{"id":20936,"date":"2022-10-06T15:49:37","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T13:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=68437"},"modified":"2022-10-06T16:08:16","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T14:08:16","slug":"the-chimpanzees-that-eat-bush-babies","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/the-chimpanzees-that-eat-bush-babies\/","title":{"rendered":"The chimpanzees that eat bush babies"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Lucy Cooke\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 06 October 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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The chimpanzees of Fongoli, south-eastern Senegal are of particular interest to students of human ancestry. Their homeland most resembles the shrinking woodland and open savannah that our hominin ancestors would have been forced to adapt to.<\/p>\n

This scrubby environment is hotter, drier and lacks the abundance of fruiting trees found in the fecund forests of East Africa, where chimps<\/a> have previously been studied most intensely. As a result, the Fongoli chimps are culturally quite distinct to their more famous forest-dwelling cousins.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The intense heat of the savannah means the Fongoli chimpanzees<\/a><\/strong> often take a siesta during the hottest part of the day and forage well into the night, long after their East African cousins have gone to bed. They also seek out water to both drink and bathe in \u2013 something never seen amongst East African chimps whom we assumed were actually scared of water.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This shocking behaviour was observed over 300 times during a 10-year study. More surprising still was the discovery that the majority of these hunts were performed by female chimps, not males. <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>

Most fascinating of all, however, are their eating habits. As well as hunting down smaller monkeys in the trees, as their East African cousins are known to do, the Fongoli chimps have developed a far more familiar technique for capturing a high protein dinner: they hunt using spears.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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A lesser bush baby. \u00a9 Getty\/Martin Harvey<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Fishing for bush babies<\/h3>\n

The Fongoli chimps have been documented breaking off wooden saplings, whittling one end into a sharp point and then jabbing their home-spun spear into tree cavities. These crafty chimps are fishing for bush babies \u2013 primitive nocturnal primates that seek safety during the day in the nooks of old trees, but are instead stabbed as they slumber. It\u2019s a highly effective ambush. If not instantly impaled, the wounded bush baby tries to flee but is promptly grabbed by its assailant and swiftly chomped, head first.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This shocking behaviour was observed over 300 times during a 10-year study. More surprising still was the discovery that the majority of these hunts were performed by female chimps, not males.<\/p>\n

Anthropologists have traditionally cast bigger, faster and more powerful males in the hominin hunter role.\u00a0But in Fongoli we find an alternative narrative, one where females have spearheaded the culture for hunting with tools.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Learn more about chimpanzees:<\/h4>\n