4.3 Article

A novel fecal stable isotope approach to determine the timing of age-related feeding transitions in wild infant chimpanzees

Journal

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Volume 162, Issue 2, Pages 285-299

Publisher

WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23116

Keywords

comfort nursing; nutritional development; suckling; transitional feeding; weaning

Funding

  1. L.S.B Leakey Foundation
  2. Explorers Club
  3. Canadian Association for Physical Anthropology
  4. International Primatological Society
  5. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
  6. Ontario Graduate Scholarship
  7. University of Toronto

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ObjectivesDetermining nutritional development in wild primates is difficult through observations because confirming dietary intake is challenging. Physiological measures are needed to determine the relative contributions of maternal milk and other foods at different ages, and time of weaning. We used fecal stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes (C-13, N-15) and fecal nitrogen concentrations (%N) from wild chimpanzees at Ngogo, Uganda, to derive physiological dietary indicators during the transition from total reliance on maternal milk to adult foods after weaning. Materials and MethodsWe analyzed 560 fecal samples collected non-invasively from 48 infants, their mothers, and 6 juvenile siblings. Most infant and juvenile samples (90%) were matched to samples collected from mothers on the same day. Isotopic assessments were compared with observations of nursing and feeding. ResultsInfants 1 year old showed average N-15, C-13 and %N ratios that were 2.0, 0.8 parts per thousand and 1.3% greater than their mothers, respectively, interpreted as trophic level effects. Although data collected on newborns were few, results suggest that solid foods were consumed within 2-5 months after birth. Trophic level differences decreased steadily after 1 year, which indicates a decreasing relative contribution of milk to the diet. Isotopic results indicated infants were weaned by 4.5 years oldmore than a year earlier than observations of nipple contacts ceased, which revealed the occurrence of comfort nursing. Juvenile isotopic signatures indicate no nursing overlap between siblings. DiscussionOur results resemble the stable isotope differences of human babies. This study contributes to a model of chimpanzee nutritional development required to understand early life history patterns in hominins.

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