While human social memory lasts decades and tracks relationships, less is known about non-human ape long-term memory. In a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists present evidence that our closest living relatives, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus), recognize the faces of familiar conspecifics even after many […]
Tag: chimps
Research Shows Chimps Using “Military Style Tactics” to Gain Advantage on Rivals
Recent research suggests that troops of chimpanzees in Ivory Coast have embraced a military tactical approach by scaling hilltops for reconnaissance missions and advancing when the enemy is distant or outnumbered. Sylvain Lemoine, a primatologist at the University of Cambridge and the lead author of the study, notes, “These military tactics that we see in […]
Poverty-fueled deforestation of Nigerian reserve slashes hope for rare chimps
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
Research Finds the Answer to Why Primates Hold Onto Dead Infants
A study published in Live Science was conducted to uncover the reason why primates carry around their dead infants. This is a distressing behavior where primate mothers will continue to treat the infant as though it were alive, even as it is decomposing. Researchers conducted an analysis of over 400 cases where this behavior was […]
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 […]