INTRODUCTION

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in all well-studied wild populations hunt a variety of vertebrates and share meat extensively (reviews: Wrangham & Bergmann-Riss 1990; Uehara 1997; Stanford 1998). Meat is a highly valued resource and nutritional reasons presumably explain the origin of hunting, although its exact nutritional significance is unclear. Hunting and meat sharing also have considerable social importance. Two major similarities across chimpanzee populations are that red colobus monkeys (Procolobus badius) are the primary prey species where the two species are sympatric (Goodall 1986; Boesch & Boesch 1989; Uehara 1997; Ihobe & Uehara 1999; Mitani & Watts 1999; Boesch & Boesch-Achermann 2000; Hosaka et al. 2001), and that predation rates vary over time (Mahale: Takahata et al. 1984; Uehara 1997; Hosaka et al. 2001; Gombe: Goodall 1986; Wrangham & Bergmann-Riss 1990; Stanford et al. 1994a; Stanford 1998; Ta: Boesch & Boesch 1989; Kahuzi-Biega: Basabose & Yamagiwa 1997; Kibale: Mitani & Watts 1999). Other aspects of hunting vary considerably across and sometimes within populations. In this chapter, we summarize data on hunting and meat sharing by chimpanzees at Ngogo, in Kibale National Park, Uganda. We focus mostly on hunts of red colobus, by far the most important prey species. We compare our data to those from other sites to highlight questions about hunting and meat sharing that are partly resolved and those that remain open. We summarize results of our earlier analyses of hunting and meat sharing at Ngogo (Mitani & Watts 1999, 2001; Watts & Mitani 2002), and use data collected more recently to update analyses of hunting success, cooperation, and the relationship of meat sharing to mating behavior.