The Mystery of the Leopard-Eating Bili-Apes with Cleve Hicks & Toni Romani | S3E48

Talking Apes

On this week's episode of Talking Apes Podcast, we're joined by two extraordinary scientists, Dr Cleve Hicks and Toni Romani, as they lead us into the enigmatic world of the Bili-Ape and beyond.
Few people have ventured as far and deep into the Congo's dark and secretive forests as Dr Cleve Hicks. Primatologist and associate professor at the University of Warsaw, Cleve takes us back to his thrilling early 2000s expedition in search of the mysterious Bili-Ape; a creature once rumoured to be an amalgamation of chimp and gorilla, displaying astonishing bipedal abilities and fearsome strength.
Is it a missing link, a hybrid, or an entirely new species? Cleve and his team ventured into the wilderness with no clear expectations, ready to unearth incredible discoveries concealed beneath the jungle canopy.
Dr Hicks and Toni Romani's work in western Uganda also opens up a world of secrets. From chimpanzee ground nests hidden on the dense forest floor, to the fascinating and diverse realm of ape tool 'culture'.
Join us as Cleve and Toni guide us through some of their findings:
Ground-nesting chimps
Did you know that chimps build nest-like beds in the trees every night? During their expedition, Toni and Cleve began to notice an astonishing percentage of chimp nests down on the ground. Why? And does this discovery have implications for our understanding of human evolution, offering clues about our own sleeping habits from the past?
Elaborate tool-use traditions amongst wild chimp populations
Chimps exhibit a remarkably diverse array of tool-use practises. From using sets of sticks in a sequence to access honey in beehives to unique pounding, levering, and probing techniques, the world of ape tool culture is more rich and diverse than we previously thought.
The spread of unique behavioural practises making up 'cultural realms'
Can the notion of culture truly extend to chimps? Cleve reveals how behavioural traits and tool-use traditions differ vastly across chimp groups and also cluster, alluding to the idea of 'cultural realms', and mirroring how cultures are dispersed and divided across our own Homo sapien world. Can understanding these behavioural traits in our closest cousins shed light on our own ancient history and the tools and traditions of early hominins?
CLICK HERE TO READ: Ground Nesting Chimps Hold Lessons for Conservation and for Human Evolution
Click here to watch Cleve's Ted Talk on chimp culture in the Congo Basin

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