Factors affecting nest height and ground nesting behaviour in Eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo

What is it about?

More than 10% of the eastern chimpanzee nests in northern DRC were ground nests. Human hunting had a negative effect on the probability of occurrence of ground nests and a positive one on nest height, with a similar but marginal effect of large herbivores. In addition, the chimpanzees nested at significantly lower heights with increasing distance from roads and settlements. Carnivore encounter rates, however, had no significant impact on ground nest frequency or nest height. Our results indicate that ground nesting is a major component of chimpanzee behaviour across a considerable fraction of the species’ distribution range, and that neither the large body size of gorillas nor the taming of fire are necessary conditions for hominids to sleep overnight on the ground.

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