![]() Perhaps those scientists are correct who see a desire for comfort at the heart of nest building activity - since only a peaceful sleep provides mental fitness for the day ahead. Indeed: foliage and twigs are meshed together into a thick mattress. Salamu pushes from below so that I can climb up towards a low lying nest. Are these more difficult to climb for leopards? Do they simply provide the best view towards nesting neighbours? Are they conveniently placed near food sources?Īnother possibility is that selected trees feature particularly elastic branches that can be easily knotted into a really comfortable bedding. Nests are typically built in relatively tall trees with smooth trunks. We don't know why the chimps choose certain locations above others. ![]() Brown leaves of old resting places - easily detected against the backdrop of forest green - reveal how many chimps roamed together: here three, there eight, here thirteen. ![]() They do, like all great apes, construct a stable structure for the night and often a less sophisticated day nest. Fortunately, chimpanzees leave plenty of indirect evidence: nests in the canopy. The haystack in which we search for needles is called Gashaka-Gumti, with almost 7,000 square kilometres Nigeria's largest national park. I therefore propose to be less secretive next time - since chimps have every right to be wary if armed humans sneak up to them. However, Salamu still treks chimpanzees as if on a hunt: shotgun shouldered, moving quietly, cutting through undergrowth with knife and machete. Once an infamous poacher, he converted long ago to a gamekeeper. Salamu has an uncanny ability to read the forest's minute signs - be it vegetation trampled by giant forest hogs, footprints of yellow-backed duikers, the droppings of civets or the worrisome humming from a hive of wild bees. The drumming sounds as if from a neighbour's garden - and yet no ape is seen. Chimpanzees earned this nickname because, for brief staccatos, they beat buttress roots of trees with hands or feet - perhaps to signal social status. We duck between bushes, trying to sneak up to "biri mai ganga" - "the monkey with the drum". (Director, Gashaka Primate Project this story was written in 1999) INSIDE NIGERIA'S PRIMATE PARADISE by Volker Sommer
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