science | art | conservation

Main menu

Skip to primary content

Skip to secondary content

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ARTICLES
GALLERIES
ON ASSIGNMENT
FINE ART PRINTS
ABOUT
LINKS
INSTAGRAM

National Geographic Magazine: Goualougo Chimpanzees

A young female chimpanzee hoots to others nearby, an effective way to communicate in the forest.

The Chimpazees have a fission-fusion society and the Moto community takes up most of the Goualougo Triangle.

A recent arrival into the community, Dorothy breaks into a stingless bee nest for honey, she shaped and reshaped tools throughout the process.

A male chimpanzee, with tools already collected, approaches a camera trap set up at a subterranean termite mound.

To break into the termite nest a hard sapling is first used.

A herbaceous plant is used to collect termites. By running the herb through their teeth the chimps create a brush with more surface area to collect termites.

The end result is a diet full of protein rich termites.

The focus of using the tools also meant the chimpanzees are vulnerable to predation by leopards while distracted.

The chimpanzees of the area also harvest biting ants, which require long sticks because an ant swarm is quite dangerous.

The canopy is the super highway for the chimpanzee's allowing them fast movement away from predators.

Sarah and family peer into a camera trap, always curious.

| IN@iannicholsphotography.com | Website: Still Point Design Studio.

MENU

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ARTICLES
GALLERIES
ON ASSIGNMENT
FINE ART PRINTS
ABOUT
LINKS
INSTAGRAM