Chimpanzee hand clasp6/14/2023 ![]() Truly intense efforts are necessary on our part to prevent the extinction of the cultural variation among chimpanzee communities that we have so recently begun to uncover. ![]() Similar stories are taking place all over Africa. For example, the Bossou community lost 5 of its 19 members to a contagious respiratory disease at the end of 2003. Handclasp grooming is a unique social custom, known to occur regularly among some, but not all populations of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). This sudden decrease is linked to various human activities, such as deforestation, poaching and trading in bush-meat, as well as the transmission of diseases. Often, one chimpanzee would clasp the other's wrist, while that hand hung loose or rested against the clasper's arm. Today they occur in 22 countries, and an estimate from the World Conservation Union (IUCN) in 2003 put their numbers in Africa at between 172,700 and 299,700. They probably numbered more than a million just 100 years ago. Chimpanzees probably once spanned most of equatorial Africa, including at least 25 countries. Initially, the handclasp was interpreted as culture based on the argument that some chimpanzee populations engaged in it, while others, including long-term monitored populations, did not (27, 30). Just as McGrew concludes the book by drawing attention to conservation efforts, I would like to conclude this review by stressing the importance and urgency of protecting the chimpanzees and the forests of Africa.
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