Apes on the Edge: Chimpanzee Life on the West African Savanna (Animal Lives)

A moving story of survival and an eye-opening introduction to an extraordinary community of chimps and people. Fongoli chimpanzees are unique for many reasons.Their female hunters are the only apes that regularly hunt with tools, seeking out tiny bush babies with wooden spears.Unlike most other chimps, these apes fear neither water nor fire, using shallow pools to cool off in the Senegalese heat.Up to 90 percent of their home range burns annually-the result of human hunting or clearing for gold mining-and Fongoli chimpanzees have learned to predict the movement of such fires and to avoid them. The study of Fongoli chimps is also unique. While most primate research occurs in isolated reserves, Fongoli chimpanzees live alongside humans, and as primatologist and anthropologist Jill Pruetz reports, this shared habitat creates both challenges and opportunities.The issues faced by Fongoli chimpanzees-particularly food scarcity and environmental degradation-are also issues faced by their huma