Title: <Note> Two Observations of Galago Predation by the Kasakela Chimpanzees of Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania
Abstract: Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are known to prey on a variety of vertebrate prey across Africa 1 .By a wide margin, the most common prey for the Kasakela chimpanzees of Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania are red colobus monkeys (Colobus badius), followed by bushpig piglets (Potamochoerus larvatus*), bushbuck fawns (Tragelaphus scriptus) and young baboons (Papio anubis).Members of this community have occasionally been observed to capture and consume blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis) and red-tailed monkeys (Cercopithecus ascanius) as well as smaller mammals and birds 2 .In five decades of observation there have been no published reports of Gombe chimpanzees consuming galagos, though at least three species (Otolemur crassicaudatus monteiri, Galago matschiei, and Galago senegalensis 3 ) are believed to be endemic to the park (Collins personal communication).Predation on galagos by chimpanzees has been observed (rarely) in the chimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains in Tanzania 4,5 .Galago remains were identified from chimpanzees fecal samples at Mt. Assirik, Senegal 6 and galago predation is regularly observed by chimpanzees at Fongoli 7 , also in Senegal.Chimpanzees in the latter population usually (though not always) use long sticks to assist in capturing galagos from their nests in hollow trees or other cavities.Blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis) have been observed to prey on galagos in the Kibale Forest of Uganda 8 , though chimpanzees there have not been reported to do so.In this report I document two recent observations of predation on galagos by chimpanzees of Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania.