools with brush-tips allow collecting up to six times more honey than those with unmodified tips (Tutin et al, 1995)
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