Andrea L. Permana

Nest architecture as an overlooked material culture: what deconstruction of orangutan nests reveals and the case for systematic study across nest-building primates

Frans de Waal’s work highlighted an uncomfortable question: not whether animals have complex cognitive lives, but why are we so reluctant to recognise them. Nest building in great apes is a striking example of this problem. Every great ape builds a nest every day, for the entirety of its adult life. The behaviour has...