Formed in 1938 on a swath of primary forest nearly four times the size of Paris, Nigeria’s Akure-Ofosu Forest Reserve is home to a diverse array of wildlife. These include red-capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus), putty-nosed monkeys (Cercopithecus nictitans), mona monkeys (Cercopithecus mona), and Nigerian white-throated guenons (Cercopithecus erythrogaster pococki). But perhaps the reserve’s most iconic […]
Tag: Chimpanzee
Elderly chimp’s story shows the immense progress we’ve made for animals in labs
Samantha was a little over a year old in 1976 when her world changed forever: The tiny chimpanzee was sold to a laboratory in Liberia by a resident of a nearby village. Like many of the other chimps at the lab, her parents had probably been killed by poachers so that Samantha could be sold. […]
Endangered chimpanzees contaminated with pesticides and flame retardants
Wild chimpanzees are being exposed to a cocktail of harmful chemicals. Pesticides and flame retardants are among the pollutants found in their feces, suggesting that the chemicals may be having an impact on the primates’ health and development. Primate poo is revealing how pollutants are affecting threatened species in the wild. A new study found […]
New York Legislators Move to Halt ‘Banana Races’ Amid Animal Cruelty Concerns
In an era when the ethics of using animals for entertainment are increasingly scrutinized, New York State Senator James Skoufis stands up for primates. In a recent legislative move that’s catching attention, Skoufis proposed a bill to end what he describes as a cruel and antiquated form of entertainment: monkeys parading as jockeys in the […]
Ground-nesting chimps hold lessons for conservation — and for human evolution
Chimpanzees tend to sleep more on the ground than previously thought, a behavior that has implications for their conservation and could help explain how and when early humans abandoned trees to set up home on the ground, a new study says. Until now, nesting on the ground was considered rare in most populations of chimpanzees. […]
Guinea’s crab-fishing chimps are in good health, study shows, but threats loom
A team of international scientists has used a new genetic tool to measure the size of a population of crab-fishing chimpanzees living in a pristine mountain range in Guinea where there are plans to mine for iron ore. The “genetic census” analyzed nearly 1,000 fecal samples collected over 15 years within the Nimba Strict Nature […]
Malaria infection harms wild African apes, study shows
Endangered great apes get malaria, just like humans. New evidence from wild bonobos shows us the infection harms them, too. Malaria is a devastating disease caused by parasites transmitted through the bites of infected mosquitos. For humans, symptoms start out mild—fever, headache and chills—but malaria infection can be fatal within 24 hours. For apes, little […]
Four chimpanzees shot dead after sparking panic when they escaped from Swedish zoo
Five chimpanzees sparked fear after escaping from their zoo enclosure before four were shot dead. The escape of the five chimps happened yesterday at Furuvik Zoo in Sweden. The spokesperson for the zoo, Annika Troselius, told the Swedish media outlet Expressen that the animals were forced to be euthanised due to lack of a tranquiliser […]