Pan Africa NewsThe Newsletter of the Committee for the Careand Conservation of Chimpanzees, and theMahale Wildlife Conservation Society
DECEMBER 2002
P.A.N. EDITORIAL STAFF
Chief Editor:
Toshisada Nishida, Kyoto University, Japan
Associate Editors:
Christophe Boesch, Max-Planck Institute, Germany
Jane Goodall, Jane Goodall Institute, USA
Takayoshi Kano, Kyoto Sangyo University, Japan
Tetsuro Matsuzawa, Kyoto University, Japan
William C. McGrew, Miami University, USA
Vernon Reynolds, Oxford University, UK
Yukimaru Sugiyama, Tokai-Gakuen University, Japan
Shigeo Uehara, Kyoto University, Japan
Richard W. Wrangham, Harvard University, USA
Editorial Secretaries:
Koichiro Zamma, Kyoto University, Japan
Michio Nakamura, Japan Monkey Centre, Japan
Kazuhiko Hosaka, Kamakura Women’s University, Japan
Michael A. Huffman, Kyoto University, Japan

Instructions to Authors:
Pan Africa News welcomes your contributions. It
publishes news, forums, reviewed articles and notes,
book reviews, letters to editor, and classified ads(restricted to non-profit organizations) on any aspectof conservation and research regarding chimpanzees
and bilias. Contributors are requested to write inEnglish and the papers except forum should usually be
1,000 words or less. Manuscripts should be submitted
by e-mail to:
PAN@jinrui.zool.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Photos and figures, however, should be sent by
air mail to: T. Nishida, Dept. of Zoology, Graduate
School of Science, Kyoto University, KitashirakawaOiwakecho, Sakyo, Kyoto, Japan.
Publication of the next issue will be June 2003.
Deadline for manuscripts is the end of April.

<FORUM>
Establishing a Long-term Veterinary Project for Free-Ranging
Chimpanzees in Tanzania
Magdalena Lukasik, MDV
Jane Goodall Institute, Gombe Stream
Research Center, P.O. Box 185 Kigoma
Generally speaking, Pan troglodytes is not an endangered species. Not as the whole species. There

Printed on recycled paper

VOL. 9, NO. 2

Contents<FORUM>
Establishing a long-term veterinary projectfor free-ranging chimpanzees in Tanzania

By Magdalena Lukasik

13

By Zoe Purcell

17

By C. Devos, S. Gatti, & F. Levréro

19

By Masaki Shimada

21

By Toshisada Nishida23

By Shadrack Kamenya

26

By PAN Editors

26

By Augustin Kanyunyi Basabose

27<FORUM>
Chimpanzee viewing and regulation: Mahale
Mountains National Park
<NOTE>
New record of algae feeding and scooping by
Pan t. troglodytes at Lokoué Bai in Odzala
National Park, Republic of Congo.
<NOTE>
Social scratch among chimpanzees in Gombe<NOTE>
Competition between baboons and chimpanzees
at Mahale<NEWS>
Human baby killed by Gombe chimpanzee<EDITORIAL>
A request for conservation NGO/NPOs:
for the great apes’ “World Heritage Status”<LETTER TO EDITOR>
Orphanage of great ape babies

are still many—probably too many, chimpanzees
in captivity. But situation is very different whenit comes to the free-ranging communities.
The range of problems jeopardising their existence is wide: bush-meat trade in Central andWestern Africa, deforestation all around theirnatural habitat, finally: antropozoonotic diseases,
which so easily cross the inter-species barrier
between human researchers, tourists and local
inhabitants to the apes in forest.
There are no records of chimpanzee hunting

14

Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002

in Tanzania, but two latter factors combined
caused the death of about 25% population ofchimpanzees in the Gombe National Park in Tanzania in the last decade. Reports from the Mahale
Mountains National Park also indicate recent
noticeable decrease in the ape population.
Due to scale of the problem and variety offactors involved, it seems inevitable that people
involved in various fields of research, conservation and education join their forces to stop thisprocess. Because diseases, especially theanthropozoonoses, are responsible for the deathof many of these animals (in Gombe at least 16
chimpanzees died due to antropozoonotic illnesses in only last 6 years), it seems important thatthe team includes also the veterinary component.
There are wildlife veterinarians working in
Tanzania, who can be invited to collaboration, but
in case of great apes some specific knowledge andskills are required comparing to working withother African wildlife.
There are three facts to explain such an
opinion. First, unlike most other wildlife veterinarians, an ape doctor works on foot, following
his patients around thick forest, carrying all
equipment, for many hours in a row. Second,
dealing with the animals of such complex behaviour and social life, it is very important tospend lot of time learning to understand theirreactions to different situations, including thehealth disorders. In order to gather this knowledge veterinarian has to spend reasonable time
just following his targets and watching themcarefully for many hours. Also, especially whendarting wild chimpanzees is very difficult, noninvasive sampling is a main part of practice.
Again, this requires long-term, regular follows.
Third reason is due to genetical closeness ofapes and humans, which means that doctor andpatient can possibly share almost all pathogens,which therefore creates considerable risk for bothof them. Also, because apes are closer related topeople than other animals, working with themoften requires close collaboration with human
doctors and laboratories rather than these of veterinary medicine.
The possible solution for the problem is toestablish the project specialised in working withwild chimpanzees, following the example ofMorris Animal Foundation Mountain Gorilla

