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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/chimpanzees/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Wed, 28 Oct 2026 21:07:02 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>News on Chimpanzees</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/chimpanzees/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Conserving Sierra Leone’s western chimpanzees: Interview with Tacugama’s Willie Tucker</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/conserving-sierra-leones-western-chimpanzees-interview-with-tacugamas-willie-tucker/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/conserving-sierra-leones-western-chimpanzees-interview-with-tacugamas-willie-tucker/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2026 19:24:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Patricia Sia Ngevao]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/10170639/Photo-30-06-2026-17-59-04-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323105</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Sierra Leone, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Fellows, Great Apes, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Mammals, Mongabay.org, Primates, Wildlife, Wildlife Rehabilitation, and Wildlife Rescues]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In Sierra Leone, the critically endangered western chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) faces growing threats from habitat loss, deforestation, illegal wildlife trade and expanding human activity. For the past 30 years, Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary has worked to rescue, rehabilitate and protect chimpanzees affected by these challenges. Few people have witnessed the sanctuary’s journey as closely as [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In Sierra Leone, the critically endangered western chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) faces growing threats from habitat loss, deforestation, illegal wildlife trade and expanding human activity. For the past 30 years, Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary has worked to rescue, rehabilitate and protect chimpanzees affected by these challenges. Few people have witnessed the sanctuary’s journey as closely as Willie Tucker, the conservancy’s camp supervisor, popularly known as “Pa Willie.” His conservation career began in 1990 when he studied wildlife management in Tanzania before joining Sierra Leone&#8217;s Wildlife Division. It was there that he met Bala Amarasekaran, Tacugama’s founder, who was caring for rescued chimpanzees and seeking to establish a rehabilitation center. Pa Willie was among the small team that helped turn that vision into reality. After identifying a suitable forest reserve outside Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, and securing support from the European Union, Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary officially opened in October 1995. Today, as camp supervisor, Pa Willie remains a central figure in the sanctuary’s work. Over the years, he has helped rescue and care for hundreds of chimpanzees while witnessing the growing threats facing the species. His story reflects both a lifelong commitment to conservation and the remarkable growth of Sierra Leone&#8217;s leading chimpanzee sanctuary. Willie Tucker, Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary&#8217;s camp supervisor, popularly known as “Pa Willie.” Image by Patricia Sia Ngevao. Mongabay spoke with Pa Willie in June about his conservation journey, the early days of Tacugama and the challenges facing western chimpanzees in Sierra Leone. This interview has been edited for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/conserving-sierra-leones-western-chimpanzees-interview-with-tacugamas-willie-tucker/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/conserving-sierra-leones-western-chimpanzees-interview-with-tacugamas-willie-tucker/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323105</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Leaked study warns of irreversible damage from iron ore mine in Guinea UNESCO site</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/leaked-study-warns-of-irreversible-damage-from-iron-ore-mine-in-guinea-unesco-site/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/leaked-study-warns-of-irreversible-damage-from-iron-ore-mine-in-guinea-unesco-site/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jun 2026 10:36:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Josef SkrdlikOliver Dunn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/24071536/WesternChimpanzee_NzerekoreGuinea_augustofaustinoINaturalistBYNC4.0large-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321728</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Guinea, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Chimpanzees, Critically Endangered Species, Economics, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Governance, Illegal Mining, and Mining]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CONAKRY — Over the next few months, Guinea’s environment ministry will review an environmental and social impact assessment for an iron ore mine in the country’s Nimba Mountains. The project, named Kon Kweni, is to be carved out of Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Comprising a unique combination of tropical [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CONAKRY — Over the next few months, Guinea’s environment ministry will review an environmental and social impact assessment for an iron ore mine in the country’s Nimba Mountains. The project, named Kon Kweni, is to be carved out of Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Comprising a unique combination of tropical forest and high-elevation savanna, the Nimba highlands are a biodiversity hotspot, home to dozens of endemic species. According to the environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA), these highlands would face “direct and major risks,” “irreversible damage,” and “threat to species survival” if the mining operations go ahead. The impact assessment is an essential step toward securing a mining permit and commencing operations on a project that has been in discussion since 2003, when Guinean mining company SMFG was founded. (The company acquired by U.S. miner Ivanhoe Atlantic in 2019.) Mongabay obtained a copy of the ESIA, a confidential document. The assessment was commissioned by Ivanhoe and carried out by Biotope, a French environmental consultancy, and reveals how Ivanhoe is planning to go about developing the Nimba concession and how the plan is projected to impact Nimba’s ecosystems. In the Mount Nimba Strict Forest Reserve, 2006. Image by Manfred Schweda via Wikicommons (CC BY-SA 4.0) Guinea’s environmental regulator, the AGEE, a branch of the environment ministry, will assess the project’s anticipated environmental impact and the company’s proposed plans to mitigate damage, alongside the precision and comprehensiveness of its assessments. Seydou Cissé, the AGEE director, said the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/leaked-study-warns-of-irreversible-damage-from-iron-ore-mine-in-guinea-unesco-site/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/leaked-study-warns-of-irreversible-damage-from-iron-ore-mine-in-guinea-unesco-site/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321728</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Confinement and disinfected bedding: An ape sanctuary in DRC responds to Ebola</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/confinement-and-disinfected-bedding-an-ape-sanctuary-in-drc-responds-to-ebola/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/confinement-and-disinfected-bedding-an-ape-sanctuary-in-drc-responds-to-ebola/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Jun 2026 09:47:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimable TwahirwaYannick Kenné]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/03100422/81AB7CA9-AAE1-41A1-A40B-3096240DE38B-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320525</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Chimpanzees, Ebola, Economics, Environment, Gorillas, Governance, Health, Planetary Health, Primates, Public Health, and Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Since May 23, more than 200 primates housed at the Lwiro Primates Rehabilitation Center (LPRC) in South Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been placed under confinement due to the Ebola outbreak. This measure follows the death of a man who tested positive for the virus on May 21. This [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Since May 23, more than 200 primates housed at the Lwiro Primates Rehabilitation Center (LPRC) in South Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been placed under confinement due to the Ebola outbreak. This measure follows the death of a man who tested positive for the virus on May 21. This individual, a resident of Kahungu, located just 2 km (1.2 miles) from the town of Lwiro, where the center is situated, had traveled in early May to neighboring Ituri province. Ituri is the epicenter of the outbreak, which, as of May 27, is linked to more than 200 suspected deaths. A threat for humans and apes The LPRC houses at least 129 chimpanzees and 108 monkeys of various species, including olive baboons (Papio anubis), yellow baboons (Papio cynocephalus), L&#8217;Hoest&#8217;s monkeys (Cercopithecus l&#8217;hoesti), blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis), agile mangabeys (Cercocebus agilis) and others. Parrots, turtles and porcupines can also be found there. These primates, rescued from poaching and the illegal wildlife trade, are being kept in confinement even though &#8220;for the moment, no cases of Ebola virus transmission from a human to a great ape have been reported,&#8221; primatologist Liz Williamson explained in an email to Mongabay. According to the World Health Organization, the Ebola virus is transmitted to humans through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals. A chimpanzee at the Lwiro Primates Rehabilitation Center, located in South Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Image&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/confinement-and-disinfected-bedding-an-ape-sanctuary-in-drc-responds-to-ebola/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/confinement-and-disinfected-bedding-an-ape-sanctuary-in-drc-responds-to-ebola/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320525</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In the Nimba Mountains, a film examines the paradox of mining-funded conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/in-the-nimba-mountains-a-film-examines-the-paradox-of-mining-funded-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/in-the-nimba-mountains-a-film-examines-the-paradox-of-mining-funded-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 May 2026 13:55:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/08074902/Photo-2-14418614820_f42a3aa4e5_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318999</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Guinea’s Iron Frontier]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Guinea, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Environment, Governance, Mining, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For good reason, mining and conservation are typically understood to be activities that exist in opposition to each other. But a new film explores how in some landscapes, the two have developed a symbiotic relationship — for better and for worse. Set in northern Liberia’s Nimba mountain range, Overburden examines the historical and ongoing impact [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For good reason, mining and conservation are typically understood to be activities that exist in opposition to each other. But a new film explores how in some landscapes, the two have developed a symbiotic relationship — for better and for worse. Set in northern Liberia’s Nimba mountain range, Overburden examines the historical and ongoing impact of iron ore mining on a “hotspot” habitat for rare and threatened species like western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus). Produced by Gregg Mitman, author of Empire of Rubber and a visiting professor at Germany’s Ludwig-Maximilians University, the film follows a cast of Liberian conservationists, forest rangers and community forest guards as they navigate the legacy of multinational extractive companies that have operated in the Nimba range since the early 1960s. A high-elevation network of tropical forests and windswept peaks that straddles the borders of Liberia, Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire, the Nimba Mountains are one of the most unique biospheres in Africa. They contain the East Nimba Nature Reserve, which UNESCO describes as Liberia’s “richest forest domain … in terms of rarity and endemic species composition,” as well as Guinea’s Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that straddles the border between Guinea and Côte d&#8217;Ivoire, harbors a unique population of western chimpanzees. Image courtesy of Kathelijne Koops. As such places often are, it is also the site of some of the most coveted mineral deposits on the African continent. The iron ore&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/in-the-nimba-mountains-a-film-examines-the-paradox-of-mining-funded-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/in-the-nimba-mountains-a-film-examines-the-paradox-of-mining-funded-conservation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318999</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Chimp ‘civil war’ follows rare community split in a Ugandan national park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/chimp-civil-war-follows-rare-community-split-in-a-ugandan-national-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/chimp-civil-war-follows-rare-community-split-in-a-ugandan-national-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Apr 2026 13:27:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Keith Anthony Fabro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/17012030/4.