Chimps kill and feed on tortoises, scientists have just documented

[Potoooooooo]

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/05/chimpanzees-eat-tortoises-smash-shells/


Tortoises’ thick shells protect them from most predators. But our closest relatives have found a way to circumvent this defense: vigorously bashing them against trees.

In a paper published today in the journal Scientific Reports, scientists report seven chimpanzees breaking open forest hinge-back tortoises in Gabon’s Loango National Park. The behavior occurred on multiple occasions over 5,000 hours of observation, and the primates often shared the meat with others in their group.

This is the first time than any chimpanzee has been documented eating any kind of reptile. It’s also unique because the way in which the primates eat these tortoises—slamming them against tree branches and trunks—is a type of “percussive” technology that is akin to tool use, says study coauthor Simone Pika, who studies chimpanzees at Germany’s University of Osnabrück.

 

[steve_bank]

Chimps hunt down and kill and eat other chimps. Jane Goodal caught it on film.

 

[bilby]

Do they 'feed on' tortoises, or do they just eat them?

My journalistic hyperbole meter is edging into the 'caution' zone.

 

[Potoooooooo]

a fuller version of the above video

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

I'm always left wondering how they discovered the behavior. Did one see a tortoise fall onto a rock, did one drop a rock accidentally onto a tortoise and break its shell? Did a tree fall on a tortoise exposing luscious meat?

Cooking also comes to mind. No doubt our ancestors discovered cooked meat after natural fires and eventually started cooking their own, sometimes by starting fires.

 

[Politesse]

I'm always left wondering how they discovered the behavior. Did one see a tortoise fall onto a rock, did one drop a rock accidentally onto a tortoise and break its shell? Did a tree fall on a tortoise exposing luscious meat?

Cooking also comes to mind. No doubt our ancestors discovered cooked meat after natural fires and eventually started cooking their own, sometimes by starting fires.

A chimp is usually somewhere in the range of a human 4-5 year old when it comes to intelligence. I don't see why they couldn't have just reasoned it out.

 

[steve_bank]

Sea gull watching on the PugetcSound is a popular pass time.

They learned to drop shellfish on rocks.

I was watching a line of diving birds in the water. One would dive under the water and the rest followed in unison. I watched a seagull line up in the water and try to dive with them.

As to reasoning things out, why can't humans reason out global issues? We are more 'intelligent' than chimps aren't w

A film crew happened to catch Japanese snow monkeys discovering the pleasures of hot springs. They dipped fingers then feet, then got in. Afar a while they were swimming around looking like a bunch of people at a spa. Sitting in the hot water preening each other.

Videos should be online.

 

[Politesse]

A film crew happened to catch Japanese snow monkeys discovering the pleasures of hot springs. They dipped fingers then feet, then got in. Afar a while they were swimming around looking like a bunch of people at a spa. Sitting in the hot water preening each other.

Videos should be online.

The Jigokudani macaques became so fond of the hot springs that sanitary concerns started being raised by the nearby human residents who also used the springs, so the researchers went ahead and just built the macacques their own hot spring complex on the preserve's own land a few years ago. I don't know whether it is the one you are thinking of, but the Nature channel did a nice documentary on the Jigokudani troop, narrated by Qui Gon Jinn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHAaMGWXVVQ