Chimpanzees in Uganda alone learned to cross the road

"Look left, then right" While young children talk about the rules of the road, in order to enable them to cross the road and do not get hit by the car, chimpanzees seem to have learned it yourself.

Researchers studying chimpanzees in Uganda, said that the monkeys to adapt to modern conditions, because through their territory goes through several busy routes. On the busy road through the Kibale National Park in Uganda chimps learned to look both ways before you cross it.



Scientists have discovered that when chimpanzees are moving across the street, dominant males are waiting for clearance in traffic, to ensure that young chimpanzees safe way.

This is the first case showed that chimpanzees change their behavior to adapt to living near busy roads.



Marie Sibo, a biologist at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, who led the research, said that the development of road infrastructure in Africa creates a growing threat to wildlife in many countries:

«While the asphalted road is a significant threat to the animals, chimps have taken into account this risk. More than 90 percent of individuals looked left and right before crossing the road, and while crossing the highway ».

blockquote> In the two and a half years, scientists have observed a flock of 122 chimpanzees crossed a line. The researchers found that the majority of them pay attention to the movement of vehicles on the road before crossing it, and during the transition. Females with small chimpanzees and injured adult usually cross the road less frequently.



Normally, to go to the other side of the park, the chimpanzee form small groups of 2 to 3 individuals, and about 20 percent of them by clicking the road, turn around and look, like other members of the group crossed the road. It has been observed that other, unpaved roads chimpanzees transferred in a similar manner.

Nevertheless quieter ways adults usually collected in one large group in the same manner as they do when detecting predators, and can not be separated into smaller groups.

The researchers, whose work was published in the American Journal of Primatology, requested to take measures to reduce the negative effects of roads on wildlife.

Marie Cibo, who worked on the study and conservation project in Uganda in cooperation with Dr. Sabrina Crieff, lecturer at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, offered to build bridges or tunnels through the busy highway to help keep the population of chimpanzees.



Their team hopes to work together with the Ugandan authorities to test new safety measures. Cibo Marie says, "These observations are relevant to our understanding of adaptive behavior of chimpanzees in their habitat areas affected person. Further studies are needed to better assess the impact of busy roads on the younger generation of chimpanzees ».

Marie is convinced that "should be taken special measures to reduce the danger to animals, such as the construction of bridges and underpasses, lowering speed limits, installing signs and police control».

via www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3046973/Why-did-chimp-cross-road-Wild-apes-learned-look-left-right-cross-busy-streets-safely.html