Chimps remember how much fruit a tree bears and will travel further distances to reach a particular tree. Within a forest of 12,000 trees a chimp can find their favourite one.

The scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany worked with a scientist from the University of Cocody in Ivory Coast.

They identified species of fruit trees which the chimps liked in a forest of 12,499 trees in the Tai National Park in Ivory Coast. The scientists found that the chimps walked straight to a specific tree to eat its fruit, rather than wandering around and randomly choosing one. They visited each tree about every five or six days.

Emmanuelle Normand said: “We were amazed… how after being separated from other group members for hours or days, they could join each other silently at a large fruit tree, as if they would have had an appointment at this place. We think it is fair to assume that chimpanzees can remember the exact location of probably thousands of trees.”