Fire in the root of humans (2)
Many people have the idea that fires scare animals and fled them in panic. However this is not always true, some species react still and calm and move away to safe sites. Some time ago I mentioned a study demonstrating that chimps in wild, when they see a wildfire, they react calmly, predict their behaviour and move accordantly without any stress or fear, suggesting that they have some understanding of fire behaviour [1]. Few days ago I came across other studies [2,3] suggesting that different species of primates not only react calmly to fire but after a fire, they increase their home range to include the area burned and used it for searching food, including ‘cooked’ fruits! So wildfires were very important in the history of humans [4], they could have contribute to the first step towards humanity from our ancestors …
Figure: In captivity, some apes are able to light a fire a roast vegetables (see youtube1, youtube2). Photo from www.dailymail.co.uk
References
[1] Fire in the root of humans, jgpausas.blogs.uv.es 19-1-2010.
[2] Jaffe KE, Isbell LA 2009. After the fire: benefits of reduced ground cover for vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops). Am. J. Primatol. 71:252-260.
[3] Herzog NM, Parker CH, Keefe ER, Coxworth J, Barrett A, Hawkes K 2014. Fire and home range expansion: A behavioral response to burning among savanna dwelling vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops). Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 154:554-560.
[4] Pausas J.G. & Keeley J.E. 2009. A burning story: The role of fire in the history of life. BioScience 59: 593-601 [doi | jstor | BioOne | pdf | post]