Patterns of Diversity and Distribution of Arboreal Social Bees’ Beehives within Chimpanzees’ Home Range in a Forest-Savanna Mosaic (Comoé National Park, Côte d’Ivoire)

Research in Comoé National Park, Côte d’Ivoire, reveals that chimpanzees frequently exploit the honey of stingless bees, particularly Meliponula ferruginea, within a forest-savanna mosaic. The study identified five bee species across 16 one-hectare plots in three habitat types: mature forest island (4.2 beehives/ha), secondary forest island (1.9 beehives/ha), and gallery forest (1.1 beehives/ha). Bees nested primarily in Dialium guineense trees, with no significant influence of tree diameter or beehive height on chimpanzee exploitation. These findings suggest that bee species diversity may play a critical role in the survival of chimpanzees in such landscapes.

Soro, A. N., Lapuente, J., Kone, A. N., Yeo, K., & Konate, S. (2019). Patterns of Diversity and Distribution of Arboreal Social Bees’ Beehives within Chimpanzees’ Home Range in a Forest-Savanna Mosaic (Comoé National Park, Côte d’Ivoire). Sociobiology, 66(3), 480–490. https://doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v66i3.4384