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. 2017 Oct 24:4:170146.
doi: 10.1038/sdata.2017.146.

Personality in the chimpanzees of Gombe National Park

Alexander Weiss  1   2   3 , Michael L Wilson  4   5   6 , D Anthony Collins  7 , Deus Mjungu  7 , Shadrack Kamenya  7 , Steffen Foerster  8 , Anne E Pusey  8
Affiliations

Personality in the chimpanzees of Gombe National Park

Alexander Weiss et al. Sci Data. .

Abstract

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.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Map of Gombe National Park.
The ranges of the Kaskela and Mitumba communities cover the years 2000 to 2009. Earlier ranges are described in Williams et al. and Wilson et al.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

Data Citations

    1. Weiss A. 2017. Open Science Framework. http://dx.doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/S7D9D - DOI

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