{"id":15013,"date":"2022-07-05T16:23:12","date_gmt":"2022-07-05T14:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/?p=123115"},"modified":"2022-07-05T16:38:08","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T14:38:08","slug":"chimpanzees-observed-digging-wells-after-being-taught-how-by-an-immigrant-female","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/rss_feed\/chimpanzees-observed-digging-wells-after-being-taught-how-by-an-immigrant-female\/","title":{"rendered":"Chimpanzees observed digging wells after being taught how by an immigrant female"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Jason Goodyer\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 05 July 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Other than humans, chimpanzees make use of the most diverse range of tools of all animals on the planet. They have been observed \u2018fishing\u2019 for ants and termites in tree stumps, using stones to crack open nuts and even playing with gourds as if they were balls.<\/p>\n

Now, researchers at the Universities of Kent and St Andrews have observed another unusual behaviour in chimpanzees \u2013 digging for wells<\/a>. What\u2019s more, they believe the chimps were taught the behaviour from a female who joined the group from another community.<\/p>\n

To make the discovery, the team observed the behaviour of a group of rainforest chimpanzees in the Waibira community of East African Chimpanzees in Uganda.<\/p>\n

They first noticed a young female named Onyofi, who joined the group in 2015, digging wells with great skill shortly after her arrival. This suggests that she grew up in a well-digging community of chimps before leaving to join the Waibira group, the researchers say.<\/p>\n

Onyofi\u2019s actions initially attracted a lot of interest among the other members of the group. This included large, dominant males, who would patiently watch her dig and drink from the well before drinking from it themselves. Since then, several other female Waibira chimpanzees have been observed copying Onyofi\u2019s behaviour and digging their own wells.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell digging is usually done to access water in very dry habitats \u2013 in chimpanzees, we only know about three savannah living groups who do so. What we\u2019ve seen in Waibira is a bit different from those groups,\u201d said lead researcher Hella P\u00e9ter<\/a>, a Biological Anthropology PhD student at Kent\u2019s\u00a0School of Anthropology and Conservation.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, they live in a rainforest, so most people assume getting water shouldn\u2019t be a challenge \u2013 but it looks like the yearly few months of dry season is enough to cause some trouble for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s also interesting is that the wells all appear next to open water, so the purpose of them is likely filtering, not reaching the water \u2013 the chimpanzees might get cleaner or differently flavoured water from a well, which is fascinating.\u201d<\/p>\n