Huge chimpanzee population thriving in remote Congo forest | Hacker News Reader

Huge chimpanzee population thriving in remote Congo forest

theguardian.com

99 pointsnsns11 comments

The comment about the prevalence of ground nesting is interesting. That was one of the first steps that led our ancestors out into the Savannah as far as I know. The trees no longer provide as much protection if you're not up in them.

And eating leopard! Are we sure we want to mess with them? We're going to find some poacher sometime soon stumbling out of the Bili forest, mumbling psychotically and covered in his friends' blood.

Hopefully the Democratic Republic Congoese poachers don't check hacker news.

Judging by the article, the poachers are already there. It's just a matter of time. Heck, they even burned the researchers' camp to the ground.

It's "Congolese", and I think if adjectives were required to distinguish nationality, one might use "Democratic, Republican Congolese" or perhaps "the Congolese of the Democratic Republic."

I'm not sure if just "Democratic Congolese" works. And "Republican Congolese" or simply "Congolese" is probably best reserved for the smaller country bordering on the west, since it's named Republic of Congo. But really, I think citizens of both countries can pretty much share the title of "Congolese" in terms of ethnicity, wherever applicable. Their current borders and formalized names have only persisted since the late 90's.

relevant or not, but: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaQIKguggP0 (sadly, they did not escape, I think)

At least they had the ride of their life.

Sorry, couldn't help it.

Check out this BBC documentary on Chimpanzees: "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTeLsEGPjdU". Watching it was an experience that forcibly reshaped my world-view about our place in the World.

Humans can be ugly.

Chimpanzees too. They love to hunt monkeys and eat them alive. They often gang up to attack individuals of their own species, eating their genitals and faces after beating them to a pulp. Knowing this, I don't feel sorry for endangered chimps in the same way that I'd feel sorry for Gorillas or Elephants for example, or even predators like lions.

Yeah, I watched an Attenborough piece that put them in sort of a bad light. I'm glad I don't have to worry about my neighbor stealing and eating my kid.

understatement

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