Think Your Bed Is Clean? A Chimp's Is Cleaner.

Pedro_P

Think your bed is 'cleaner' than a chimpanzee's? Think again.
Credit: Shutterstock

▼ When you burrow under your blankets and snuggle up to your pillow in bed, you're never alone — the trillions of microbes that make up your microbiome are right there with you, and many of them are left in your bed even when you aren't there.
As it turns out, human beds are teeming with more body microbes than the beds of chimpanzees, according to a new study.
Researchers recently investigated the microbial communities in chimps' tree beds, to better understand their relationship with the microbes and arthropods that inhabit their bodies and their forest habitats. In doing so, they made an unexpected discovery: Body microbes that were plentiful in human beds were mostly absent in chimp  nests.
Of the microbes in our beds, about 35 percent come from our own bodies, "including fecal, oral and skin bacteria," study lead author Megan Thoemmes, a doctoral candidate at North Carolina State University, said in a statement.
"We wanted to know how this compares with some of our closest evolutionary relatives, the chimpanzees, which make their own beds daily," Thoemmes added.
Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) spend more than half their lives in their nests, and they rely on these beds not only for comfortable sleeping, but as protection against wind, rain and predators, the study authors reported. To make these cozy nests, which are typically used once and then abandoned, chimps weave together a foundation of branches, topping them with a leafy mattress. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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soothsayer

Vow! Imagine Chimps are cleaner fellows and have a better sense of hygiene

Pedro_P

I think that the disposable sheets (for beds) industry will have an increase in its sales, after this interesting scientific note. I will have to consider buying some shares of them.