Antelope, wildebeests and zebra gather in their thousands every year to travel together across Tanzania and Kenya in search of good grazing and safe places to breed. Many other species work together to evade predators. They shared information about predators and feeding sites. Both species even responded to the predator alarm calls of the other. Leopards are predators of both species so it pays to have as many eyes on the lookout as possible. Yet these gorillas in the Republic of Congo have a higher fruit diet than normal which could help explain their unusually chummy behaviour around the local chimpanzees. Chimpanzees tend to eat much more fruit than gorillas. Combining knowledge or staying close enough to eavesdrop on what the others are doing could give them an advantage too. If gorillas or chimpanzees find ripe ones perhaps they are better off tolerating one another than wasting energy chasing each other away. And fruiting is asynchronous (meaning they fruit at random). The trees fruit for only four to five days. Why would you tolerate someone gatecrashing your buffet? Figs are high energy and a prized resource. Having a chinwag? Patrick Rolands/Shutterstock The next task now for researchers is to pick apart what exactly is different between the behaviour of the chimpanzees and gorillas in the home ranges in the Republic of Congo and Gabon (about 1,000km apart).Ĭhimpanzees and gorillas eat similar foods and most of the amiable interactions the scientists recorded in the Republic of Congo were of the apes feeding in fig and other fruit trees. Neither species ever made alarm calls when they encountered each other. Chimpanzees were even seen mimicking the classic gorilla chest beat. The study also found chimpanzee and gorilla females with young offspring also bonded with each other, as did the whole spectrum of age ranges. But both species were relaxed around one another instead of alert to attack. Mixing with another group of your own or another species can be risky. In the new study, scientists found juveniles would often seek out particular members of the other species to play, sometimes travelling long distances (over 300 metres) alone to do so. Young adult male primates tend to be more outgoing and inquisitive than other members of their troop. These two look like they’re sharing a companionable silence. The fact that these species can live peacefully in one area for decades, and be dinner for the other in another region is fascinating. So, I was surprised to hear from the new study that the two ape species sometimes form lasting unions. And between 20, researchers found that group of chimpanzees in Gabon, Central Africa, had killed young gorillas and even saw a female chimpanzee eating an infant gorilla. Chimpanzees kill members of other chimp groups who stray into their territory. Both species will defend their territories from other groups. We know many animals are fiercely territorial, including chimpanzees and gorillas. A team of scientists led by Crickette Sanz from Washington University, US, made this discovery using over 20 years of data from the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in the Republic of Congo. It is the first study of its kind to see such long-term, peaceful associations between apes. But a ground breaking recent study shows chimpanzees and gorillas form friendships, some lasting at least 20 years. To survive, animals compete for resources, be it food, mating partners or territory.
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