-Old-male-BF-was-the-last-male-to-go-between-groups-photo-by-Aaron-Sandel-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317688</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Atlantic Forest, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Apes, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Great Apes, Primates, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A chimpanzee community in Uganda’s Kibale National Park that split into rival factions later attacked former allies in what researchers are describing as a rare chimpanzee “civil war.” The new study, published in the journal Science, draws on nearly three decades of observations at the Ngogo chimpanzee research site, led by primatologist Aaron A. Sandel [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A chimpanzee community in Uganda’s Kibale National Park that split into rival factions later attacked former allies in what researchers are describing as a rare chimpanzee “civil war.” The new study, published in the journal Science, draws on nearly three decades of observations at the Ngogo chimpanzee research site, led by primatologist Aaron A. Sandel of the University of Texas at Austin, in the U.S. He and his colleagues say this is a rare event that may occur only once every 500 years. It’s only been observed once before by humans. Before the split, the Ngogo community was unusually large, with roughly 150 to 200 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), making it one of the largest chimp groups ever recorded in the wild. After the rupture, the community divided into two factions, which researchers call the Central and Western groups — named after the areas of forest they occupied. Before the Ngogo chimps divided into two groups, it was one of the largest groups ever recorded: between 150 &#8211;  200 animals. Image by Aaron Sandel. Between 2018 and 2024, the Western group carried out 24 attacks on the Central group, killing at least seven adult males and 17 infants. Sandel told Mongabay the conflict is still unfolding and may have lasting consequences for the population. “The Central group is at risk — they have had a dramatic increase in mortality,” Sandel said. “A key question is: How are they going to fight back?” Unlike most primate group fissions, the Ngogo split involved&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/chimp-civil-war-follows-rare-community-split-in-a-ugandan-national-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/chimp-civil-war-follows-rare-community-split-in-a-ugandan-national-park/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317688</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cameroon’s decade of conflict leaves apes and conservationists in peril</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/cameroons-decade-of-conflict-leaves-apes-and-conservationists-in-peril/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/cameroons-decade-of-conflict-leaves-apes-and-conservationists-in-peril/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Mar 2026 21:19:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Orji Sunday]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/03202651/c.-%C2%A9WCS-Nigeria-Chimp-RCNX1088-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315157</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, Central Africa, and Nigeria]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Chimpanzees, Conflict, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Gorillas, Human Rights, Mammals, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In August 2025, Louis Nkembi, founder of conservation NGO ERuDeF, was abducted by militia fighters in Cameroon’s Lebialem Highlands. He was held for two weeks, hidden in a secret location inside a forest. “It was a traumatic experience,” he recalls. “I can’t go back to that area until everything is resolved.” Though Nkembi was eventually [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In August 2025, Louis Nkembi, founder of conservation NGO ERuDeF, was abducted by militia fighters in Cameroon’s Lebialem Highlands. He was held for two weeks, hidden in a secret location inside a forest. “It was a traumatic experience,” he recalls. “I can’t go back to that area until everything is resolved.” Though Nkembi was eventually freed, his ordeal sheds light on the risks facing scientists, researchers, eco-guards and conservation workers protecting apes in Cameroon’s conflict hotspots, including the Lebialem Highlands. Lebialem is a global biodiversity hotspot in Cameroon’s southwest, host to dozens of endemic and threatened species, including critically endangered Cross River gorillas (Gorilla gorilla diehli), Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes ellioti), African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis), leopards (Panthera pardus), dwarf galagos (Galagoides demidovii) and white-bellied pangolins (Phataginus tricuspis). Camera trap photo of a Cross River gorillas(Gorilla gorilla deihli). Fewer than 300 are believed to survive, making them the rarest great ape subspecies. Image by ©WCS Nigeria. This irresistible richness is the root of Nkembi’s love for Lebialem. He’s spent nearly three decades documenting, surveying and conserving the area through ERuDeF (the Environmental and Rural Development Foundation), which he founded in 1999. In late 2016, Lebialem, like dozens of other parks, reserves and sanctuaries in the region, was swept up in armed conflict that continues to wrack Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest regions. “It was something that took all of us by surprise,” Ndimuh Bertrand, executive director of Voice of Nature (VoNat), a conservation organization based in the Southwest capital Buea, tells&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/cameroons-decade-of-conflict-leaves-apes-and-conservationists-in-peril/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/cameroons-decade-of-conflict-leaves-apes-and-conservationists-in-peril/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315157</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Risk-taking comes earlier in chimpanzees than in humans, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/risk-taking-comes-earlier-in-chimpanzees-than-in-humans-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/risk-taking-comes-earlier-in-chimpanzees-than-in-humans-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Feb 2026 09:07:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/05165444/32723637508_7c81338653_6k-resize-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313806</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animal Intelligence, Animals, Apes, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Environment, Great Apes, Green, Psychology, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Chimpanzees appear to be the biggest daredevils when they&#8217;re infants. Humans tend to take more chances and put themselves in the most danger in adolescence, so the expectation has been that chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), among our closest evolutionary cousins, follow a similar pattern. But undergraduate researcher Bryce Murray&#8217;s observations of young chimps — and especially [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Chimpanzees appear to be the biggest daredevils when they&#8217;re infants. Humans tend to take more chances and put themselves in the most danger in adolescence, so the expectation has been that chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), among our closest evolutionary cousins, follow a similar pattern. But undergraduate researcher Bryce Murray&#8217;s observations of young chimps — and especially infants — from video shot at the Ngogo Chimpanzee Project in Uganda didn&#8217;t quite jibe with that assumption, according to research published Jan. 16 in the journal iScience. &#8220;I kept seeing these behaviors that seemed very risky,&#8221; Murray, the study&#8217;s lead author and a recent graduate from the University of Michigan in the U.S., told Mongabay. Young chimps, he noticed, frequently leaped through tree branches or dropped from them, flying freely through the air without holding onto anything. An adult female chimpanzee leaping in the forest at Ngogo Chimpanzee Project. Image by Murray et al., 2026 (CC-BY-NC-ND). Chimpanzees are well-adapted to life in the trees, picking up the ability to climb and swing through them as early as 2 years old. That’s an important skill, as high branches offer safety and provide the fruit that makes up the bulk of their diet. Still, it’s hard not to ascribe a bit of ebullience to their looping swings through the canopy. But moving around 10 meters (33 feet) or more above the ground can also be dangerous, particularly in the &#8220;free flight&#8221; incidents that caught Murray’s attention. One study found that around a third of chimp skeletons&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/risk-taking-comes-earlier-in-chimpanzees-than-in-humans-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/risk-taking-comes-earlier-in-chimpanzees-than-in-humans-study-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
					<enclosure url="https://www.cell.com/cms/10.1016/j.isci.2025.114452/attachment/b4c3179f-a430-4aac-a6f1-d182eea6fa0a/mmc1.mp4" length="7424" type="video/mp4" />
					<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313806</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study ties same-sex behavior in primates to ecological and social pressures</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/study-ties-same-sex-behavior-in-primates-to-ecological-and-social-pressures/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/study-ties-same-sex-behavior-in-primates-to-ecological-and-social-pressures/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jan 2026 14:14:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimable Twahirwa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/28134356/Gorille_de_montage2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313420</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Gorillas, Great Apes, Mammals, Primates, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The fact that primates other than humans engage in homosexual behavior is well-documented. A recent study in Nature Ecology &#38; Evolution digs deeper into the factors influencing the prevalence of this behavior. Of the 491 nonhuman primate species considered in the paper, 59 were found to engage in same-sex behavior. This behavior is more likely [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The fact that primates other than humans engage in homosexual behavior is well-documented. A recent study in Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution digs deeper into the factors influencing the prevalence of this behavior. Of the 491 nonhuman primate species considered in the paper, 59 were found to engage in same-sex behavior. This behavior is more likely to occur among species that live in drier climes, experience heightened food insecurity, and face greater pressure from predators, the researchers suggest, based on analyses of patterns across 23 species. Same-sex interactions are also more likely when there’s a significant difference in body size between male and female members, and in primates with longer lifespans. A more complex and stratified social structure is also a predictor of this behavior. Gorillas are an example where social configurations play a role. This genus of primates includes two species: the western (Gorilla gorilla) and eastern gorillas (Gorilla beringei). Gorilla groups, which include anywhere from 20 to 50 members, typically consist of a dominant adult male (the silverback), several adult females, and their offspring. A chimpanzee in Uganda&#8217;s Kibale Forest. Image by Valerie Hukalo via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). “Same-sex sexual behavior in gorillas has been associated with reconciliation and strengthening social bonds,” Chloë Coxshall, a doctoral student in biology at Imperial College London, U.K., and lead author of the study, told Mongabay. “Reconciliation reduces the likelihood of further aggression, which reduces risks of injury or fatalities and promotes group cohesion.” She added that stronger social bonds can be crucial&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/study-ties-same-sex-behavior-in-primates-to-ecological-and-social-pressures/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/study-ties-same-sex-behavior-in-primates-to-ecological-and-social-pressures/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313420</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Chimpanzees and gorillas among most traded African primates, report finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/chimpanzees-and-gorillas-among-most-traded-african-primates-report-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/chimpanzees-and-gorillas-among-most-traded-african-primates-report-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Jan 2026 19:39:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/07193401/EasternChimpanzee_Uganda_NikborrowiNaturalistBYNC4.