Food preferences 59around the edges of the large clearing in the forest where the sawmill was located, and
today has grown outwards from the forest edge into the sawmill clearing for up to 100 m
in places, so that around the mill there are large stands of Broussonetia. It is not invasive
and does not seem to replace other species inside the forest (Mbogga 2000), it
grows outwards from the forest edge into the grassland. Chimpanzees eat the young
leaves, flowers and fruits of this rather spindly tree, stripping and breaking many of the
branches.
Table 4.2: Food preferences of Sonso chimpanzees (based on Newton-Fisher 1999a).
Species All items Fruit only % time
% time feeding % time feeding eating fruit
Ficus sur 23.0 23.0 35.6
Broussonetia papyrifera 22.7 4.0 6.2
Ficus mucuso 9.8 9.8 15.1
Maesopsis eminii 9.4 9.2 14.3
Celtis durandii 8.4 7.4 11.5
Celtis mildbraedii 4.6 0.1 0.2
Khaya anthotheca 2.9 0.0 0.0
Croton macrostachys 2.8 2.8 4.3
Ficus exasperata 2.2 1.5 2.4
Cordia millenii 1.7 1.4 2.1
Desplatsia dewevrei 1.3 1.3 2.0
Cynometra alexandrii 0.9 0.7 1.0
Ficus sansibarica 0.9 0.9 1.4
(brachylepis)
Cleistopholis patens 0.8 0.1 0.1
Raphia farinifera 0.6 0.0 0.0
Ficus natalensis 0.5 0.5 0.7
Ficus varifolia 0.5 0.0 0.0
Terrestrial Herbaceous 3.2
Vegetation
Climbers 1.5Table 4.3: Food preferences of Sonso chimpanzees
(based on Fawcett 2000).
Food Species Rank
Ficus mucuso 1
Celtis mildbraedii 2
Ficus sur 3
Mildbraediodendron 4
excelsum
Broussonetia papyrifera 5
Cynometra alexandrii 6
Ficus exasperata 7
Ficus varifolia 8
Celtis wightii 9
Ficus sansibarica 10
Celtis zenkeri 11
Morus lactea 12