Tag archives for chimpanzees
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With the scarcity of ripe fruit at Gombe over the last month and a half, the chimps have spread out across the park in order to avoid intense feeding competition. While, currently, this might be the best foraging strategy, it can be awfully lonely.
With foraging chimps coming up with little more than a few hard, bright green fruits, it wasn’t surprising when one tried his odds at catching a more satisfying meal.
The Gombe chimps have disappeared, turning us into detectives as well as biologists. While days can go by without any sign of the chimps, occasionally we get clues to their whereabouts.
Nowadays we don’t stop much to eat, balancing coffee in the car, scarfing a sandwich on the subway and grabbing a pretzel on the street as we race around town. For the month of April, the chimps have adopted our busy lifestyle thanks to the availability of their very own grab-n-go food, budyenkende.
Last decade, Frodo was the villain in Gombe, beating down chimps, monkeys, and humans alike on his journey to the top. Nowadays, the retired alpha-male has adopted a new lifestyle as distinguished as the grey hair coating his back.
What is it like to follow chimpanzees? Relaxing then action-packed. Strenuous but peaceful. Habitual yet unpredictable. While no two days are ever alike, here is a glimpse into a “standard” day in the life of a chimpanzee researcher at Gombe National Park.
Coinciding with celebrations of Spring taking place in the Northern Hemisphere, the return of the rains to Gombe National Park has brought a spray of a different kind to brighten up the gloom.
Bold chimpanzees from Gombe National Park’s central community ventured past the protection of their home territory to revel in the two things that may cause just about any male to risk his life.
Mpapa fruit is in season, and it’s making a big impact on the chimps of Gombe and my research into the sounds they make.
In which I return to Gombe National Park to observe the behavior of wild chimpanzees. Luckily, I had a chance to pack this time or I really would be living with the apes.
Chimp & Human Societies: What’s the Key Difference?
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on December 14, 2012 
Given all our remarkable similarities, what is the most important difference between chimp and human society?
Hanging in the Rainforest Not as Fun as It Used to Be? It Might Be a Midlife Crisis.
Posted by Michael Jourdan on November 21, 2012 
When people begin to worry about their mortality, they might fight the blues by buying a fancy sports car, having an affair, or even getting a toupee. But, what is a great ape to do?
Jane Goodall Celebrates International Day of Peace
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on September 21, 2011 
Jane Goodall realized early on that we won’t be able to take care of animals and the environment until we’re able to take care of each other. In that spirit, the Jane Goodall Institute is asking us all to make a pledge to cultivate peace in our daily lives throughout the year.
A Real Planet of the Apes?
Posted by Anne Marie Houppert on August 9, 2011 
In “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” the apes become smart enough to revolt against humans. Just how smart are apes, and how apelike are humans? Take a look at what National Geographic magazine has to say on the subject.
Jane Goodall Institute Honors National Geographic on 50th Anniversary of Gombe Chimp Research
Posted by Ford Cochran on October 12, 2010 Half a century after beginning her storied field research on the lives of Gombe’s chimpanzees, Jane Goodall and her non-profit institute have bestowed their Global Leadership Award on National Geographic, which funded much of her pioneering work. By Ford Cochran As celebrated in the October 2010 issue of National Geographic magazine, this year marks the…
Posted by By Rachel Kaufman When Jane Goodall speaks, you get this feeling like you could quit your job and move to the jungle to save animals, and it wouldn’t be that crazy. No, when Jane speaks, you feel like you should. And that you’d actually make a difference. Why not, anyway? That’s what she did in…
Zoos regularly share with us photos of newborn animals in their care (zoo news). Here’s a birth in the wild that’s created excitement: For the second time in a year, a chimpanzee has been born to a small population of apes on the brink of extinction in a tiny pocket of Rwandan rain forest, Great…
NG Weekend: Congo Chimps
Posted by Ford Cochran on January 29, 2010 On National Geographic Weekend radio this week, host Boyd Matson speaks with guests about chimpanzees, jellyfish, salamanders, polygamists, sea kayaking, coral sex, and more. Hour 1 WCS Conservation Fellow Dave Morgan and his partner Crickette Sanz study chimpanzees in the Congolese rain forest. But a few years ago, the tables were turned when the couple…
Chimps in Mourning
Posted by Ford Cochran on October 29, 2009 By now, you’ve likely seen Monica Szczupider’s photograph of grieving chimpanzees at Cameroon’s Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center. The image—which Monica submitted to Your Shot, and which appeared in the November issue of National Geographic magazine—is resonating with people everywhere. Over the last few days, it’s turned up in newspapers, on television, and on blogs worldwide.…
Our ancestors underwent a previously unknown stage of evolution over more than a million years before “Lucy”, the iconic early human ancestor specimen that walked the Earth 3.2 million years ago,” National Geographic Magazine science editor Jamie Shreeve reports today. The finding, published in tomorrow’s journal Science, is based on the discovery of the oldest…
Chimpanzees in the wild use specialized “tool kits” to forage food, it is known. Scientists reported earlier this year that chimps raiding beehives used several tools in a single tool-using episode and could also use a single tool for many different purposes. Now the same researchers report that not only do chimps use specialized tool…
Wild chimpanzees using tools to raid bee nests have been observed in many parts of Africa. Now observations of chimpanzees in the Congo Basin indicate that they may have developed sophisticated technical solutions to gather honey that differ from those of apes in other regions. The Goualougo Triangle Ape Project research, funded in part by the…
Photos of Aimee, the rescued baby chimp, courtesy Jill Pruetz This story began last Sunday when Jill Pruetz, an anthropologist at Iowa State University, sent out a frantic email: “I just got a phone call from Johnny, my field assistant in Senegal, who told me he thinks that an infant chimp from the Fongoli community was taken…
