![]() The first, and probably most obvious, is that the attacks are opportunistic predation by the chimpanzees. The researchers offer several possible explanations for these attacks. ![]() In this instance, the dead baby was almost entirely consumed. An adolescent chimpanzee was then observed holding the infant gorilla carcass. Surrounded by eight adult male chimpanzees and one adolescent female, she was apparently unable to hold on to her infant and was observed without it a short while later. She managed to escape, but another female gorilla was not as fortunate. When one female tried to escape with her infant, she was challenged by the adult male chimpanzees, who then tried to pry the infant from her. This time, the silverback climbed out of the trees and fled. A group of around 27 chimpanzees encountered a group of gorillas in the canopy and surrounded them. The second encounter also involved some of the same individual chimpanzees from the Rekambo community and played out over 79 minutes in December 2019. Its body was passed between chimp group members but not eaten. During the chaos, an infant gorilla was separated from its mother and killed. Though the silverback attempted to defend himself and the rest of the group, he was surrounded by a group of around nine male chimpanzees who eventually chased him off. A subgroup of 18 chimpanzees encountered approximately five gorillas, including a silverback. The first lethal encounter occurred in February 2019, involved a confrontation between chimpanzees of the Rekambo community and gorillas, and lasted for 56 minutes. ![]() The supplementary material includes two videos of the interspecies clashes. The two attacks are described in detail in a paper published in Scientific Reports. However, where chimps and gorillas overlap, their interactions have previously always been observed to be relaxed, peaceful and, occasionally, playful. ![]() Male coalitions of chimpanzees, in particular, are known to travel into neighbouring communities and launch attacks on adjacent troops of chimps. Intraspecific killing (within a species) has been observed across chimpanzee and gorilla groups throughout their various ranges in Africa. This, in turn, has led researchers from the Osnabrück University and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, to question whether habitat loss and climate change have increased competition for food and led to increasingly aggressive encounters between the two species. Interestingly, the Loango Chimpanzee Project has researched these chimpanzee troops for over 16 years, yet this is the first time they have observed lethal coalitionary attacks. In each case, an infant gorilla was killed. During the two observed events in Loango National Park, Gabon, chimpanzees approached and intimidated smaller troops of western lowland gorillas. They even seem to plan out ways to tease the others at times.Researchers have recorded the first known instance of chimpanzees killing gorilla babies. However, when he finally hits the wall, he literally falls where he is and doesn’t wake up until morning light! Ace and ‘brother’ Nnamdi are similar in their boyish activity levels so they make a great pair as part of the youngest nursery group, often playing chase and looking for fun. At bedtime, after everyone else has fallen fast asleep, Ace is wide awake, wanting more and more tickles and racing around finding trouble wherever he goes. Ace is a vibrant and active little boy – he is rough and tumble and never seems to tire. Today, Ace continues to grow and develop both physically and mentally each and every day and his true personality is really shining. Finally, Ace seemed to turn a corner and begin to gain weight, eat more, and become more active. We had to really boost his immune system with extra nutrition and care and work on getting him to eat more, offering special foods in creative ways and many times a day. Even after a lot of TLC and excellent care, Ace was slow to gain weight and strength. Ace came to LCRP extremely thin and weak, struggling greatly to survive.
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