Why do male chimpanzees throw rocks at the same trees for more than a decade?

https://phys.org/news/2026-06-male-chimpanzees-trees-decade.html

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/54243

Walking through the savanna-woodland landscape of Boé National Park, Guinea-Bissau, you might encounter a tree covered in gnarled scars, with an accumulation of rocks surrounding its base.


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142 points · 33 comments · view on lemmy.world

33 Comments

fullsquare@awful.systems · 105 pts · 87d

god forbid a man has hobbies

zakobjoa@lemmy.world · 85 pts · 87d (1 reply)

Just me and the homies meeting up to throw rocks at our rock tree.

Journal: being super judgemental for no reason.

JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social · 4 pts · 87d

Journal: being super judgemental for no reason.

Just scientific method at work, methinks.

makeshiftreaper@lemmy.world · 55 pts · 87d (1 reply)

I've done dumber shit with my bros and theoretically we have higher order thinking

youCanCallMeDragon@lemmy.world · 27 pts · 87d

Theoretically

Janx@piefed.social · 47 pts · 87d (2 replies)

Because fuck that specific tree. 🖕

Thassodar@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 87d (1 reply)

Man FUCK that tree! My homie fell off that tree once, hit his head pretty bad, never been the same so... FUCK that tree!

diabetic_porcupine@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 85d

Hoo hoo hoo hAAAA HAA HAA

JoMiran@lemmy.ml · 36 pts · 87d (5 replies)

Sounds suspiciously similar to archery, hatchet throwing, knife throwing, and all other target practice hobbies.

Viceversa@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 87d (3 replies)

But why one specific tree?

clif@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 87d

Because fuck that tree in particular.

JoMiran@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 87d (1 reply)

How else are they going to compare shots unless they aim at the same target?

Viceversa@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 87d

You can throw stones several times to any other tree

JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social · 2 pts · 87d

That's what I was thinking. Their forebears settled upon a favorite tree(s), it caught on in popularity, got passed down, and all that. I mean, it's as good a hypothesis as anything else, far as I know.

mech@feddit.org · 25 pts · 87d (1 reply)

They're training

Imperious_melange@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 87d
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Contingencyfork@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 87d

'Why do teenagers kick the can down the same lane every year?'

Treczoks@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 87d (6 replies)

Have you ever followed what Muslims do on the Hadj? They throw stones at three pillars representing Satan. Maybe the monkeys have invented religion?

phutatorius@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 85d

Wow, I just posted that, and now I'm going to have to go back and delete my post.

Viceversa@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 87d (4 replies)

Pillars? I thought they throw stones to a giant black cube

Treczoks@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 87d (2 replies)

Nope. That cube is the thing they walk around seven times, but on another day.

phutatorius@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 83d (1 reply)

And inside the cube is an altar made from an iron-nickel meteorite.

Treczoks@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 83d

It's not inside, it is inset into a corner on the outside.

hansolo@lemmy.today · 8 pts · 87d

It's pillars. The cube is what they pray towards.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoning_of_the_Devil

Bob_Robertson_IX@discuss.tchncs.de · 12 pts · 87d

Because it's what they've always done.

Soulphite@reddthat.com · 6 pts · 87d (1 reply)

The hairless ape is fascinated by things the hairy apes do. Why?

phutatorius@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 85d

I find our cousins entertaining.

Gust@piefed.social · 4 pts · 87d

What a strange thing to do. Completely unrelated, I'm gonna go find some smooth stones to skip on a lake because it looks cool and I like the sound

silly_goose@lemmy.today · 4 pts · 87d

because passing time without a smartphone is just too darn hard.

gnate@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 87d (1 reply)

They're inventing cricket!

phutatorius@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 83d

We'll know for sure when one chimp bites another's face off for being LBW.

Jerb322@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 87d

Does it make a loud noise? They also stomp on some tree trunks to make a loud drumming sound. Or a visual mark for others to see, maybe.Territorial thing.

Brummbaer@pawb.social · 2 pts · 87d

When we discover that this is basically religion, a lot of people will be really confused and in denial.

phutatorius@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 85d
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quick_snail@feddit.nl · 0 pts · 86d

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