The only baby in the chimp’s group discovers a playmate in a large mirror set up in the Gabon jungle

Description: English / Français / Português In Gabon (Equatorial Africa), 10 km from the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean and 20 km south of the Equator line, daily rains, storms and tornadoes stop completely during the dry season from late May to mid-September. This late afternoon of July, a group of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), composed of about twenty individuals, arrive at one of the 6 large mirrors (2500x1220 m/m) placed in their forest by Xavier and Anne-Marie HUBERT-BRIERRE and their friend Michel GUISS DJOMOU for nearly 10 years. These chimpanzees all chew an “Ozouga“, (Sacoglottis gabonensis). A green, smooth, half-round fruit (drupe) with a diameter of 4 centimetres containing 1 to 3 seeds whose sweet taste is also a favourite among elephants, primates as mandrills. Gorillas and chimpanzees with more fragile teeth chew only the outer pulp of these fruits. The chimpanzee groups in the region know these mirrors. They stay in front of it from time to time for their learning in