Sometimes they even make “day nests” when they have an extra lazy day and want to be more comfortable. They bend a multitude of leafy branches high up in the trees to make a new nest each night. ![]() Yes, one of our closest relatives makes nests, like a bird. Or a mother tapping her back as she walks past her infant to tell her child to hop on.Ĭhimpanzees also display the artful skill of making nests. Things like large adult males gently playing with a tottering infant. The newly habituated chimps allow us to observe some of the subtleties of chimp behavior. The exception is the male chimps that occasionally test the nerves of the human observers. Lucky for me, the chimps at Issa (after several slow years) are reaching the end of their habituation process and beginning to ignore humans for the most part. For us to study chimp behavior they have to be slowly habituated to the presence of humans. Occasionally a male chimp will even run toward people (sometimes with their backs turned), slapping the ground or tree trunks as he goes along before swerving off in a new direction.Ĭhimpanzees, like most species, fear people. Eye contact is often taken as a threat, so we avert our eyes and try to look extra small when this happens. Especially unnerving is when male chimps saunter toward human observers and sit just a few meters away staring at us (we have one chimp in particular that will do this). Usually accompanied by loud screams from any chimps in the vicinity, the whole scene can be a bit unnerving if you’re close by. This can involve throwing their strength upon small trees to bend and snap branches, or even carrying and throwing branches at other chimps. And to show their dominance, males will perform showy displays of strength. Which is the point… Chimp “culture” is very male dominated. ![]() Termite fishing starts at the beginning of the rainy season – which is also when termites begin their reproduction cycle of the year – and ends a couple months later.Īlong with these cultural behaviors, the chimps at Issa exhibit many other behaviors and characteristics that make them so unique. Termites grab onto the “threat” with their mandibles (pinchers) and are pulled out of their mound and promptly consumed. ![]() Chimpanzees were the first species other than humankind observed to use tools! They fish for termites by stripping a long, pliable piece of bark from a sapling or branch and sticking it into a termite mound. However, termite fishing is one of the behaviors that forever altered the way we view animals. The second cultural behavior I have observed is “termite fishing.” It is unknown why some chimp communities will termite fish while others do not, even if termite mounds can be found in their home range. The grooming hand clasp is performed when two chimpanzees each raise an arm to the sky and clasp each other’s hands, while one individual grooms the other. It is known here as a “grooming hand clasp.” Chimp communities often have specific methods of grooming that are unique to their community. I saw my first “cultural behavior” during one of my first chimp shifts. I’ve also observed many of the fascinating behaviors discovered by Jane Goodall in the 1960s that changed how we view humankind and one of our closest living relatives (don’t forget about bonobos being just as closely related to humans as chimpanzees). I have been privileged to spend almost half of each month following the chimps here at Issa. Whether or not this is culture is up for debate. Some communities even exhibit dietary differences despite having access to similar food sources. ![]() Many of these behaviors can be observed being taught from adults to infants or juvenile.Ĭhimpanzee communities are known to exhibit community-specific behaviors. Physical anthropologists (also known as primatologists) often define culture as behaviors that are unique to a community of organisms (like chimps). However, ask a physical anthropologist and your answer might be a bit different. Ask a cultural anthropologist if chimpanzees have culture and your answer will likely be “heck no – humans are the only species with culture”.
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