Veterinary Project working in Virunga National
Park in Rwanda, Uganda and Congo-Zaire.
The attempts to establish similar Project for
free-ranging chimpanzees have started in Tanzania in October 2001, when the Chimpanzee
Health Project has been established within
Gombe Stream Research Center JGI in Gombe
National Park. After one year of this study, which
was the pilot one, conducted without any veterinary facility yet present, lots of valuable information about such project requirements andpossibilities were gathered.
The Project work consisted of four main parts:
1. Everyday monitoring of the chimpanzee
health status, including observation andsample collection from both healthy and sickanimals.
2. Autopsy of every animal—including otherspecies, found dead in the forest.
3. Investigation and, in certain cases, treatment
during general disease outbreaks.
4. Close collaboration with TANAPA and Researchers in order to decrease the risk ofantropozoonotic and zoonotic diseases within
the Park.
It included the regular social work programs:
teaching (health seminars), vaccination incase of disease risk and general investigation
to estimate the health status of the humanand non-human primates living in Gombe
National Park.

1. Monitoring: Observation and NonInvasive Sample Collection
As indicated by the pilot study, if there is an ongoing research project at the site, this part ofwork can and preferably should be done in collaboration with researchers and their assistants.
The credits of such collaboration are substantial and mutual.
Due to the risk of antropozoonotic diseases it
is highly advisable to decrease number of people
in contact with chimpanzees. Involving researchers in basic veterinary monitoring and samplingseems the best policy allowing to obtain morethorough data without presence of additional veterinary assistants in forest.
Also, because of their everyday presencearound animals and good knowledge of chim-

Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002
panzee behaviour, researchers of diet and range
are able to notice many abnormalities sooner
than veterinarian, who lacks this experience. So
not only they can be help with the data andsample collection, but also may serve as theteachers for the veterinary team.
If the simple Health Monitoring Sheets areused, the basic information can be recorded on
every day base and the data compared within thelong period of time. These sheets should be easy
to understand by the non-vet assistants andideally always carried by them during the forestwork.
On the other hand, involving veterinarian inbehavioural research often helps explain certain
abnormalities of behaviour connected with adisease.
Also post mortem findings can help understand some unusual behaviour and a vet, following the pattern of injuries and autopsy finding
can help understand some facts of predatory andintra- and intercommunity aggression. In addition a material collected for veterinary purpose
can be simultaneously used for other research
purposes, for example urine collection for regularpregnancy testing or fecal sampling for the paternity study.
Apart from the data collected during observation, in order to obtain the clear picture of community health status, regular, everyday sample
collection should also be conducted.
Non-invasive sampling is, due to the risk anddifficulty involved in darting of free-raging chimpanzees, the method of choice for gathering thebiological material from this species. Unlike thesampling involving anaesthesia, it provides theregular, even everyday source of material.
Due to the rapid evolution of laboratory techniques it is also the potential basis for wide variety of different tests.
MATERIAL AVAILABLE FOR NON-INVASIVE
COLLECTION FROM FREE-RANGING CHIMPANZEES:• Feces (bacteria, virus, parasites, cytology, hormones, DNA)• Urine (bacteria, virus, antibodies, chemistry,parasites, cytology, hormones)• Wadge (bacteria, virus, cytology, DNA)• Semen (bacteria, virus, DNA)

15
• Hair (parasites, DNA)• Discharges: pus, sputum, exudates (bacteria,
virus, parasites, cytology, DNA)• Blood—very small amount obtainable (bacteria,
virus, parasites, antibodies, DNA).

2. Autopsy
Simultaneously to being the important source ofdiagnostic material, autopsy work with chimpanzees creates, much bigger than in case of otherspecies, risk for the humans involved. It is extremely important to provide the safe conditions
for this work, including the separate post mortem
room and limiting number of people who have thecontact with potentially highly infectious material.
Because of many pathogens shared by different primates, and even non-primate species inforest, it is important that any animal found deadin a forest should be carefully examined andsamples collected for the future laboratory testing.

