Guinea’s crab-fishing chimps are in good health, study shows, but threats loom

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• An international team has used genetic censusing — analyzing DNA from fecal samples — to work out the size of a population of critically endangered chimpanzees in Guinea.

• At least 136 adult chimpanzees were identified living in four communities on the western flanks of Guinea’s Nimba Mountains, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

• Iron ore mining is planned in a northern section of the mountains, in an area the chimpanzees use to disperse between their separate communities.

• The scientists warn that human activities that hinder or restrict chimpanzee movements or territories can trigger deadly battles between rival communities of the apes and compromise their genetic diversity.

A team of international scientists has used a new genetic tool to measure the size of a population of crab-fishing chimpanzees living in a pristine mountain range in Guinea where there are plans to mine for iron ore.

Guinea’s crab-fishing chimps are in good health, study shows, but threats loom