Wild Chimps Look Both Ways Before Crossing the Street

Chimps crossing a busy highway in Uganda. (YouTube screengrab) “Look both ways before you cross the street!” It’s one of the first, and most important, lessons we learn as children. But humans aren’t the only creatures that heed this crucial bit of advice. Scientists conducting a 29-month survey in Uganda’s Kibale National Park found that chimpanzees checked for oncoming traffic before crossing the dusty, busy highways that run through the park. Of the 122 chimps that were caught on camera crossing the road, 92 percent of them looked left, right or both ways before crossing. Scientists hope observations like these will both deepen our understanding of how animals adapt to human development and encourage engineers to design wildlife-friendly roads.