Recent developments in the study of wild chimpanzee behavior

Chimpanzees have always been of special interest to anthropologists. As our closest living relatives,(1-3) they provide the standard against which to assess human uniqueness and information regarding the changes that must have occurred during the course of human evolution. Given these circumstances, it is not surprising that chimpanzees have been studied intensively in the wild. Jane Goodall(4,5) initiated the first long-term field study of chimpanzee behavior at the Gombe National Park, Tanzania. Her observations of tool manufacture and use, hunting, and meat-eating forever changed the way we define humans. Field research on chimpanzee behavior by Toshisada Nishida and colleagues(6) at the nearby Mahale Mountains National Park has had an equally significant impact. It was Nishida(7,8) who first provided a comprehensive picture of the chimpanzee social system, including group structure and dispersal.