Study claims to shed new light on early humans' adaptation to living on the groundBirds and squirrels nest in trees – and so do many types of chimpanzees. But now researchers at the University of Cambridge and Kyoto University have published the first study of rarely-documented ground nesting by wild chimpanzees. They suggest it supplies clues about the ancient transition of early hominins from sleeping in trees to sleeping on the ground.The article, published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, focused on a group of wild West African chimpanzees that often shows ground-nesting behavior.UK primatologist Dr. Kathelijne Koops studied the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) population in the Nimba Mountains in Guinea, West Africa. All species of great ape build nests to sleep in. Construction of these shelters takes minutes as the apes bend, break and interweave branches into a circular frame, followed by tucking in smaller branches to form a sturdy but comfortable sleeping platform.“We believe that, like modern apes, the common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans also slept in the trees six million years ago,” said Koops. “However, these nests are not preserved in the fossil or archeological record, so it is impossible to study directly the ancient transition from sleeping in trees to building shelters on the ground. Recording this rare behavior in the chimpanzee, our closest relative, may provide vital clues.”As the Nimba chimpanzees do not yet tolerate human presence at close range, the team used new molecular genetic techniques to analyze hairs collected from the nests. This allowed the team to establish the sex of chimpanzees displaying the behavior and to identify individuals in the group.The team showed that as chimpanzees sleep both on the ground and in trees, the transition did not require a special evolutionary adaptation. This suggests that early hominins may have slept on the ground before the emergence of Homo erectus, the first species that was fully adapted to living on the ground.“This is intriguing as it has long been believed that coming down from the trees was a crucial evolutionary shift,” said Koops. “However, this chimpanzees’ behavior suggests a more deep-seated, gradual transition from tree-to-ground sleep.”Other theories for the tree-to-ground transition have included the use of fire and the scarcity of trees in open habitats. The team demonstrated that neither is a prerequisite for ground sleeping, as the chimpanzees live in a plentiful evergreen rainforest and do not create fire.“These chimpanzees offer a rare opportunity to investigate why a population of wild apes choose to sleep on the ground,” concluded Koops. “We showed that ground-nesting was not caused by male mate-guarding behavior, a lack of trees in which to nest, or because of fire. This suggests that our direct ancestors were neither the only, nor the first, species to come down from the trees.”
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New Worlds: Study claims to shed new light on early humans' adaptation to living on the ground.
Study claims to shed new light on early humans' adaptation to living on the groundBirds and squirrels nest in trees – and so do many types of chimpanzees. But now researchers at the University of Cambridge and Kyoto University have published the first study of rarely-documented ground nesting by wild chimpanzees. They suggest it supplies clues about the ancient transition of early hominins from sleeping in trees to sleeping on the ground.The article, published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, focused on a group of wild West African chimpanzees that often shows ground-nesting behavior.UK primatologist Dr. Kathelijne Koops studied the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) population in the Nimba Mountains in Guinea, West Africa. All species of great ape build nests to sleep in. Construction of these shelters takes minutes as the apes bend, break and interweave branches into a circular frame, followed by tucking in smaller branches to form a sturdy but comfortable sleeping platform.“We believe that, like modern apes, the common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans also slept in the trees six million years ago,” said Koops. “However, these nests are not preserved in the fossil or archeological record, so it is impossible to study directly the ancient transition from sleeping in trees to building shelters on the ground. Recording this rare behavior in the chimpanzee, our closest relative, may provide vital clues.”As the Nimba chimpanzees do not yet tolerate human presence at close range, the team used new molecular genetic techniques to analyze hairs collected from the nests. This allowed the team to establish the sex of chimpanzees displaying the behavior and to identify individuals in the group.The team showed that as chimpanzees sleep both on the ground and in trees, the transition did not require a special evolutionary adaptation. This suggests that early hominins may have slept on the ground before the emergence of Homo erectus, the first species that was fully adapted to living on the ground.“This is intriguing as it has long been believed that coming down from the trees was a crucial evolutionary shift,” said Koops. “However, this chimpanzees’ behavior suggests a more deep-seated, gradual transition from tree-to-ground sleep.”Other theories for the tree-to-ground transition have included the use of fire and the scarcity of trees in open habitats. The team demonstrated that neither is a prerequisite for ground sleeping, as the chimpanzees live in a plentiful evergreen rainforest and do not create fire.“These chimpanzees offer a rare opportunity to investigate why a population of wild apes choose to sleep on the ground,” concluded Koops. “We showed that ground-nesting was not caused by male mate-guarding behavior, a lack of trees in which to nest, or because of fire. This suggests that our direct ancestors were neither the only, nor the first, species to come down from the trees.”