Living in Shared Spaces: New Study Shows How Great Apes Adapt to Humans

 James Peng

Professor Joseph Feldblum

Living in Shared Spaces: New Study Shows How Great Apes Adapt to Humans

Frontiers | Apes and agriculture

A chimpanzee stealing crops from a village

Across the world, human activities such as agriculture, logging, and mining are reshaping the landscapes and the forests that great apes inhabit. Because of forests being cleared for palm oil, timber, and roads, habitat fragmentation is one of the primary drivers of population decline for great apes, especially considering that they are found in developing countries. For instance, in Indonesia, orangutan habitats have been replaced by oil palm plantations. Meanwhile, mining in Africa has led to frequent unfriendly interactions between gorillas and humans. Conservationists have long warned about the consequences of habitat loss. However, Dr. Ammie K. Kalan from the University of Victoria published a study analyzing how the great ape species are changing their behavior in response to human activity. 

Leuser : Are palm oil farmers shooting orangutans?- BBC News

An Orangutan shot by palm oil farmers

They analyze 96 studies (most analyzing chimpanzees) that show apes are adapting their behaviors despite challenges with habitat loss. Activities include crop foraging, nesting in new locations, and using roads or human-made trails to travel are observed. Some behaviors, such as altered nesting patterns, may help apes avoid human conflict. But others, like crop raiding, can lead to bad conflicts, where apes are killed as pests. Nevertheless, increased proximity to humans has led to stress, injury, and even deaths in many ape populations. While some adaptive behaviors may help apes survive in the short term, they often expose them to new dangers originating from humans.

The study also analyzes the human perspective of the issue. 62% of the studies included local human views on ape behavior. These perspectives ranged from brief mentions of hunting practices to detailed accounts of cultural beliefs and community attitudes. Over half of these studies focused on crop foraging, revealing that such behaviors are reshaping human–ape relationships, sometimes weakening traditional protections and increasing fear or conflict, particularly toward chimpanzees and orangutans. 

Nevertheless, the authors reinforce that the ability of great apes to adapt to human presence should not be the justification for their habitat loss. Additionally, this study again highlights the role of community education in primate conservation: as human-ape interactions become more frequent, how can we avoid conflicts? To do this, conservationists need to take a more local approach that combines ecological science with cultural understanding.


Citations 

Mpaka, C., & Esterman, I. (2025, March 24). As apes adapt to human disturbance, their new behaviors also put them at risk: Study. Mongabay. Retrieved April 10, 2025, from http://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/as-apes-adapt-to-human-disturbance-their-new-behaviors-also-put-them-at-risk-study/

Gilbert, M.A., Kalan, A.K. A review of great ape behavioural responses and their outcomes to anthropogenic landscapes. Primates 66, 163–181 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-025-01180-w

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fortress Conservation and Displament of Indigenous People in Congol

Image
James Peng Professor Joseph Feldblum Fortress Conservation and the Displacement of Indigenous People The eastern lowland gorillas (Gorilla beringei graueri) also known as Grauer's gorillas are the largest living primates. For decades, the relationship between the indigenous Batwa people and the critically endangered Grauer’s gorillas in DRC’s Kahuzi-Biega National Park has been debated. A recent study published in the journal World Development showed that armed conflicts and civil unrest in the region rather than the activities of the indigenous Batwa people have negatively impacted the population of the gorillas in the park.  Gorillas are a tourist attraction at the  Kahuzi-Biega  National Park In the 1970s, 6,000 Batwa people were forcibly evicted from the park as part of a government-led conservation plan. This left many impoverished, marginalized, and even forced to live in roadside squatter camps. This action has been justified under the logic of fortress conser...
Read more

Davinder Josephson Blog 1 - Gorilla Doctors

Image
Davinder Josephson Dr. Feldblum Primate Conservation 13 February 2025 Gorilla Doctors Image by Guerrero De la Luz via Pexels A recent study published by the Public Library of Science revealed incredible self-medicating behavior within gorilla populations in Moukalaba-Doudou National Park, Gabon. For decades, scientists have hypothesized why non-human primates are able to resist, endure, and carry dangerous viruses that would kill humans, such as yellow fever and monkey pox, without becoming severely ill. Many speculate that primates have naturally heighted immune systems that prevent such diseases from becoming deadly, while others suggest that long-term exposure to these viruses has protected primate populations.  The study, conducted by 13 primate researchers, worked to collaborate with the local indigenous community in Gabon, the Vingu people, in order to determine similarities in medicinal plant consumption between local gorilla and human populations. The scientists tested the ...
Read more

Charlie Cooper Blog 1 - Dancing gibbons

Image
 Charlie Cooper 2/10/25 Gibbons: Dance to Advance Already, Gibbons are known for their morning singing frenzies and crazy tree swinging uproars. Now, a 2024 study from Camille Coye and others highlights a new form of communication that has been observed in gibbons. Although primarily observed in captivity, gibbons perform a "robot" like dance move that provides some intel into their communication methods. The dance has been exclusively observed in sexually mature female gibbons, indicating it's role in sexual selection (hence the title "Dance to Advance").  While it is easy to feel quite distant from the world of gibbons, they are not so different from ourselves. The gibbons performing this dance are noted to be directing it at another individual, sometimes even at humans. They often check to see if anybody is watching their performance, indicating the true intention of their actions. While this seems so incredibly human-like, the study emphasizes that human dan...
Read more