Wild chimps learning how to outwit human hunters
September 4th, 2010 - 6:02 pm ICT by ANILondon, Sep 4 (ANI): A new study has revealed that wild chimpanzees are learning how to outwit human hunters.
Across Africa, people often lay snare traps to catch bushmeat, killing or injuring chimps and other wildlife.
But researchers have found that a few chimps living in the rainforests of Guinea have learnt to recognise these snare traps laid by human hunters, reports the BBC.
More astonishing, the chimps actively seek out and intentionally deactivate the traps, setting them off without being harmed.
The discovery was made by primatologists Gaku Ohashi and Professor Tetsuro Matsuzawa who were following chimps living in Bossou, Guinea to study the apes’ social behaviour.
The study has been published in the journal Primates. (ANI)
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Tags: africa, bbc, chimpanzees, chimps, discovery, gaku, guinea, human hunters, london, matsuzawa, ohashi, primates, rainforests, social behaviour, tetsuro, traps, wild chimps