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312696</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Gabon, Germany, Southern Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Gorillas, Governance, Great Apes, Primates, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Between 2000 and 2023, more than 6,000 African primates were traded internationally in 50 countries, according to a newly published report. Endangered chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and critically endangered western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) were among the 10 most-traded species, according to data from CITES, the global wildlife trade agreement. African primates are traded as trophies, for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Between 2000 and 2023, more than 6,000 African primates were traded internationally in 50 countries, according to a newly published report. Endangered chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and critically endangered western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) were among the 10 most-traded species, according to data from CITES, the global wildlife trade agreement. African primates are traded as trophies, for scientific research, and to be kept in zoos. Hunting monkeys and apes for food and body parts used in charms and rituals is widespread in many parts of Africa. Infants and juveniles are also captured live for the exotic pet trade. The report by U.S.-based nonprofit Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) is the first to try to capture the scale of the trade, the geographic hotspots, and the species targeted. It draws on data from the CITES trade database, seizure records from the wildlife trade monitoring NGO TRAFFIC, media reports, and other published research to present a picture of the global legal and illegal trade in African primates. “The intention is for this report to serve as both a diagnostic tool and a call to action,” lead author and wildlife crime specialist Monique Sosnowski told Mongabay by email. A chacma baboon in South Africa. The report found that these monkeys are the most traded species legally, mostly as hunting trophies. Image by Martie Swart via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0). Although the report captures international trade in primates from Africa, it doesn’t account for domestic trade, which is driven by food and other traditional uses.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/chimpanzees-and-gorillas-among-most-traded-african-primates-report-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/chimpanzees-and-gorillas-among-most-traded-african-primates-report-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312696</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rare bats at risk as iron ore mine advances in Guinea’s Nimba Mountains</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/rare-bats-at-risk-as-iron-ore-mine-advances-in-guineas-nimba-mountains/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/rare-bats-at-risk-as-iron-ore-mine-advances-in-guineas-nimba-mountains/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Dec 2025 14:47:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/01/21181341/Myotis-nimbaensis_2_IMG_3646-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312281</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Guinea’s Iron Frontier]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Guinea, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Bats, Biodiversity, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Deforestation, Economics, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Great Apes, Infrastructure, Mammals, Mining, Pollution, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Species Discovery, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2018, researchers from Bat Conservation International, Cameroon&#8217;s University of Maroua and the American Museum of Natural History entered abandoned mining tunnels in Guinea’s Nimba Mountains as part of an environmental and social impact assessment for an iron ore project. They wanted to better understand the habitat and behavior of the critically endangered Lamotte’s roundleaf [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2018, researchers from Bat Conservation International, Cameroon&#8217;s University of Maroua and the American Museum of Natural History entered abandoned mining tunnels in Guinea’s Nimba Mountains as part of an environmental and social impact assessment for an iron ore project. They wanted to better understand the habitat and behavior of the critically endangered Lamotte’s roundleaf bat (Hipposideros lamottei) in order to mitigate the negative impacts of a proposed mining project. As they were prowling in the horizontal shafts of mines left behind in the 1970s and ’80s, they encountered a distinctive and distinctly unknown-to-science bat species. It was joy for the scientists, and potential disaster for U.S. miner Ivanhoe Atlantic (formerly HPX), which is seeking to develop an open-pit iron ore mine amid the rich biodiversity of the Nimba Mountains, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Residents of the villages around Nimba had previously reported sightings of a bat with bright orange fur here in the mountains, around 1,400 meters (4,600 feet) above sea level, but the 2018 survey was the first formal record of the bat. The scientists searching the abandoned mine shafts were able to trap, examine and release just two individuals on two occasions, one male and one female. They also recorded echolocation at a total of five adits, the access tunnels to the old mines, that matched the vocalizations of the bat they’ve formally named Myotis nimbaensis. In the 2021 paper announcing the bat’s identification, the researchers explained its relationship to other members of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/rare-bats-at-risk-as-iron-ore-mine-advances-in-guineas-nimba-mountains/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312281</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Wildlife and communities bear the cost as Simandou rail corridor advances across Guinea</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/wildlife-and-communities-bear-the-cost-as-simandou-rail-corridor-advances-across-guinea/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/wildlife-and-communities-bear-the-cost-as-simandou-rail-corridor-advances-across-guinea/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Dec 2025 09:17:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Younoussa Naby Sylla]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Christophe Assogba]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/08153634/Forest_elephant_group_1_6841415460-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310758</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Guinea, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Deforestation, Economics, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Infrastructure, Mining, Pollution, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BOMBIA, Guinea — As day breaks over the green hills around the town of Bombia, the raucous cries of chimpanzees echo through the forests of the Kankouyah mountain range. Recently, the sounds of the wild have been mingled with the distant growling of bulldozers. The air, once laden with the aromatic scent of damp leaves [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BOMBIA, Guinea — As day breaks over the green hills around the town of Bombia, the raucous cries of chimpanzees echo through the forests of the Kankouyah mountain range. Recently, the sounds of the wild have been mingled with the distant growling of bulldozers. The air, once laden with the aromatic scent of damp leaves and wood, is now thick with dust and diesel fumes. A few kilometers south of the village, a ribbon of red earth cuts through the vegetation: the railway corridor for the Simandou project. This mining megaproject is intended to connect the iron ore deposits of Simandou to the deepwater port currently under construction at Moribaya in on the Atlantic coast of Guinea. This is an economic lifeline for the country, but an open wound for biodiversity. The railway corridor, which runs more than 650 kilometers (400 miles), crosses several vulnerable areas, home to some of the last remaining populations of forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) and western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in Guinea. According to experts from the Guinean Office of National Parks and Wildlife Reserves (OGPNRF), these elephants’ ancestral migratory routes pass through wetlands now fragmented by the railway corridor. A railway embankment along the Simandou railway corridor. Image by Younoussa Naby Sylla for Mongabay. “Guinea is home to more than 5,000 chimpanzees in the Moyen-Bafing region alone,” Mamadi Tounkara, head of the OGPNRF’S legal and litigation department, tells Mongabay. “But the passage of earthmoving equipment, the noise of explosives, and the fragmentation of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/wildlife-and-communities-bear-the-cost-as-simandou-rail-corridor-advances-across-guinea/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/wildlife-and-communities-bear-the-cost-as-simandou-rail-corridor-advances-across-guinea/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310758</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Jane Goodall (1934–2025): primatologist, conservationist, and messenger of hope</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/jane-goodall-1934-2025-primatologist-conservationist-and-messenger-of-hope/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/jane-goodall-1934-2025-primatologist-conservationist-and-messenger-of-hope/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Oct 2025 23:15:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/01215754/Jane-Goodall-credit-Michael-Neugebauer-2560x1720-bw-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306934</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, Global, Tanzania, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Green, Jane Goodall, Obituary, and Primates]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Jane Goodall, who revealed the intimate lives of chimpanzees and gave the modern world a language of hope, has died at the age of 91. Over the course of six decades, she moved from an unlikely young researcher in the forests of East Africa to one of the most recognizable scientists and conservationists of her [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Jane Goodall, who revealed the intimate lives of chimpanzees and gave the modern world a language of hope, has died at the age of 91. Over the course of six decades, she moved from an unlikely young researcher in the forests of East Africa to one of the most recognizable scientists and conservationists of her time. Her patient fieldwork at Gombe transformed primatology, overturning entrenched beliefs about the uniqueness of humans and forcing science to reckon with animal minds. She went on