Feeding competition and patch size in the chimpanzee species Pan paniscus and Pan troglodytes

Pan paniscus at Lomako is characterized by a stronger tendency for association among females than among female P. troglodytes at Gombe. Party size in P. paniscus is dependent on patch size. Feeding competition was more important in small patches. Total amount of feeding time by a party in a patch (chimp-minutes) was a measure of patch size that was available for both chimpanzee species. P. paniscus had larger party sizes and used larger food patches than P. troglodytes. The importance of dispersed ground foods for each species was compared and indicate that this type of food was equally important in the diets of both populations. -from Authors