Natures wonders: chimps look both ways (Introduction)

by dhw, Sunday, April 19, 2015, 09:21 (3504 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Crossing active roads, they look both ways and help slower ones:-http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27370-wild-chimps-look-both-ways-before-crossing-...-"In a 29-month survey, researchers observed and recorded 20 instances of wild chimps crossing a busy road in Sebitoli, in the northern part of Uganda's Kibale National Park. They watched 122 chimps cross the highway used by 90 vehicles an hour, many speeding at 70 to 100 kilometres an hour.
"It's the first report on how chimpanzees behave crossing a very busy asphalt road, says Marie Cibot of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. "We've described chimpanzee behaviour facing a dangerous situation never described before," she says, pointing out that earlier studies looked at narrower, unpaved and less busy roads.
"Chimps are exceptionally cautious when they cross the road. Ninety-two per cent of them looked right, left, or both ways before or during crossing, and 57 per cent ran across - showing that they knew the value of reaching the other side as quickly as possible.
"Alpha males led and organised 83 per cent of the road-crossing posses, compared with only 51 per cent of tree-climbing expeditions in the forest studied in parallel. This implies that they recognised the importance of extra vigilance during road crossings."-Sensational! It took researchers two and a half years to watch 122 chimps crossing the road and to deduce that chimps have enough intelligence to know they must look both ways before crossing. The researchers have made the incredible discovery that animals can be aware of dangers and can take precautions to protect themselves. This could have far-reaching consequences. We humans will have to rethink our attitude towards all organisms that manage to survive. Maybe they know how to survive, whereas we thought we were the only ones who'd worked it out. I predict a Nobel Prize for Marie Cibot. Meanwhile, I am applying to the National Museum of Natural History in Paris for a grant to cover a two-and-a-half year expedition to seaside resorts all over the world, so that I can study the survival strategies of bed bugs in five star hotels.