to found the Jane Goodall Institute, launch sanctuaries and community programs across Africa, and inspire millions through her Roots &amp; Shoots movement for young people. Her influence reached far beyond science: she became a United Nations Messenger of Peace, an advocate for animal welfare, and a tireless voice for conservation at a time of mounting global crisis. Yet through all of this she remained known simply as “Jane,” a figure who insisted that hope was not naïve but necessary. Jane Goodall in 2024. Courtesy of the Jane Goodall Institute. When she stepped into the forests of Gombe, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania in 1960, she carried little more than a notebook, binoculars, and an unlikely determination. She was not a scientist by training, but a young woman from Bournemouth with a childhood fascination for Africa, encouraged by a mother who told her never to give up. Within a few years she had overturned long-held certainties. Her observations showed that chimpanzees were not mere instinctive creatures&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/jane-goodall-1934-2025-primatologist-conservationist-and-messenger-of-hope/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/jane-goodall-1934-2025-primatologist-conservationist-and-messenger-of-hope/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306934</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fighting back against Guinea-Bissau’s illegal chimpanzee trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/fighting-back-against-guinea-bissaus-illegal-chimpanzee-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/fighting-back-against-guinea-bissaus-illegal-chimpanzee-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 May 2025 07:26:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yannick Kenné]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Christophe Assogba]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/28194642/image1_Tze-2019-credit-PASA-1-e1748462796421-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299781</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Guinea-Bissau]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Chimpanzees, Primates, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[YAOUNDÉ — It’s not uncommon to see chimpanzees kept as pets in private homes and hotels in Guinea-Bissau. Chimpanzees can be seen chained to trees or metal poles, or living alone in small metal cages, often without a permanent water source and lacking room to walk or jump around. Maria Joana Ferreira da Silva, a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[YAOUNDÉ — It’s not uncommon to see chimpanzees kept as pets in private homes and hotels in Guinea-Bissau. Chimpanzees can be seen chained to trees or metal poles, or living alone in small metal cages, often without a permanent water source and lacking room to walk or jump around. Maria Joana Ferreira da Silva, a Portuguese researcher from the Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources at the University of Porto in Portugal, published an assessment of the illegal trade of chimpanzees in in the journal Conservation Letters in February. She writes that no systematic survey of the trade has been carried out across Guinea-Bissau, but cites a 2020 survey conducted by Guinea-Bissau’s Institute for Biodiversity and Protected Areas (IBAP). Conducted in the central region of Bafatá and the southern regions of Tombali and Quinara, it found 98 people there kept wild-born primates in captivity. Among these were five chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes); the majority of the captive animals were patas monkeys (Erythrocebus patas). Ferreira da Silva’s own fieldwork between 2006 and 2022 recorded 18 chimpanzees being held in homes or hotels. The chimpanzees’ captors told IBAP researchers they had bought the animals as infants from hunters who had either killed their mothers for the meat, or targeted the troops specifically to get infants for sale. Despite it being illegal to hunt or keep chimpanzees, they freely admitted to keeping the apes captive and invited strangers to take photographs with them. According to Ferreira da Silva, most captive chimpanzees die of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/fighting-back-against-guinea-bissaus-illegal-chimpanzee-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/fighting-back-against-guinea-bissaus-illegal-chimpanzee-trade/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299781</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Top 25 most threatened primates highlighted in new report urging action</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/top-25-most-threatened-primates-highlighted-in-new-report-urging-action/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/top-25-most-threatened-primates-highlighted-in-new-report-urging-action/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 May 2025 16:00:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/08133559/Microcebus-berthae-Madame-Berthes-Mouse-lemur-c-Matthias-Markolf-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298810</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Global, Madagascar, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Endangered Species, Gorillas, Lemurs, Monkeys, Primates, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nearly two-thirds of all primates are in danger of disappearing, including 100 that have only been described by science in the last 25 years. To spotlight their plight, leading conservation organizations compiled a list of 25 of the most endangered primates in the latest edition of the “Primates in Peril” report. “Since its inception 25 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nearly two-thirds of all primates are in danger of disappearing, including 100 that have only been described by science in the last 25 years. To spotlight their plight, leading conservation organizations compiled a list of 25 of the most endangered primates in the latest edition of the “Primates in Peril” report. “Since its inception 25 years ago, the Top 25 list has made a significant contribution to primate conservation, highlighting those species in greatest need and often stimulating major conservation measures such as the creation of new protected areas and increased funding for the target species,” said Russell Mittermeier, a renowned U.S. primatologist who heads the Primate Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. While many in the order, which includes everything from great apes like gorillas and chimpanzees, to monkeys, lemurs, bush babies and humans, face dire conditions, the selection of the top 25 is purposeful, scientists involved in the report, told Mongabay. It is not a strict ranking based on the severity of threats species face but also aims to be representative of the different geographic regions where primates live and the wide diversity within the primate order. “We also try to select species where inclusion is actually going to be helpful” and spur conservation efforts, Mittermeier said. The variegated spider monkey (Ateles hybridus), found in Colombia and Venezuela, is one of the 25 most threatened primates in the world. Image courtesy of Andrés Link. The new report is a collaboration between the IUCN, the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/top-25-most-threatened-primates-highlighted-in-new-report-urging-action/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/top-25-most-threatened-primates-highlighted-in-new-report-urging-action/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298810</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Cameroon’s forgotten forests, gorillas and chimps hang on</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/in-cameroons-forgotten-forests-gorillas-and-chimps-hang-on/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/in-cameroons-forgotten-forests-gorillas-and-chimps-hang-on/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 May 2025 18:33:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/07080723/Gorilla-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298718</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Camera Trapping, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Endangered Species, Forest Fragmentation, Forests, Fragmentation, Gorillas, Great Apes, Mammals, Primates, Protected Areas, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At first glance, it’s easy to dismiss the ecological significance of Mbalmayo Forest Reserve in southern Cameroon, one of several degraded forest patches scattered across the country. Located on the outskirts of the town of Mbalmayo, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the country’s capital, Yaoundé, the reserve appears to be too close to human [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At first glance, it’s easy to dismiss the ecological significance of Mbalmayo Forest Reserve in southern Cameroon, one of several degraded forest patches scattered across the country. Located on the outskirts of the town of Mbalmayo, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the country’s capital, Yaoundé, the reserve appears to be too close to human habitation to harbor a wealth of biodiversity — or at least that’s what scientists thought. But when wildlife conservationist Jean Christian Mey Boudoug visited Mbalmayo to pursue fieldwork for his Ph.D. in the late 2010s, he was surprised to see parts of the forest still intact and flourishing. Although his research showed the reserve had lost nearly 30% of its forests to banana and cacao plantations by 2018, when he looked closer, he discovered what many trained eyes had missed. “We found some evidence of what seemed to be chimps or gorilla,” Boudoug told Mongabay, referring to nests he found in the forest. Since the 1960s, just one primate species, the northern talapoin (Miopithecus ogouensis), was known to inhabit Mbalmayo Forest Reserve. Other species found in the area include duikers (Cephalophus spp.), African civets (Civettictis civetta), African palm civets (Nandinia binotata) and other small mammals. There were no photos or videos of other primates. So Boudoug bought a few trail cameras off the internet with his own money and installed them in the reserve. When community members living around Zamakoe Forest Reserve, another similarly degraded forest patch just north of Mbalmayo, told him about chimpanzee&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/in-cameroons-forgotten-forests-gorillas-and-chimps-hang-on/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/in-cameroons-forgotten-forests-gorillas-and-chimps-hang-on/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298718</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As apes adapt to human disturbance, their new behaviors also put them at risk: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/as-apes-adapt-to-human-disturbance-their-new-behaviors-also-put-them-at-risk-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/as-apes-adapt-to-human-disturbance-their-new-behaviors-also-put-them-at-risk-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Mar 2025 17:30:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles Mpaka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/24131520/orangutan-borneo-768x512-1.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296353</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animal Behavior, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Bonobos, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Gorillas, Great Apes, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Orangutans, Primates, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Human activities such as mining, agriculture, urbanization, damming and logging threaten the habitats of great apes in Africa and Asia. Apes have shown resilience to these disruptions by adapting their behavior in a variety of ways, including crop raiding and changing nesting sites, a new study finds. But while such adjustments appear to facilitate their [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Human activities such as mining, agriculture, urbanization, damming and logging threaten the habitats of great apes in Africa and Asia. Apes have shown resilience to these disruptions by adapting their behavior in a variety of ways, including crop raiding and changing nesting sites, a new study finds. But while such adjustments appear to facilitate their short-term survival, they can make apes vulnerable to more dangers in the long term. “Under many contexts changing great ape behavior is putting a strain on the human-ape relationship, resulting in injury, harassment and even the killing of apes,” reads the study, a global review of studies on apes’ adaptations to human-caused disturbances. Since great apes are both behaviorally flexible and among the most threatened species on the planet, identifying patterns in their responses to human-generated disturbances can help categorize common concerns and long-term outcomes, the researchers say. Co-author Miranda Gilbert, from the Great Ape Behaviour (GAB) Laboratory at the University of Victoria in Canada, told Mongabay that since human activities are increasingly affecting ecosystems, it’s important to understand how wildlife cope with such changes. This, she said, helps us determine whether certain species can survive such changes in the long term, as well as understand any additional impacts animals may experience due to behaviors they adopt in order to survive in the altered environment, or because they decide to move to new habitats. Together, these help generate effective conservation strategies. In this study, Gilbert and co-author Ammie Kalan, head of the GAB Lab, conducted&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/as-apes-adapt-to-human-disturbance-their-new-behaviors-also-put-them-at-risk-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/as-apes-adapt-to-human-disturbance-their-new-behaviors-also-put-them-at-risk-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296353</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>When a chimp community lost its males, it also lost part of its love language</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/when-a-chimp-community-lost-its-males-it-also-lost-part-of-its-love-language/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/when-a-chimp-community-lost-its-males-it-also-lost-part-of-its-love-language/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Mar 2025 23:16:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/11230456/Porthos-001-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295640</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cote D'Ivoire, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Mammals, Primates, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Male chimpanzees in Côte d’Ivoire’s Taï National Park use distinct “auditory gestures” to attract females. However, researchers have found that when the males die, these behaviors can disappear with them. The solicitation gestures used by these male western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) include tapping their heels or knuckles against fallen branches or tree trunks, shaking [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Male chimpanzees in Côte d’Ivoire’s Taï National Park use distinct “auditory gestures” to attract females. However, researchers have found that when the males die, these behaviors can disappear with them. The solicitation gestures used by these male western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) include tapping their heels or knuckles against fallen branches or tree trunks, shaking branches or saplings, or noisily tearing leaves off stems. In one of the four chimpanzee communities monitored for the past 45 years by the Taï Chimpanzee Project, a research and conservation group, the “knuckle-knock” was the main solicitation gesture used by males since 1991. But severe hunting pressure drastically reduced the chimpanzee population in Taï, from around 3,000 in the early 1980s to just 300 by 2010. The part of the Taï forest occupied by the northern community and their knuckle-knocking males was particularly vulnerable due to its proximity to villages, providing easy access to hunters. In 2008, the group’s last adult male, known to researchers as Nino, was killed for his meat. In the aftermath, a female took over as leader, and while the group continued functioning as a unit, the absence of multiple adult males meant there were no individuals left to perform and reinforce the knuckle-knock gesture. Today, even though young males have since grown up and assumed leadership, the behavior has not reemerged. Instead, it has been replaced by another gesture: the “heel-kick.” Porthos is one of the adult males now present in the North community. He is the son of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/when-a-chimp-community-lost-its-males-it-also-lost-part-of-its-love-language/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/when-a-chimp-community-lost-its-males-it-also-lost-part-of-its-love-language/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295640</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Some people will die’: Conversations with Nigeria’s gorilla hunters</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/some-people-will-die-conversations-with-nigerias-gorilla-hunters/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/some-people-will-die-conversations-with-nigerias-gorilla-hunters/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Feb 2025 00:34:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Orji Sunday]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/27001945/western-lowland-gorilla-R-Butler-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295078</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Nigeria, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Bushmeat, Chimpanzees, Endangered Species, Environment, Gorillas, Great Apes, Hunting, Mammals, Traditional Medicine, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On a night in 1997, Benjamin Dauda killed a gorilla for the first time. Shrouding his lanky frame in dark fog, he stalked a foraging troop, finally dispatching his bullet on his mark. It was a giant male, he says, struck in the chest. “When I came close to the dead body, it was exactly [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On a night in 1997, Benjamin Dauda killed a gorilla for the first time. Shrouding his lanky frame in dark fog, he stalked a foraging troop, finally dispatching his bullet on his mark. It was a giant male, he says, struck in the chest. “When I came close to the dead body, it was exactly like a human being. The only difference is that we humans dress in clothes but gorillas wear fur,” Dauda tells Mongabay. “I was scared to touch it. I was shivering.” Dauda, 52, hails from Sunkuru, a community of clans settled in the northeastern Nigerian state of Taraba. He apprenticed under his father, who was himself a renowned hunter in his time. For Dauda and many of his peers, hunting was a path to both survival and fame, passed on as a heritage between generations. But an uneasy hurdle lay on his path to heroism and heritage: centuries-old totems and taboos forbidding the killing of apes. Months after the death of his father and sponsor, when unpaid tuition put him on the verge of dropping out of high school, he took up his father’s gun and turned to the forbidden act. “I had to kill it [the gorilla] because of money,” Dauda tells Mongabay. “It is a terrible thing to do, but I had to do it because there was no option.” Yet, once Dauda ’s appetite for gorilla money was kindled, there was no going back. He says he killed more than 10 gorillas until&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/some-people-will-die-conversations-with-nigerias-gorilla-hunters/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295078</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>DRC government directive triggers panic in ape sanctuaries amid ongoing conflict</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/drc-government-directive-triggers-panic-in-ape-sanctuaries-amid-ongoing-conflict/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/drc-government-directive-triggers-panic-in-ape-sanctuaries-amid-ongoing-conflict/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Feb 2025 15:40:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/21152117/Chimp_Kibale_Uganda_23355595510-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294853</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Chimpanzees, Conflict, Conservation, Great Apes, Primates, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For primate sanctuaries in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the year 2025 has begun with panic, worry and uncertainty as they are caught between the ongoing armed conflict in the eastern parts of the country and a controversial request from the country’s conservation authority, the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (Institut Congolais pour [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For primate sanctuaries in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the year 2025 has begun with panic, worry and uncertainty as they are caught between the ongoing armed conflict in the eastern parts of the country and a controversial request from the country’s conservation authority, the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature, or ICCN). “Everybody is really worried,” said Sara Rosenberg, who volunteered at the two-decade-old Lwiro Primates Rehabilitation Centre (CRPL) in Lwiro village in DRC’s South Kivu province, where Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have recently captured the province’s capital city and the airport. “The war is really bad news for the wild chimps, and now the safe ones are also now at risk.” The risk she’s talking about stems from an out-of-the-blue request letter handed to the Lwiro sanctuary on Jan. 7 by officials from ICCN’s headquarters in DRC’s capital city, Kinshasa, who were at the sanctuary’s door. The letter requested that the sanctuary transfer 12 chimpanzees to the Kinshasa Zoological Garden located more than 2,200 kilometers (1,367 miles) away. The sanctuary is currently home to more than 120 chimpanzees. Four days later, on Jan. 11, ICCN sent a follow-up letter addressed to the Lwiro sanctuary director, justifying its request for “preferably juvenile” chimpanzees. The letter, which Mongabay has a copy of, noted that during ICCN’s 10th session on Dec. 30, 2024, its board of directors instructed the general management to engage in a “vast program of development, rehabilitation, repopulation and scientific&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/drc-government-directive-triggers-panic-in-ape-sanctuaries-amid-ongoing-conflict/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/drc-government-directive-triggers-panic-in-ape-sanctuaries-amid-ongoing-conflict/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294853</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Chimps remember, for years, the location of ant nests that provide food</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/chimps-remember-for-years-the-location-of-ant-nests-that-provide-food/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/chimps-remember-for-years-the-location-of-ant-nests-that-provide-food/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Feb 2025 21:40:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles Mpaka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/03212130/Sanchez-Megias-et-al-2024-Photo-1-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293828</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Senegal, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Great Apes, Mammals, Primates, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Wild chimpanzees have long been known to rely on their powerful memories to know where and in what trees they can find ripe wild fruit. Less has been understood about whether and how the great apes use their memory to locate foods of animal origin, such as army ants, which are known to be rich [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Wild chimpanzees have long been known to rely on their powerful memories to know where and in what trees they can find ripe wild fruit. Less has been understood about whether and how the great apes use their memory to locate foods of animal origin, such as army ants, which are known to be rich in nutrients essential for chimpanzees. Now, a study published in the journal Nature has found that wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) can remember the location of hidden underground ant nests for years, and will repeatedly return to nest sites. The study presents the first evidence that wild chimpanzees find insects to feed on using the power of memory, not just opportunistically. It’s also the first to describe how chimpanzees use sight, touch, smell and taste to inspect unoccupied nests and detect if there are ants. “We realised that the fact that the chimpanzees in our study were going back to the same ant nests, even though these were almost never visible, was really important because it suggested that their repeated ant nest visits were not opportunistic, but rather that the chimpanzees relied on their memory to find the nests and revisit them over and over again,” says study co-author R. Adriana Hernandez-Aguilar. A wild female chimpanzee, carrying her offspring on her back, stands near an army ant nest hidden under fallen leaves in Dindefelo, Senegal. Camera trap image courtesy of Andreu