![]() ![]() He has proposed that primatologists should now recognise five different sub-divisions instead of the current four. Prof Groves believes that the Bili apes should prompt a radical rethink of the family tree of chimp sub-species. They are not unknown elsewhere but very unusual," said Colin Groves, an expert on primate morphology at the Australian National University in Canberra who has observed the nests in the field. ![]() "The ground nests were very big and there was obviously something very unusual going on there. "I don't like to paint them as being more aggressive, but maybe they prey on some of these predators and the predators kind of leave them alone." He is keen to point out though that they don't howl at the moon. "How can they get away with sleeping on the ground when there are lions, leopards, golden cats around as well as other dangerous animals like elephants and buffalo?" said Mr Hicks. Around a fifth of the nests he found were there rather than in the trees. For example, unlike their cousins in other parts of Africa the chimps regularly bed down for the night in nests on the ground. Mr Hicks reports that he found a unique chimp culture. "The further away from the road the more fearless the chimps got," he added. Chimps near the road flee immediately at the sight of people because they know the consequences of a hunter's rifle, but these animals were happy to approach him. But when he arrived he found apes without their normal fear of humans. Getting there means a gruelling 40km (25-mile) trek through the jungle, from the nearest road, not to mention navigating croc-infested rivers. "We were told of this sort of fabled land out west by one of our trackers who goes out there to fish," said Mr Hicks whose project is supported by the Wasmoeth Wildlife Foundation. But Mr Hicks used local knowledge to get closer to them and photograph them. Previously, researchers had only managed to snatch glimpses of the animals or take photos of them using camera traps. "What we have found is this completely new chimpanzee culture," said Mr Hicks. Mr Hicks cannot be sure the animal was killed by the chimp, but the find lends credence to the apes' lion-eating reputation. When he investigated he came across a chimp feasting on the carcass of a leopard. His team's most striking find came after one of his trackers heard chimps calling for several days from the same spot. The most detailed and recent data comes from Cleve Hicks, at the University of Amsterdam, who has spent 18 months in the field watching the Bili apes - named after a local town - since 2004. They are actually a population of super-sized chimps with a unique culture - and it seems, a taste for big cat flesh. Early speculation that the apes may be some yeti-like new species or a chimp/gorilla hybrid proved unfounded, but the truth has turned out to be in many ways even more fascinating. But despite the difficulties, a handful of scientists have succeeded in studying the animals. ![]()
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