Chimps make an extra effort to warn their oblivious friends when deadly snakes are nearby

Chimpanzees live in dense forests filled with poisonous snakes and other threats — but luckily, they’ve got each other’s backs.

New research shows that when chimpanzees see a poisonous snake, they make an extra effort to alert other chimps that are unaware of the danger by making alarm calls and pointing out the location of the snake by gazing at it. That suggests that chimps communicate — and cooperate — with each other in more complex ways than previously thought possible.

Previous studies have shown that chimps warn others of danger, and are more likely to stop making alarm calls after the other chimps have climbed to safety. But today’s study, published in Science Advances, goes an extra step: it shows that chimps change their...

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