Sánchez-Megías. In the study, Hernandez-Aguilar and Andreu Sánchez-Megías, both from the University of Barcelona’s Faculty&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/chimps-remember-for-years-the-location-of-ant-nests-that-provide-food/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/chimps-remember-for-years-the-location-of-ant-nests-that-provide-food/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293828</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>To conserve chimps, understand their genetic traits and local adaptations, says study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/to-conserve-chimps-understand-their-genetic-traits-and-local-adaptations-says-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/to-conserve-chimps-understand-their-genetic-traits-and-local-adaptations-says-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jan 2025 16:10:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gilbert Nakweya]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Ochieng' Ogodo]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/29132606/12055481225_ab52b3a8ac_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293576</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Chimpanzees, Climate Change, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Habitat, Mammals, Poaching, Reforestation, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NAIROBI ― Understanding the genetic traits of chimpanzees and how they help them adapt to unique conditions in different habitats is critical to maintaining their resilience and ensuring long-term survival, according to a study. Some of the genetic traits may even protect the chimps against diseases like malaria. Habitats of chimpanzee subspecies vary from rainforests [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[NAIROBI ― Understanding the genetic traits of chimpanzees and how they help them adapt to unique conditions in different habitats is critical to maintaining their resilience and ensuring long-term survival, according to a study. Some of the genetic traits may even protect the chimps against diseases like malaria. Habitats of chimpanzee subspecies vary from rainforests to savannahs. To guarantee that individual chimps are adapted to their local environment and to maintain their capacity to continue adaptation, the researchers of the study say, conservation efforts must take into account local genetic adaptation. “This is particularly relevant, as direct human-induced destruction, climate change, and disease transmission are rapidly changing the environments experienced by chimpanzees,” according to the study. While chimpanzees are known to inhabit diverse habitats, from forest landscapes to woodland-savannah distributed across East and West Africa, it remains unknown if their genetic adaptation facilitates such habitat diversity. According to the IUCN red list, all four chimpanzee subspecies are endangered due to habitat destruction, poaching, and infectious diseases, with the western chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) listed as critically endangered, facing the greatest threat of all. Chimpanzees of Mikeno Lodge in Virunga National Park, DRC. Image by Joseph King via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). A team of more than 80 researchers from Africa, Europe and North America studied the DNA of 828 wild chimpanzees and found that they had largely adapted to their habitats. The researchers sequenced 828 fecal samples collected across 52 sample sites from 18 countries — Central African Republic, Cameroon,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/to-conserve-chimps-understand-their-genetic-traits-and-local-adaptations-says-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/to-conserve-chimps-understand-their-genetic-traits-and-local-adaptations-says-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293576</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rare new Guinean flower is ‘canary in a coal mine’ — but in an actual iron mine</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/rare-new-guinean-flower-is-canary-in-a-coal-mine-but-in-an-actual-iron-mine/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/rare-new-guinean-flower-is-canary-in-a-coal-mine-but-in-an-actual-iron-mine/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Dec 2024 08:43:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/25093902/Gymnosiphon.foniensis_BoyboybaForestGuinea_MartinCheek-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292313</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Guinea, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Flowers, Great Apes, Mining, Plants, Poaching, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Martin Cheek first entered the Boyboyba Forest in southeastern Guinea in September 2022 to look for an extremely rare plant whose entire population is estimated to number just 100. The weather, though, had dampened his enthusiasm. “You’re a long way from anywhere that’s dry, and you’re going to be here all day, and it’s pouring [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Martin Cheek first entered the Boyboyba Forest in southeastern Guinea in September 2022 to look for an extremely rare plant whose entire population is estimated to number just 100. The weather, though, had dampened his enthusiasm. “You’re a long way from anywhere that’s dry, and you’re going to be here all day, and it’s pouring with rain, and it’s not going to be very comfortable,” the plant taxonomist from the U.K.’s Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, recalls. All that changed when Cheek and his Guinean colleagues found a patch of the extremely rare snow-white flowers growing on the forest floor. “You forget about any discomfort you might be feeling: just the excitement of confronting these amazing plants takes that all out of your mind,” he says. The plants are a species of Gymnosiphon, a genus that comprises a few dozen species scattered across Africa, Madagascar, Asia and Central and South America. Gymnosiphon fonensis, Boyboyba Forest, Guinea. Image courtesy Martin Cheek. Another group of scientists had noted these flowers growing in the very same spot in Boyboyba 14 years earlier, but they were misidentified as Gymnosiphon bekensis, a species that only grows more than 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) away to the east, in Cameroon and the Central African Republic. Cheek has now corrected that, identifying Boyboyba’s plants as a new-to-science species, Gymnosiphon fonensis, named in honor of the Pic de Fon classified forest, a partially protected reserve at the southern end of the Simandou mountain range. Like all Gymnosiphon species, the Fon&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/rare-new-guinean-flower-is-canary-in-a-coal-mine-but-in-an-actual-iron-mine/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/rare-new-guinean-flower-is-canary-in-a-coal-mine-but-in-an-actual-iron-mine/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292313</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Monitoring group cracks down on deforestation in Cameroon gorilla sanctuary</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/monitoring-group-cracks-down-on-deforestation-in-cameroon-gorilla-sanctuary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/monitoring-group-cracks-down-on-deforestation-in-cameroon-gorilla-sanctuary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Nov 2024 22:20:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/28215224/FqTOt-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290876</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, and Central Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Chimpanzees, Deforestation, Elephants, Environment, Forest Loss, Forests, Gorillas, Green, Habitat Loss, Logging, National Parks, Primary Forests, Primates, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Spanning nearly a tenth of the vast Congo Basin’s rainforest, the transboundary Dja-Odzala-Minkébé (TRIDOM) landscape is a nearly unbroken green canopy, stretching across Cameroon, the Republic of Congo and Gabon. Human population density and deforestation rates are generally low, making the entire region a high-priority landscape for carbon sequestration and the conservation of endangered and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Spanning nearly a tenth of the vast Congo Basin’s rainforest, the transboundary Dja-Odzala-Minkébé (TRIDOM) landscape is a nearly unbroken green canopy, stretching across Cameroon, the Republic of Congo and Gabon. Human population density and deforestation rates are generally low, making the entire region a high-priority landscape for carbon sequestration and the conservation of endangered and critically endangered animals like forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis), western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). A quarter of the TRIDOM landscape is now under protection, encompassed by eleven protected areas. Of these, southern Cameroon’s Mengame Gorilla Sanctuary at 26,780 hectares is one of the smallest. A young western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) strikes a sassy pose in Gabon. Image by Rhett A. Butler / Mongabay. That may be why it receives little attention, says Genevieve Ndjiki, president of the Action for Sustainable Development, a civil society organization in Cameroon. Yet research indicates the sanctuary supports “important” populations of apes, even when compared to other protected areas in Central Africa. Initially, Mengame was paired with the nearby proposed Kom National Park, a 68,050-hectare protected area to the east. But whilst Mengame was officially gazetted in 2008, the proposed Kom National Park was converted to a forest management unit sometime around 2021. When ASD began monitoring Mengame via the Global Forest Watch (GFW) platform they became concerned when they noticed satellite-detected deforestation alerts appearing and proliferating in the reserve. And, realizing that the sanctuary didn’t have an outside conservation partner, they wanted to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/monitoring-group-cracks-down-on-deforestation-in-cameroon-gorilla-sanctuary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/monitoring-group-cracks-down-on-deforestation-in-cameroon-gorilla-sanctuary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290876</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Africa’s great ape sanctuaries are feeling the heat from climate change</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/africas-great-ape-sanctuaries-are-feeling-the-heat-from-climate-change/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/africas-great-ape-sanctuaries-are-feeling-the-heat-from-climate-change/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Jul 2024 22:07:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tina Deines]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/11/17105358/chimp-by-Ray-in-Manila-flickr-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=284106</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Democratic Republic Of Congo, East Africa, Kenya, Southern Africa, Uganda, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Bonobos, Chimpanzees, Climate Change, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Ex-situ Conservation, Great Apes, Impact Of Climate Change, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In April 2024, above-average rainfall caused Kenya’s Ewaso Nyiro River to burst its banks, flooding the area and wreaking havoc for residents, including more than two dozen rescued chimpanzees at Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary. Recent research predicts that in the next three decades Africa’s apes will be increasingly affected by climate change, facing more extreme events [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In April 2024, above-average rainfall caused Kenya’s Ewaso Nyiro River to burst its banks, flooding the area and wreaking havoc for residents, including more than two dozen rescued chimpanzees at Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary. Recent research predicts that in the next three decades Africa’s apes will be increasingly affected by climate change, facing more extreme events like wildfires, floods and heat waves. However, it’s not just wild apes that are at risk when it comes to a warming world: great ape sanctuaries across the continent are feeling the heat too. “Climate change has had a huge impact on the sanctuaries,” says Kaitlyn Bock, head of programs for the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA), a coalition of wildlife sanctuaries and centers across the continent. “All the markers of climate change have been affecting them and their operations. Everything from increased rainfall to