Apes in the Anthropocene: flexibility and survival

• Few great ape habitats are entirely unaffected by human activities.
• Anthropogenic impacts are triggering behavioural flexibility in great apes.
• Research across the ‘anthropogenic continuum’ can advance pure and applied science.
• Survival of many ape populations requires finding ways for human–ape coexistence.

We are in a new epoch, the Anthropocene, and research into our closest living relatives, the great apes, must keep pace with the rate that our species is driving change. While a goal of many studies is to understand how great apes behave in natural contexts, the impact of human activities must increasingly be taken into account. This is both a challenge and an opportunity, which can importantly inform research in three diverse fields: cognition, human evolution, and conservation. No long-term great ape research site is wholly unaffected by human influence, but research at those that are especially affected by human activity is particularly important for ensuring that our great ape kin survive the Anthropocene.