National Geographic Weekend radio

If you want to hear me talk about the Fongoli chimps on the radio, you can go to these podcasts on National Geographic Weekend's new website.  The dates are April 26 and July 7.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/radio/national-geographic-weekend.html

Also, if you happen to be in the Washington, D.C. area, I'll be participating in a National Geographic Live! "Salon".  Here is the link:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/nglive/washingtondc/f2008/single/explorers.html

Neighbor Ape is incorporated!

Just got word that our non-profit organization 'Neighbor Ape' is now incorporated in the U.S. I will be posting more information at http://www.savannachimp.com/ soon. In chimp news, on my last day out in the field at Fongoli, I was able to observe adolescent male David use a "spear" in an effort to get a bushbaby from a cavity in a Wolo (Malinke name) tree. He wasn't successful - couldn't tell if cavity was empty or not either - but it was great to see nonetheless. It was also ISU student and project manager Kelly Boyer's first glance at the behavior. Check out the bundles of "spears" in the photo here - the longest is a little over a meter in length. Otherwise, the chimps are in small parties these days, as fruit is scarce and none of the females are currently in estrus. Soon, thought, the Minkon (Spondias) fruit will ripen, and most of the community will gather together again.

Add patas monkey to the diet...

Last week, we (me and Wash-U Ph.D. student Joshua Marshak) witnessed an interesting hunt. Siberut and Bandit, two older adult male chimps - that were apparently too shy to do so while National Geographic cinematographers were on hand to capture it on film (cinematographers Bryan Harvey and Nathan Williamson JUST left the day before!) - pursued and captured a young patas monkey! At least Siberut managed to... While Josh and I were following these two males who had split off (fissioned) from the larger chimp party, I saw both of them stop and stand staring in the same direction. I couldn't get as good a look at Siberut as I did at Bandit, but Bandit's hair was on end (piloerect). A moment later, both took off at the same time, running quickly to the same spot next the open plateau/short grass grassland where there was a thicket of trees. The behavior seemed to me to be indicative of a monkey hunt - and it was - but I assumed it was vervets they were after. We hung back a little, then came upon Siberut with a monkey in hand. Bandit was still looking up into the trees where we could hear another monkey. We backed off so as not to spoil the hunt in any way but heard the monkey leap from the tree after Bandit began to climb, and did not hear Bandit pursue it. Bandit returned to where Siberut was, and Siberut shared pieces of the monkey with him - the head, an arm and the intestines (only part of which Bandit ate). To my surprise, this monkey was NOT a vervet but an immature patas monkey! It appeared to be a one-year old patas; actually about 14 months given the birth season of patas monkeys here. Having had studied patas monkeys for 2 years (as well as vervets), I was torn as to how to feel. Since I missed the actual capture and killing of the monkey - as well as seeing it basically headless - it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Mainly, I was excited to see that these guys COULD capture a patas - the fastest primate - even though it was a young one, only a third of its way to adulthood at the most - and to see that Siberut, the lowest ranking male and one of the oldest, still appears to be one of the best monkey hunters in the Fongoli community. Interestingly, there were no alarm calls given by patas - before or after this hunt. This is similar to the behavior I've seen by vervets towards chimps here too...something I plan to write up for a short publication soon.

Chimpanzee Conservation in Senegal

Having just arrived back in Senegal from a 2-week trip to the U.S., I attended a meeting of various persons interested in chimp conservation in Senegal.  In addition to USAID representatives (they organized the meeting), there were folks from IFAW, Peace Corps and the Jane Goodall Institute (Spain).  Some of the issues we discussed were those dealing with chimp-human competition over natural resources (such as Saba fruit), chimp-human conflict (as when chimps steal young goats at the edges of villages), and the increasing human population in southeastern Senegal.  Large-scale projects such as gold and other mineral mining in the region as well as a plan to fence off thousands of hectares for a hunting concession could also affect the chimpanzee population.  Another meeting is being planned for August and, in the meantime, I am heading off to Fongoli to follow the chimps for several weeks.  Updates will follow!

Ross

Today marks the 6th month "anniversary" of the last sighting of aged male Ross in the Fongoli community. He was last seen December 10, 2007 and was apparently in good health, although he was a very old male, based on his reduced body mass (even over the course of the 5 years we've known him - you can see this in the first photo of Ross in National Geographic, where he is crossing a plateau, with short trees in the background), his poor hearing and sight, and the fact that he only had three teeth left (one anterior or front lower incisor and two lower molars).

Ross appeared in two photos in the April 2008 issue of National Geographic, and the last photo, taken by Frans Lanting, in the article by Mary Roach shows a close-up of Ross drinking at Sakoto pool. It is a beautiful photo of Ross, and he will be sorely missed by everyone who knew him. Normally, after not seeing a chimp for three months, they are recorded as being "absent" from the community. Unless the individuals are young females, who may migrate to other communities, the missing chimps are presumed deceased. I gave Ross another three months because most of us do not want to accept that he is no longer here. Ross normally spent much of his time during the dry season at the water source in Djendji, but he also joined the rest of the community once there was a rain or two so that the party was able to move farther afield of Djendji.

