The Leakey Foundation

09.06.23

Migrant orangutans learn a lot about food by watching the locals

New Leakey Foundation-supported research shows how orangutans use observational social learning to find and process new kinds of foods when moving to new areas.

05.20.21

How young orangutans learn

Journal Article

Young orangutans must acquire a vast set of skills and knowledge as they grow. They do this through several years of observational social learning and practice. New research shows that growing female and male orangutans pay attention to different types of individuals.

01.06.20

Chimpanzees more likely to share tools, teach skills when task is complex

Journal Article

Teach a chimpanzee to fish for insects to eat, and you feed her for a lifetime. Teach her a better way to use tools in gathering prey, and you may change the course of evolution.

08.06.19

From the Field: Stephanie Musgrave, Goualougo Triangle, Republic of the Congo

From the Field

Leakey Foundation grantee Stephanie Musgrave has been in the field with the Goualougo Triangle Ape Project in the Republic of the Congo where she studies how the chimpanzees there make and use tools to gather termites and other resources such as ants, honey, seeds, and marrow.

Archives for learning

Migrant orangutans learn a lot about food by watching the locals

How young orangutans learn

Chimpanzees more likely to share tools, teach skills when task is complex

From the Field: Stephanie Musgrave, Goualougo Triangle, Republic of the Congo