Why did the chimp cross the road? Monkeys are adapting to humans destroying their habitat by learning to safely avoid cars
- Anthropologists led by the University of Kent observed primates in Sierra Leone
- Cameras captured them navigating roads and eating fresh, domesticated fruit
- Researchers suggest future urban development should happen considerately
Chimpanzees are adapting to living outside protected areas.
A team of anthropologists, led by the University of Kent, observed their behaviour from hidden cameras during an eight-month study at a sanctuary in Sierra Leone.
The research showed they’ve successfully acclimatized to human developments in a number of ways – including how to cross roads safely and the best times to visit human habitats.
Yet, despite this, their survival as a species is still threatened.
Chimpanzees have adapted to living outside protected areas and have learned how to negotiate human developments, like crossing roads safely. Research shows that they have grasped these skills in a number of ways including how to cross roads safely and the best times to visit human habitats
This is because any further urbanisation could significantly affect their distribution and abundance, fragmenting communities.
The research team used 24 infra-red digital camera traps deployed between 2015 and 2016 for a total of 8 months across 27 1.25×1.25 km grids in the Moyamba district in south-western Sierra Leone.
The cameras captured images of chimpanzees navigating roads and eating domesticated fruits, such as mangos and pineapples that were cultivated close to human settlements.
The research team suggests carefully-planned infrastructure development, as well as forging agreements with farmers to allow fallow areas to regenerate, would ensure their on-going survival.
This is because they don’t cope well with sudden and dramatic change.
‘If we want to secure their long-term survival, it is crucial that successful protection measures should benefit people and chimpanzees alike,’ said study co-author Dr Tatyana Humle.
Going forward: Researchers suggests carefully-planned infrastructure development, as well as forging agreements with farmers to allow fallow areas to regenerate
‘Conservation actions should focus on education and helping farmers to implement alternative agricultural methods to slash and burn farming and environmentally-friendly revenue generating activities to ensure coexistence between the two species.’
Currently, approximately 60 per cent of all world’s non-human primates are threatened with extinction and chimpanzees face serious threats in West Africa, including death from disease, habitat loss, poaching and retaliation as a result of competition with people for resources.
West Africa has one of the most fragmented tropical forest landscapes in the world due to high levels of deforestation.
Chimpanzees in the region are critically endangered with the majority living outside protected areas.
Details of the study were published in the journal, PlosOne
