![]() The researchers weren't able to see if the baby had been born dead or if Darwin killed it when he ate it. The male ran away from the group, clutching the infant. It was so sudden that the mother didn't even have a chance to hold her infant. In a flash, an older male named Darwin ran to her and snatched the baby away. Until that moment, the scientists didn't even know that she was pregnant. On a rainy day in the mountains, one chimpanzee named Devota suddenly gave birth in front of the group. In December 2014, scientists were studying a group of chimpanzees at Mahale Mountains in Tanzania. This behavior has never before been documented by scientists, who say it could explain why female chimpanzees normally hide themselves away during the late stages of pregnancy. Journal reference: Current Biology, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2006.12.A male chimpanzee has been observed snatching a seconds-old newborn, then eating it. “Back to the drawing board again in terms of trying to define how humans are special,” says Pruetz. “Immatures and females are innovative in solving the problem of feeding competition,” she says.Ĭhimps regularly seem to be discovered doing things once thought unique to humans (see Stone Age chimps were handy with a hammer). Pruetz suggests that Fongoli juveniles and females get around this by exploiting a niche that is relatively ignored by adult males – and spearing little bushbaby snacks for themselves. Adults hunt and eat green monkeys, but males have priority over access to the meat. Intriguingly, the behaviour is mostly confined to females and immature chimps. “Given the lack of opportunity, Fongoli chimps have come up with a way to get around the problem of how to get protein in their particular environment…using tools to hunt,” says Pruetz. The absence of these monkeys, which are the favoured prey of several other chimp populations, may explain the Fongoli chimps’ unique spear-hunting behaviour. The Fongoli chimps inhabit a mosaic savannah – patches of grass and woodland – where there are no red colobus monkeys. Pruetz jokes that she would not be surprised if the chimps began making cave drawings. They use the the shady interiors for socialising, taking siestas and picnicking, the researchers say. Here is the chimp enjoying his grisly meal, and cleaning his small spear (5MB, Requires QuickTime).Īnd, in what is thought to be another first for chimps, the Fongoli population have taken up aspects of cave living. In one case the researchers saw a chimp remove a dead bush baby and eat it. Ten different chimps in the population were observed to perform this behaviour in 22 bouts. The chimps used a “power grip” and made multiple downward stabs – much the same way as a human might wield a dagger. Take a look at the chimps in action, in these three videos Cave lifeĬhimps were observed thrusting their spears into hollow trunks and branches with enough force to injure anything inside the holes, Pruetz’s research team says. It appears that the chimps have learnt a grisly method of slowing them down. ![]() ![]() If disturbed during their slumbers – if their nest cavity is broken open, for example – they rapidly scamper away. They use the spears to hunt one of the cutest primates in Africa: bushbabies ( Galago senegalensis).īushbabies are nocturnal and curl up in hollows in trees during the day. ![]() The average spear length is 63 centimetres (25 inches), says Jill Pruetz at Iowa State University in Ames, US, who observed the behaviour with Paco Bertolani, of the University of Cambridge, UK.Īnd the method of procuring food with these tools is not simply extractive, as it is when harvesting insects. But a population of savannah chimps ( Pan troglodytes verus) living in the Fongoli area of south-east Senegal have been seen making spears from strong sticks that they sharpen with their teeth. Many chimpanzees trim twigs to use for ant-dipping and termite-fishing. It is the first time an animal has been seen using a tool to hunt a vertebrate. In a revelation that destroys yet another cherished notion of human uniqueness, wild chimpanzees have been seen living in caves and hunting bushbabies with spears. Tia, an adolescent female chimp, is a frequent tool user
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