exacerbated periods of drought.” Bock says these changes seem to be happening rapidly across PASA’s 23 member organizations, which care for gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and other primates. “I think climate change is something that happens over time, you know, we&#8217;re seeing this happen gradually over many years … but for the sanctuaries, it doesn&#8217;t feel very gradual.” Tourist facilities at Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary flooded as water levels in Lake Victoria, which surrounds the facility, reached unprecedented levels. Image Courtesy of Chimpanzee Sanctuary &amp; Wildlife Conservation Trust in Uganda. From extreme flooding to droughts While climate change is affecting ape sanctuaries across the continent, it manifests in different ways. For&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/africas-great-ape-sanctuaries-are-feeling-the-heat-from-climate-change/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/africas-great-ape-sanctuaries-are-feeling-the-heat-from-climate-change/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-284106</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sick chimps seek out medicinal plants to heal themselves, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/sick-chimps-seek-out-medicinal-plants-to-heal-themselves-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/sick-chimps-seek-out-medicinal-plants-to-heal-themselves-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Jun 2024 18:05:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles Mpaka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/20175324/IMG_0632-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283489</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Environment, Great Apes, Mammals, Medicinal Plants, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Wild chimpanzees actively seek out plants with medicinal properties to treat themselves for specific ailments,a new study has found. While most animals consume foods with medicinal properties as part of their routine diet, few species have been shown to engage in self-medication in a way that suggests they have basic awareness of the healing properties [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Wild chimpanzees actively seek out plants with medicinal properties to treat themselves for specific ailments,a new study has found. While most animals consume foods with medicinal properties as part of their routine diet, few species have been shown to engage in self-medication in a way that suggests they have basic awareness of the healing properties of the plants they’re feeding on. Until now, the challenge has been to distinguish between normal consumption of food that has medicinal value, on the one hand, and ingesting such foods for the purpose of treating a condition, on the other. “Self-medication has been studied for years, but it has been historically difficult to push the field forward, as the burden of proof is very high when attempting to prove that a resource is used as a medicine,” Elodie Freymann, a scientist at the University of Oxford in the U.K. and lead author of the study, told Mongabay in an email. To deal with the challenge, the study adopted a multidisciplinary approach, combining behavioral data, health monitoring, and pharmacological testing of a variety of plant materials chimpanzees feed on. It pooled together 13 researchers comprising primatologists, ethnopharmacologists, parasitologists, ecologists and botanists. A chimpanzee in Uganda&#8217;s Budongo Forest, which is home to roughly 600-700 chimpanzees, including three groups habituated to humans. Image by Maciej via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0). According to the study, pharmacological data interpreted on its own is important for establishing the presence of medicinal resources in chimpanzee diets. However, this study also relied&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/sick-chimps-seek-out-medicinal-plants-to-heal-themselves-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283489</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Setback for Guinea mine that threatens World Heritage chimp reserve</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/setback-for-guinea-mine-that-threatens-world-heritage-chimp-reserve/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/setback-for-guinea-mine-that-threatens-world-heritage-chimp-reserve/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2024 10:20:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/04/03154944/Schimpasen2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=282104</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Guinea’s Iron Frontier]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Guinea, Liberia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Chimpanzees, Conservation, Endangered Species, Forest Destruction, Forests, Infrastructure, Mining, Primates, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A major iron mining project in eastern Guinea may be at risk as its owner, the U.S. firm HPX, is reportedly running into trouble with its plans to ship ore through neighboring Liberia. HPX’s mining concession in Guinea has raised alarm among environmentalists, who say that if it reaches the production stage, its close proximity [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A major iron mining project in eastern Guinea may be at risk as its owner, the U.S. firm HPX, is reportedly running into trouble with its plans to ship ore through neighboring Liberia. HPX’s mining concession in Guinea has raised alarm among environmentalists, who say that if it reaches the production stage, its close proximity to Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve would endanger the resident chimpanzees. HPX’s mining concession is located near Liberia’s border with Guinea. The shortest route for shipping ore extracted from it would be via a railway rehabilitated by the U.K.-Indian steelmaking giant ArcelorMittal as part of the 25-year agreement it signed with the Liberian government in 2005. Since 2011, ArcelorMittal has been the line’s primary user, shipping around 5 million metric tons of ore per year from its own iron mine in northern Liberia to the port city of Buchanan. HPX and its founder, Canadian billionaire Robert Friedland, have been reportedly lobbying to block an amended contract that ArcelorMittal is fighting to push through Liberia’s legislature, which would tighten the firm&#8217;s grip on the railway. Under the revised agreement, ArcelorMittal would control day-to-day operations on the line and have the right to prevent other companies from interfering with its shipment schedule. Fearing that ArcelorMittal could disrupt its own plans, Friedland and HPX have been engaged in a multiyear campaign to convince the Liberian government to allow it to have unfettered access to the railway. A train carrying iron ore from Yekepa to the port of Buchanan in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/setback-for-guinea-mine-that-threatens-world-heritage-chimp-reserve/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-282104</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Chimps are lifelong learners, study on tool use shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/chimps-are-lifelong-learners-study-on-tool-use-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/chimps-are-lifelong-learners-study-on-tool-use-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 May 2024 17:36:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles Mpaka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/09161748/chimp-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=281894</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cote D'Ivoire, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Apes, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Environment, Primates, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Chimpanzees, like humans, can use a variety of tools to perform tasks such as getting food from hard-to-reach places. Now, a study published in PLOS Biology has found that, also like humans, chimps continue learning and refining those skills well into adulthood. This lifelong learning and continual development of skills is critical for the survival [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Chimpanzees, like humans, can use a variety of tools to perform tasks such as getting food from hard-to-reach places. Now, a study published in PLOS Biology has found that, also like humans, chimps continue learning and refining those skills well into adulthood. This lifelong learning and continual development of skills is critical for the survival of chimpanzees in the wild, says lead author Mathieu Malherbe, from the Ape Social Mind Lab at Marc Jeannerod Institute of Cognitive Sciences in France and the Taï Chimpanzee Project in Côte d’Ivoire. “Chimpanzees’ ability to extract food [that would otherwise be inaccessible] using stick tools might be essential in times of food scarcity which is happening more and more due to climate change,” Malherbe said in an email to Mongabay. “Chimpanzees have one of the most diverse tool kit, apart from humans. Conservation projects should be focusing on helping preserving these behavioral traits as preserving this species will help us understand our evolutionary history,” he added. Researchers trying to understand human evolution have identified tool use as a driving force behind both brain development and the long-term dependency of juveniles in the primate lineage, Malherbe said. Likewise, humans’ ability to learn across our entire lifespan has been credited for our ability to flexibly use a wide array of tools. The researchers note that while many studies have examined how chimps acquire the skills to use tools, very few have looked at how they develop these abilities across their lifetime, especially in the wild. As&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/chimps-are-lifelong-learners-study-on-tool-use-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-281894</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>No joking: Great apes can be silly and playfully tease each other, finds study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/no-joking-great-apes-can-be-silly-and-playfully-tease-each-other-finds-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/no-joking-great-apes-can-be-silly-and-playfully-tease-each-other-finds-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Mar 2024 17:07:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/08154758/happy-chimps-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279679</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animal Intelligence, Animals, Apes, Bonobos, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Great Apes, Mammals, Primates, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Being silly and indulging in humor may sound easy, but our brains need to do a lot of heavy lifting to pull it off. Landing a joke requires recognizing what’s socially acceptable, being spontaneous, predicting how others may react, and playfully violating some social expectations. Until now, research on the complex cognitive abilities that underpin [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Being silly and indulging in humor may sound easy, but our brains need to do a lot of heavy lifting to pull it off. Landing a joke requires recognizing what’s socially acceptable, being spontaneous, predicting how others may react, and playfully violating some social expectations. Until now, research on the complex cognitive abilities that underpin humor has focused primarily on  humans, while other species are understudied. In a recent study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, researchers present the first evidence of playful teasing behavior in great apes. Thought to be a precursor to joking, playful teasing involves the teaser performing provocative actions such as poking, hitting or pulling on a body part with playful rather than aggressive intent. Although primatologists in the past, including Jane Goodall, have anecdotally described great apes as being silly and pestering others, this is the first study to systematically describe the behavior in zoo-housed chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos and orangutans. Two gorillas playing. Image by Max Block. “Playful teasing is interesting because it&#8217;s really getting at that teasing component — an individual motivated behavior that is trying to create something akin to joking or being silly,” said primatologist Ammie Kalan from the University of Victoria, Canada, who was not involved in the study. “One of the things that I think is cool with this paper is that they&#8217;re purposely trying to set [playful teasing] apart from play.” The researchers studied videos