Evaluation of faecal analysis as an indirect method for determination of chimpanzee dietary composition

Abstract

The study used 2,635 chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) faecal samples and each sample was analysed while wet, and after drying. The two methods used in this analysis were proportional (5%) scores and volume measurement. Results from analyzing dry samples significantly increased the visibility of small and rare food remnant items in chimpanzee faeces. There was no significant difference in the duration in terms of person hours needed to analyse either wet and dry faecal samples, or in using proportional scores and actual volume measurements methods. The analyses of wet and dry faecal samples were positively correlated and so was the use of proportional scores and volume measurement methods. There was a significant difference in results obtained by analysis of wet and dry faecal samples. This difference was also registered between proportional scoring and volume measurement when analysing dry samples, except for seeds with diameter that is more than 5 mm (t = 0.22, p = 0.83). The difference was, however, significant between results obtained by the two methods while analysing wet samples for seeds of > 5 mm (t = 3.67; P =