Eye to Eye with the Unknown

Chimps

Honey Hunting Chimps in Congo

Chimps are humans’ closest relatives and we share around 98% of our DNA with them.  So it’s no surprise that they make and use tools to great effect, with techniques and tools varying from troupe to troupe. In Uganda, for example, the Sonso community in the Budongo Forest collects leaves to mop up honey, and in the Ivory Coast and Gabon the chimps use fabricated dipping sticks.

The chimps living in the Goualougo Triangle in the Republic of Congo, however, have a unique behaviour, not seen anywhere else in the world.  These chimps climb up to bees’ nest, in which the bees busily manufacture honey and store it in tiny wax pots which stand alongside thousands of carefully nurtured egg capsules. The capsules are joined together with struts like a molecular model in a science laboratory and prove very tempting for the chimps.  They have learnt to use a club to smash the nests, tear away the loosened bark, before reaching the honey using a long stick that they have taken the twigs off, and cracked the stave on the edge of a buttress root, leaving a long but stout branch to reach the rest of the honey.  It’s a skill that has to be taught by older members of the troupe to the younger ones – if they start to learn too late, it’s a skill they never acquire.

FACT FILE

• Humans and chimps are thought to share a common ancestor who lived somewhere between four and eight million years ago
• Chimps live in communities, which can be as small as ten individuals and as big as 150.
• Chimps are found in 21 African countries
• The life span for chimpanzees is around 45 years in the wild and over 50 to 60 years in captivity.
• Chimps are endangered in the wild