The Activity Budget of Adult Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) and Environmental Conditions in Mefou Primate Sanctuary, Centre Region, Cameroon

Abstract

Time is a limited parameter of various activities for most wild animals. The study of time budget allotment among various diurnal activities such as feeding, resting, grooming, travelling is essential for the characterization of living and working manner of a primate species, which lay the foundation for interrelating ecology and the behaviour of the species. The survey was focused on determining the activity budget of chimpanzees and their environmental needs in Mefou primate sanctuary. The research data collection was initiated after a brief pilot study of the study area and the animal group. A 4-month-data collection from April – July was carried out and was done the first 10 days of each month, from 8:00am – 6:00pm. The activities of the focal animal observed were recorded alongside the scan data obtained in a 15-minute-interval period. Additionally, observations were recorded on environmental changes. The research data was analyzed by the use of chi-square statistical model. The focal animal revealed a significant relationship on activity budget, X2 = 23.818 df=6, p=0.001. Resting (30%), movement (28%) and feeding (22%) dominated the activity budget profile, while grooming (9%), aggression (6%), play (3%) and climbing (2%) were the least activities observed. The Adult chimpanzees’ behavior showed an association on weather type, X2 = 15.801 df=3, p=0.001 and X2 = 28.975 df=18, p=0.049, respectively. Seasonality witnessed a weak association on the adult animals, X2 = 2.492 df=6, p<0.05. Also, a weak significance was recorded on social activity and seasonality, X2 = 1.379 df=6, p<0.05. This survey discovered that the activities of the adult chimpanzees witnessed alterations due to the changes of environmental conditions.