Tag: Chimpanzee

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Orangutans climb incredibly high – no space for acrophobia

Borneon orangutan mother with her offspring – photo credit stockcake (Photo by <a href=”https://stockcake.com/i/orangutan-treetop-rest_758559_866654″>Stockcake</a>)

Life is hard in the Indonesian rainforest – compared to Africa and South America, there is very little to be found to eat (except in specific areas. As a result, orangutans become solitary, with the only time they are seen together is a mother with young, or a courting couple. Another problem, is demonstrated here – there is so little food to be had, that every food opportunity has to be realized. This has meant that orangutans have become the best climbers (followed by Chimpanzee and then Gorilla), as where ever the food is, it needs to be accessed.

It is true, that with tools, humans can become even better climbers (as can be seen from the image), which is taken from further up the tree than the orangutans have even climbed.

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On the founding of Kahuzi-Biega National Park, locals were pushed out -they now have the right to return, what will happen

Kahuzi-Biega National Park was established in 1937 by the Belgium colonial rulers and then expanded in 1975. It now covers 6000 square km or 2300 square miles. Roughly 13000 Batwa were cleared out of the area to make way for the park (along with other people who had settled more recently).

Continue reading “On the founding of Kahuzi-Biega National Park, locals were pushed out -they now have the right to return, what will happen”
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Panda bear behaving like a meat eater/scavenger?

This bear was filmed, gnawing on a bone from a takin, a species of wild cattle.

For a species which is thought to survive exclusively on bamboo, this would be strange behaviour.

However, pandas do not survive exclusively on bamboo as roughly 1% of their diet comes from other foods. In fact, their digestive system is typical of a carnivore, so the remaining 1% of their diet can include eggs, small animals and carrion – like this bone. Pandas are also known to forage in farmland for pumpkin, kidney beans, wheat and domestic pig food.

The thing is, pandas eat up to 38kg a day, which means that during the week, they eat around 3kg of food that is not bamboo. This is significant, and while much of this may well be other vegetation, if the time spent on other food sources was around 1% of the time, it would suggest at least 1 hour a week spent eating other things.

One must remember that their intelligence is on a par with Chimpanzee and gorilla -like other bears, so they are capable of working things out.

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Chimpanzees and gorillas search each other out – “friends with benefits”

Recent studies have shown that it his highly beneficial to both species when these cross species friendships are made. Indeed, it is not merely a question of chance encounters, instead each species will actively search out the other.

Benefits include protection from predators, increased social skills and finding fruiting trees.

While chimpanzees and gorillas can occasionally be seen feeding together, and captive animals can often have close relationships, recent research suggests that at least in some forests this is a common behaviour, and both species recognize its benefits
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Wild chimpanzee mother and baby sighted in Cameroon park Douala-Edea national park for the first time

It is unfortunately true, that in many of the reserves that have been formed, we do not know what lives within the park. In many places there has been so much poaching that animals keep well clear of any human visitors.

It is also true, that in parks with little or no tourism infrastructure, it is incredibly difficult to find animals. Never-the-less, while this makes it clear that when setting up national parks you need to give them some resources if you wish them to be a success tourism-wise, they can still have impressive conservation successes.

In this instance, clearly chimpanzee are still surviving and even breeding.

First Chimpanzee recorded in Douala-Edea national park, and its a mother with offspring
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Chimpanzee and Gorilla seen spending extended periods together in the wild

Chimpanzees and Gorillas share much of the forests of central and Western Africa. It is therefore not surprising that they might meet from time to time.

As babies, all sorts of creatures spend time together. In Gombe stream the Jane Goodall study documented Chimpanzees and baboons playing together as young.

Wild Gorilla and Chimpanzee feeding in the same tree at the same time
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Chimpanzees in west Africa, appear to be the foundation of the current seemingly never ending rainforests

Just 2500 years ago, the never-ending forests of west Africa was made up of fragments of forest, with areas of open land between them. This fragmentation was down to a change in the environment occurring which meant that the dry season started to loosing far longer.

It seems that this changed because of seed disposal animals – including chimpanzees, which helped by leaving heavy seeds behind with a healthy dollop of fertilizer, allowing these slow growing trees to have a good start in life. Unfortunately, now as we are destroying the rainforest, there are also human hunters that are killing these seed dispersers in great numbers, making sure that the forests cannot regenerate.

Are we making sure that forests cannot recover? Not only are we destroying them, but also removing the natural gardeners that helped it return last time it was threatened. My fear is that it may become necessary for humans to replant vast areas by hand. Should it become necessary and recognized, then I am sure we would rise to the occasion, but far better to recognise it before it is too late.

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Researchers may have found overlooked section of our DNA that could explain why humans are so different to Chimpanzees

In many ways humans are incredibly similar to the other great apes – Chimpanzees, Bonobos, gorillas and orangutans.

Stem cell researchers released a paper in late 2021 (In cell stem cell) that might explain. A previously overlooked section of the DNA – non-coded DNA may explain why our brain and that of other great apes works so differently.

Their study suggests that chimpanzees and humans use a part of the DNA stream in different ways, and this has a considerable effect on the way our brains form.

Perhaps unfortunately (or fortunately) this suggests that the data held outside of the protein-coding genes (which has up to now been labelled junk DNA) has greater importance. This of course means that there is still a great deal to de-code (never mind understand).

Roughly 2% of our genes are thought to be genetic, the other 98% (overlooked till now) is likely to have many hidden secrets that might give us a better idea if what it is to be human (at least from a genetical point of view.

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Leprosy identified in wild Chimpanzees for the first time

Leprosy has been identified by an international team of scientists in two countries in west africa – Ivory coast and Guinea-Bissau.

Chimpanzees showing the effect of leprosy

Leprosy has never been documented in wild Chimpanzees and the strain in each country was different (suggesting that the two causes are different.

Seemingly, one of the hardest things about studying leprosy is that it will not grow in lab conditions. It must either be harvested from animals or on occasion the feet of mice. As a result most studies are done on people with the disease. The Ivory coast strain has a history in Ethiopia and medieval Europe so there is some research still to be done. It has not yet been identified if it was transmitted from local villages or if it was brought to this part of Africa by tourists.

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