of social interactions between the members of each ape group&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/no-joking-great-apes-can-be-silly-and-playfully-tease-each-other-finds-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/no-joking-great-apes-can-be-silly-and-playfully-tease-each-other-finds-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279679</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Male dominance isn’t the default in primate societies, new study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/male-dominance-isnt-the-default-in-primate-societies-new-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/male-dominance-isnt-the-default-in-primate-societies-new-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Mar 2024 17:01:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tina Deines]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/04065808/Mullers_Gibbon-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279417</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animal Intelligence, Animals, Apes, Bonobos, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Gibbons, Great Apes, Mammals, Monkeys, Primates, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It’s a man’s world when it comes to ape societies — at least, that’s been the prevailing assumption for years. But some recent research is shaking up how we think about this group of primates to which humans belong. Rebecca Lewis, a professor of anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin, is the lead [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It’s a man’s world when it comes to ape societies — at least, that’s been the prevailing assumption for years. But some recent research is shaking up how we think about this group of primates to which humans belong. Rebecca Lewis, a professor of anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin, is the lead author of the study, which was published in the journal Animals in November. She and her research team reviewed previous literature on 79 primate species, including nine ape species, and grouped them into one of three categories: male-dominant, female-dominant, and co-dominant. The conclusion? “Non-male biased power is not uncommon,” Lewis says. Of the species surveyed, 58% were found to have male-biased power structures, but female- or co-dominant structures were found within every major primate group, including gibbons (lesser apes) and great apes. All five species of gibbons that were evaluated — lar (Hylobates lar), Müller’s (H. muelleri), agile (H. agilis) and pileated gibbons (H. pileatus), and siamangs (Symphalangus syndactylus) — were classified as non-male-dominant. Among the great apes, bonobos (Pan paniscus), which are known for their matriarchal societies, are the only species to live in non-male-dominant groups. According to Lewis, a good indicator for a female- or co-dominant species is similar size in body and canine teeth between the sexes. The smaller the difference, or sexual dimorphism, the more level the playing field between males and females. For instance, siamangs only have a slight degree of sexual dimorphism, with males weighing just a few kilos&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/male-dominance-isnt-the-default-in-primate-societies-new-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279417</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bees bring honey and hope to a forest reserve in Nigeria</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/bees-bring-honey-and-hope-to-a-forest-reserve-in-nigeria/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/bees-bring-honey-and-hope-to-a-forest-reserve-in-nigeria/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Feb 2024 00:45:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Orji Sunday]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/02/24002253/Apis_mellifera_su_foglia_di_alloro-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279149</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Regenerative landscapes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Bees, Cattle, Chimpanzees, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Great Apes, Green, Habitat Loss, Primates, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[YELWA, Nigeria — Nightfall at the Ngel Nyaki Forest Reserve field station is clad in the whispers, chirps and trills of insect song. Flames from the burning wood in the fire pit pierce the darkness as flashlights held by field assistants and patrollers reveal a river of fog flowing over the surrounding grassland and tree [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[YELWA, Nigeria — Nightfall at the Ngel Nyaki Forest Reserve field station is clad in the whispers, chirps and trills of insect song. Flames from the burning wood in the fire pit pierce the darkness as flashlights held by field assistants and patrollers reveal a river of fog flowing over the surrounding grassland and tree canopies. As night recedes, the early hours of dawn vanquishes the fog, revealing distant mountains, valleys and forest. Bees, butterflies and birds of all colors flit from flower to fruit, hive to nest. Gazetted on April 24, 1969, the reserve comprises some 40 square kilometers of land. However, only about 7.2 sq km of that land was forested as of 2011, according to researchers.  Ngel Nyaki boasts a high level of biodiversity, including species threatened with extinction. Among the reserve’s denizens are the putty nose monkey (Cercopithecus nictitans), bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus), mona monkey (Cercopithecus mona), civet (Civettictis civetta), tantalus monkey (Chlorocebus tantalus), olive baboon (Papio anubis), Demidoff&#8217;s galago (Galagoides demidovii), duiker (Cephalophus silvicultor), red river hog (Potamochoerus porcus), African buffalo (Syncerus caffer), and colobus monkeys (Colobus guereza occidentalis). Researchers believe a small population of Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes ellioti), the most endangered chimpanzee subspecies, may still inhabit Ngel Nyaki’s forests. Using nest counts, researchers estimated there were around 16 adult individuals living in the reserve as of 2012. Researchers believe Ngel Nyaki&#8217;s forests still harbor endangered Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes ellioti). Image by Orji Sunday for Mongabay. Much like the rest of the region, the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/bees-bring-honey-and-hope-to-a-forest-reserve-in-nigeria/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/bees-bring-honey-and-hope-to-a-forest-reserve-in-nigeria/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279149</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A rush for ‘green’ iron is on in Guinea. Will chimpanzees be a casualty?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/a-rush-for-green-iron-is-on-in-guinea-will-chimpanzees-be-a-casualty/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/a-rush-for-green-iron-is-on-in-guinea-will-chimpanzees-be-a-casualty/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jan 2024 12:51:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Juliette Portala]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Ashoka]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/10/19142344/banner-chimpanzee-in-guinea-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277747</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Guinea’s Iron Frontier]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Guinea and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Great Apes, Infrastructure, Mammals, Mining, Primates, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In December, Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto announced that it was set to spend $6.2 billion on mining the rich, high-grade iron ore deposits of eastern Guinea’s Simandou Mountains, with production beginning in 2025. The eye-watering figure spoke to the project’s importance: after 25 years of stop-and-start progress, if it reaches Rio Tinto’s shipping target [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In December, Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto announced that it was set to spend $6.2 billion on mining the rich, high-grade iron ore deposits of eastern Guinea’s Simandou Mountains, with production beginning in 2025. The eye-watering figure spoke to the project’s importance: after 25 years of stop-and-start progress, if it reaches Rio Tinto’s shipping target of 60 million metric tons per year, Simandou will be one of the largest iron mines on Earth. Rio Tinto Simfer, the miner’s joint venture with China’s Chalco Iron Ore Holdings and Guinea’s ruling military junta, is poised to reap a major windfall from the deposits, which have a rare purity grade of over 65%. That will make the ore suitable for so-called green hydrogen-based steelmaking, and ensures it will be in high demand from companies looking to move away from coal-based blast furnaces in order to reach their net-zero emissions targets. Down the road in the nearby Nimba mountain range, another long-delayed iron mining project is slowly kicking into gear, as the Société des Mines de Fer de Guinée (SMFG), a subsidiary of U.S.-based High Power Exploration (HPX), moves forward with feasibility studies. If they reach full production, the mines at the Simandou and Nimba ranges will turn Guinea into one of the world’s top exporters of high-quality iron ore. But conservationists say that along with the impacts on communities living near the mines, critically endangered western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in Guinea may become a casualty of the renewed iron rush. At least&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/a-rush-for-green-iron-is-on-in-guinea-will-chimpanzees-be-a-casualty/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-277747</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bonobos and chimps recall friends and family even after years apart: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/bonobos-and-chimps-recall-friends-and-family-even-after-years-apart-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/bonobos-and-chimps-recall-friends-and-family-even-after-years-apart-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jan 2024 06:42:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/01/12143111/bonobos-and-chimps-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277627</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animal Intelligence, Animals, Apes, Bonobos, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Great Apes, Mammals, Primates, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Louise hadn’t seen Loretta in at least 26 years. But when a photo of her sister flashed before her, she seemed drawn to the image. This recognition of a family member might seem unremarkable, but Louise is a bonobo, and her apparent ability to reach into memory and direct attention to Loretta could be evidence [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Louise hadn’t seen Loretta in at least 26 years. But when a photo of her sister flashed before her, she seemed drawn to the image. This recognition of a family member might seem unremarkable, but Louise is a bonobo, and her apparent ability to reach into memory and direct attention to Loretta could be evidence of the “longest-lasting nonhuman social memory” on the scientific record. Louise participated in an experiment that tested the social memory of bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) based on how much attention they paid to photos of social mates and kin versus images of strangers. It suggested the great apes seem to remember their friends and family even after years apart. “It&#8217;s not surprising that they remember others for years. What was surprising is how long their memory seems to last,” Laura Simone Lewis, lead author of a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, told Mongabay. Lewis’s curiosity about great apes’ ability to recall known individuals stemmed from her own experience studying them and accounts from other great ape researchers. Their subjects appeared to recognize them even after gaps of months, sometimes years, said Lewis, a biological anthropologist at Harvard University at the time of the study, and now with the University of California, Berkeley. The ability to remember other individuals isn’t unique to humans. Scientists have shown that dolphins can identify other dolphins’ vocal signatures even after 20 years of separation. This research in cetaceans provided proof&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/bonobos-and-chimps-recall-friends-and-family-even-after-years-apart-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-277627</doi>				</item>
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