CONGO: A GROUP OF CHIMPANZEES SEEM TO HAVE MASTERED FIRE

209324371650Ubundu| A group of bonobo apes living in the Salonga National Park, may have mastered the basic practice of creating and using fire. This particular group ofalmostthree hundredspecimensfrom this rare and extremely intelligent race of great apes,have beenunder close surveillance by a team of primatologistfor the last three years, and seem to have recently developed aprimitive fire buildingtechnique using rocks and twigs.The bonobo, formerly called pygmy chimpanzees, is a omnivorous great ape found in a 500 000km2area of the Congo Basin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Itis mostly popularly known for its high levels of sexual behavior and its use of almost a dozen different primitive tools. Its level of intelligence is already considered to be almost unique amongst ape, being topped only by humans. Two bonobos at the Great Ape Trust in Iowa, Kanzi and Panbanisha, have been even taught how to communicate using a keyboard labeled with lexigrams (geometric symbols) and they can respond to spoken sentences. Kanzis vocabulary consists of more than 500 English words and he has comprehension of around 3,000 spoken English words.It is however, the first time that a group of these primates develops sometechnical concepts as elaborate as these on their own. A few individual apes seem to have originally developed a rudimentary technique of rather poor efficiency, but the group gradually improved it through experimentation and observation over the last few months. They are now able to create andmaintain afire, which they have been using mostly to scareoff predators and cook some of their food. Some individuals in particular among the group, seem to have rapidly grown a taste for cooked foodstuffs, especially flying squirrels. This also enabled the group to develop to a population which is much larger than has ever been encountered in the species, by bringing increased security and by diversifying food sources.This absolutely astonishing evolution has gotten primatologistsas well asmany other scientists from around the world, really excited. This could be a unique occasionto studythe evolution of a species during a crucialmoment of its history, and could bring a lot of information concerning the early developments of humankind. The congoleserural populationof the other hand have a very different perception of the situation, as torch bearing apes have been accused of setting fire to more than 1500km2of forest since the beginning of the year, causing the death of three people.- See more at: http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/congo-a-group-of-chimpanzees-seem-to-have-mastered-fire/#sthash.hWtxjU3G.dpuf