I think we will always keep Ross in mind - I still find myself hoping that I see him when I see some chimp that has pigment on their face - before I see who it is clearly. Ross was the first chimp that we recognized in the Fongoli community, and with his tolerance, we were able to continue the project and learn about these amazing chimpanzees. The photo here was taken by Stacy Lindshield during the last months that Ross was with us.

It's a girl!

It's a girl...again! Finally got a good look at Tia's baby, and it is indeed another female. Mother and baby are doing fine. New baby's name is "Amy" (named by Ph.D. student Maja Gaspersic, who took the photo at left of Tia eating Cola fruits, with Amy hanging on and with Bilbo to her left). Tia has been with the big party (32 of 34 chimps in the community!) that has been moving around the core home range together. The only individuals missing are Daoulema, a very shy adult female, and Foudouko - former alpha male who has been hiding out from the other males since his fall from power a few months ago... In other news, it has finally rained again, and the chimps are spending hours and hours termite fishing.  The photo at right is one that Julie Lesnik took as Tia (with Amy) and Bilbo were crossing a recently cut field.

May news

It's been almost a month now that I've been back at Fongoli, after a visit to the U.S., and there have been some exciting events that have occurred here since I've been back! One of these is that Tia is a mother for the first time! Late one evening early in May I was following Lupin, an adult male, who had already begun making his nest when he heard another party and went to meet them right before dark. I noticed a mother that I did not recognize - it turned out to be Tia with her first infant! She has been lying low in general and actually wasn't seen again after that day and the following until yesterday when 32 of the 34 community members were moving around as one large party. We have yet to see whether it is a male or female, but names have already been picked out! Tia appears to be a good mother, and she has been very quick to move out of the way of any adult male action - at the first signs of a display (adult males at Fongoli often 'leaf-clip' at the beginning of their displays) she moves away and up a tree. The baby is hanging on, looking around and altogether seems to be doing well also. Tia, along with Tumbo and Nickel, is also one of the most prolific bushbaby hunters at Fongoli, so it will be interesting to track her infant and see what develops on that front. Nickel's first baby, Teva (both of them pictured here to the left - photo by M. Gaspersic) are doing well - Teva is over a year old now and is moving independently for short distances, playing with other youngsters (or being played with, more accurately), and riding on Nickel's back a lot (rather than her belly, as very young immatures do). She is also one we will be keeping an eye on regarding the hunting front...

On that subject, we have seen two successful bushbaby hunts within the course of one week, although one did not go as planned at all! Bo (an adolescent male) first made and used a tool to jab into a tree cavity that he subsequently abandoned. As Frito (a juvenile male) ascended the tree, a bushbaby apparently left the cavity, and both Bo and Frito began to try and chase it down as it leaped into an adjacent tree. Frito ended up with it, although Bandit (adult male) did try to take it from him at one point. After screaming a bit, it appears he was able to keep it. We were too intent on observing Bo make and use another tool in an adjacent tree, which may sound futile - however, this past fall the observation was made of two chimps successfuly hunting bushbabies in trees that were less than 10 meters apart! In this case, though, Bo was not successful, although his tool-making skills appeared impressive, and we were even able to record that he trimmed the tip of this second tool (the first tool was abandoned in the tree cavity, and I was not able to get it).

A few days ago, we were able to observe another successful hunting bout - this time Tumbo, a young adult female (and the most prolific as well as successful Fongoli hunter). We caught her in mid-bout, which is often the case - I am cued in by the sounds of the tool being jabbed into the hollow cavity. After she changed positions, actually pushing Mike (juvenile/adolescent male) out of the way, she jabbed and jabbed until finally grabbing a bushbaby that appeared to be either coming out of the cavity or pulled out partly with her tool. Jumkin (adolescent male) who also had been watching her from an adjacent branch and Mike both attempted to hunt the same cavity. Mike used Tumbo's tool, while Jumkin made 4 of his own but then abandoned them, climbed down and retrieved Tumbo's to use hers - neither was successful. Again, this effort to hunt the same cavity might seem futile, but I have witnessed the alpha male look into a hole again after just retrieving a bushbaby from it, and I have seen Farafara with two bushbabies at one time!

In other news, I was finally able to see the chimps encounter patas monkeys - something I've been waiting years for! In this case, the chimps (as well as myself) did not see the patas monkeys come up to the waterhole they frequent at Djendji during the dry season. When they did notice them, they warning-barked, and the patas fled! These were a young adult male I thought was about 5 years of age and a younger male, between 3 and 5 years. One chimp took off after them - David, an adolescent - although I'm not sure whether this was to try and catch them (good luck!) or just to conform to his usual adolescence bravado...

It is still hot here - supposed to be over 105 Fahrenheit tomorrow, with humidity over 50%...and the chimps are still frequenting the caves some. Two days ago, Farafa escaped the heat by relaxing in Sakoto cave - she heard me walk up overhead, peeked out and went back in!

We are continuing to work to reduce the woodland clearing by sheep herders in the area, but it is slow going...more (and hopefully positive) news on that front soon!