Personality in the chimpanzees of Gombe National Park.

Journal Article (Journal Article)

Researchers increasingly view animal personality traits as products of natural selection. We present data that describe the personalities of 128 eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) currently living in or who lived their lives in the Kasekela and Mitumba communities of Gombe National Park, Tanzania. We obtained ratings on 24 items from an established, reliable, well-validated questionnaire used to study personality in captive chimpanzee populations. Ratings were made by former and present Tanzanian field assistants who followed individual chimpanzees for years and collected detailed behavioral observations. Interrater reliabilities across items ranged from acceptable to good, but the personality dimensions they formed were not as interpretable as those from captive samples. However, the personality dimensions corresponded to ratings of 24 Kasekela chimpanzees on a different questionnaire in 1973 that assessed some similar traits. These correlations established the repeatability and construct validity of the present ratings, indicating that the present data can facilitate historical and prospective studies that will lead to better understanding of the evolution of personality in chimpanzees and other primates.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Weiss, A; Wilson, ML; Collins, DA; Mjungu, D; Kamenya, S; Foerster, S; Pusey, AE

Published Date

  • October 2017

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 4 /

Start / End Page

  • 170146 -

PubMed ID

  • 29064463

Pubmed Central ID

  • PMC5654364

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 2052-4463

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 2052-4463

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1038/sdata.2017.146

Language

  • eng