When a chimpanzee goes to sleep , it first has to build a “ nest ” , which permit it to slumber safely up in the trees . Strangely , chimpanzees also ramp up nest when kip on the ground , which might bring out a secret about human organic evolution .
These nests are essentially woven frames of broken branch made into sleeping platforms . That ’s middling elaborated for a animate being that is seconds away from passing out , and it suggests the chimpanzees put a nice amount of idea and strategic planning into where they sleep each night . So , if they suddenly settle to sleep on the land one Nox , it is n’t likely to be some spent mistake .
That ’s why the Pan troglodytes of the Nimba Mountains in Guinea are so challenging . These chimps are n’t yet comfortable enough with mankind for us to get really close , but researchers from Cambridge and the University of Kyoto have been able to use genetic analyses of hairs they leave behind in their nests to count on out which individual chimpanzees are sleeping where each dark . It flex out these chimpanzees sleep on the ground or in the trees more or less interchangeably , and that it seemingly is n’t that swelled a decision for them .
That ’s surprising , because our worldwide conception of our own evolutionary chronicle tends to make leaving the trees to live on the ground a really big hatful . The switch from arboreal to sublunary living has been link to the use of fire or monolithic environmental change – basically , something that would goad a major evolutionary shift . But , if these chimpanzee are anything to judge by , it really is n’t that big a deal at all , and the power to live every bit comfortably on the ground or in the trees could go all the way back to the common root of humans and chimpanzees . pass research worker Dr. Kathelijne Koops add :
“ This is challenging as it has long been conceive that coming down from the tree was a essential evolutionary shift . However , this chimpanzees ’ demeanor suggests a more bass - seated , gradual passage from tree - to - ground eternal sleep . These chimpanzee tender a rarified opportunity to look into why a population of risky apes chooses to sleep on the ground . We showed that ground - nesting was not because of male Ilex paraguariensis - guard behavior , a want of trees in which to nest , or because of fire . This suggests that our unmediated ancestors were neither the only , nor the first , species to come down from the trees . ”
Via theAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology . range of a function by wwarby onFlickr .
BiologyChimpanzeeEvolutionHuman evolutionMonkey newsPrimateScience
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