3. Disease Investigation and Treatment
As in case of everyday health monitoring, investigation during disease outbreaks should also bebased on non-invasive sampling. Darting should
be restricted to the cases when it is absolutely
necessary and no other method of work can beused instead. Apart from the risks involved andthe fact that a free ranging chimpanzee would
probably let himself to be darted only once in a
lifetime, in some cases it has been proved thatthe action had led to result no different thanwhat would anyway happen in natural way.
Therefore it should always be individually considered if the risk involved in the action does notcreate the bigger risk than the injury itself. Incase it is undertaken, the carefully calculated
combination of the oral and injectable drugs
should be used to minimize the danger. There are,of course, situations when anesthesia is themethod of choice: for example when animal isfound still kept by the snare or darting can beundertaken before the necrosis of tissue appeared.
In case when disease makes an animal very
weak or unconscious, it is often possible to dart,
or inject directly with the therapeutic drug (anti-

16

Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002

biotic, steroid, etc) without administration ofanaesthetic.
Unlike in the work with gorillas, in veterinaryof free-ranging chimpanzees bases mainly on theoral medicine administration, which is easier, lessrisky and usually not less effective.
Still this method can be used only inhabituated animals and in case when they arestill strong enough to be interested in food bites.
While the single case of disease in habituatedchimpanzee is considerably easy to treat, it becomes much more difficult in a situation of general outbreak. It is extremely hard to monitor
and administrate medicine to a big number offree-ranging animals and there is a big risk ofloosing many—sometimes up to 50% of community members. Therefore it is essential toprevent such outbreaks through the policy ofrules for all the people in contact with chimpanzees.
This policy includes the vaccination programs,
hygiene control and education and the rules forresearchers, tourists and all the people living in
the forest.

Meningococcus, Polyo, Measles, Mumps, Rubella,
and actual (at most one year old) tuberculosis
test.

List of Diseases Considered as Most
Jeopardising for the Free-Ranging Apes
BACTERIAL INFECTIONS:

Shigella, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Mycobacterium (tuberculosis and bovis, possibly also
avium), Streptococcus pneumoniae, very probably
also Neisseria meningiditis and Haemophilus
influenzae.
VIRAL INFECTIONS:

Herpes simplex, Chicken pox, Measles,
Mumps, Polyo, Rota, Hepatitis A and B, Influenza viruses, Parainfluenza type 3, Resp.
Syncytial virus.
PARASITE INFECTIONS:

Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lamblia,
Balantidium coli, Sarcoptes scabiei.
(Ott-Joslin, Zoo and wild animal medicine,
Jones et al. 1984, Speare 97, Brack 87).
Of which the humans working and living within
the chimp habitat should be vaccinated or tested
for: Hepatitis A and B, Yellow fever,

Apart from vaccination programs, there arecertain attributes of forest work, which can bechanged in order to minimize the risk ofantropozoonotic infection.
As the forest animals frequently visit camp, it
is extremely important that the area is clean,houses well-protected and number of humaninhabitants decreased only to the necessary
minimum. All residents of Park should be
regularly examined in the local hospital. Examination should include the fecal and blood test ineach case and additional diagnostic methodsuggested during the general clinical check up.
Also the general vaccination program should be
carefully considered.
It is also essential that during their work inforest researchers and tourist guides follow thelist of rules describing quarantine, distances andtime spent with animals. Only the good will andclose collaboration between TANAPA and researchers can make the situation better.

4. Social work.
During the pilot study the veterinary project inGombe has also been involved in wide variety ofsocial work, including:• Open health seminars for research assistants
and TANAPA employees working and living
inside the park. These seminars were preparedand presented together with TANAPA nurse
and covered the subjects of general biology,
anatomy and hygiene.
• Collaboration with TANAPA in order to create
the list of animal safety rules for people working and leaving in Gombe, as well as visiting
researchers and tourists. Since such list is ready,the work is concentrated on practical aspect ofrules being followed.
• Collaboration in work of GOMBE HEALTHCOMMITEE, formed together with TANAPA
directory of the Park.
It proved very beneficial for the general
understanding of health issues among the people
living and working in Park and seems a highly
advisable component for the Chimpanzee Veterinary Project work.

Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002
Conclusions After 14 Months of ProjectWork
1. Chimpanzee Veterinary Project in Tanzania
should be extended to cover also other areas
where these animals live. There is about 1000
chimps in the country: Gombe―100, Mahale―
700, Rubondo―40, plus chimps still living in
non-protected areas, and about 90% of them
are not included in the Veterinary Program.
2. The location of Project should be carefully
considered. For the everyday work Project requires small veterinary facility, including post
mortem room and basic laboratory. Because
Gombe is the smallest (about 40 km2) andmost crowded (about 150 people living within
the Park boundaries), it does not seem thegood idea to bring any more people or building
there. As most of Tanzanian chimpanzees livein the Mahale Mountains NP, which is also
the biggest chimpanzee habitat in the country,with the good communication (Lake Tanganyika) with Gombe, it seems to be much better
place for location of Vet. Project for chimpanzees in Tanzania.
3. Collaboration. If possible, few other organisations, such as TANAPA, TAWIRI and GRASP
should collaborate closely within the Project,including also a long-term co-operation withother Ape Veterinary Projects abroad, as
Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project inRwanda and Uganda and vets working withwild and sanctuary chimps in other countries.
Working together would be a great help during emergency, like general disease outbreak.
Also unifying policy of work and data sheets
used in different sites would allow data to be
more general and comparable between thesites.
4. There should be two veterinarians, including
at least one Tanzanian, to carry on the work
and it also seems important for Project to be
involved in wildlife veterinary education in
the country.

17<FORUM>
Chimpanzee Viewing andRegulation: Mahale Mountains
National Park
Zoe Purcell

Mahale Ltd., Usa River

Background
There is one habituated group of chimpanzees in
the Mahale Mountains National Park, M group,comprising some 50 upwards individuals.
This group is exploited for various purposes:
1) As research subjects for the continued Kyoto
University research project, which requires
the continuous presence of observers on adaily basis.
2) As attractions to an increasing number oftourist visitors, most of whom are hosted by
Greystoke camp during the tourist seasons ofJune–October and December–March.
3) As subjects for film documentary makers, who
require detailed footage of chimpanzee behaviour over extended periods.
All these “users” are of benefit to the project,park and conservation as a whole in various ways,
providing publicity for important conservation
issues, advanced primatological and ecological
data, and revenue for the park itself—all have a
crucial role to play.
However, they all also compose a threat to thechimpanzees and the project. This can be simply
described as that of stress and infection.
There is therefore a clear need to begin taking
a more pro-active role on the regulation of chimpanzee viewing in the forest so that the risks
above can be minimized.

Areas of Regulation
1. The introduction of a minimum viewing
distance rule
2. The restriction of numbers of chimpanzee
viewers
3. The restriction of hours of chimpanzee viewers
4. Other rules
5. Introduction of code of behavior

18

Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002

These areas of regulation are not revolutionary,and I am not here trying here to assess theirvalue, which I think is fairly well-understood andagreed upon. I have taken this opportunity to examine them carefully, assess whether they arepractical, and make further suggestions.

per group from our camp but frequently meet
many, many more people when viewing, whether
these are other tourist groups, or those connectedwith research and park maintenance. Furthermore, we require a park ranger plus a tracker
and our own guide, and often, a trainee, swelling
our numbers in a group immediately to 10.

1. Distance Rule
Prior to taking tourists chimp viewing, we now
voluntarily supply a chimp briefing. One of themain issues this covers is the need to keep 5 mdistance from the chimpanzees to avoid risks ofstress and infection. The tourists have been foundreasonably willing to accept this and adhere to it,
but it is not easy to maintain in situ.

Problems
1) Some others viewing the chimpanzees (someother tourist groups, some film crew staff,
some researchers, some park guides) do notadhere to the rules, thus invalidating our reasons for it, and therefore, our authority
2) The chimpanzees are very mobile, and often
approach much closer than this rule allows
Solutions
1) A commitment by everyone to keep this rule.
The researchers and research team, rangers
and trackers particularly (that is, the “experts”) need to set an example to the visitors:
the tourists and film crews, and become
self-regulating.
2) The distance, set originally for gorillas, who
are much less active, should be increased. 5
meters distance for a very mobile chimpanzee
is actually still very close. Eight meters would
be more than adequate for a visitor to still
have a quality experience, and would allow
the chimps more room for maneuver.
3) An acceptance that this distance rule isn’t
merely set for static viewing, but also forwhen following chimps on paths—or moving
through the forest. The most obvious infringements occur when trackers, researchers, rangers, and tourists walk past the chimps on thepath.

2. Restriction of Viewer Numbers
Problems
We now rigidly restrict to maximum six tourists

Solutions
We should encourage TANAPA to take a firm
hand concerning which tourist/film/visitor groups
are allowed in the forest, when, and for how long.
There still appears to be unrestricted access forall. We currently have to negotiate amongst ourselves to avoid bumping into other visitors. This
is not always successful.
Film crews must be regulated somehow, notonly on their distance and behavior in the forest,
which is generally more intrusive, but when they
are permitted to film. As they require full day
and general access, should they be restricted to
off peak tourist season—or on days when tourists are present should they be required to withdraw during the tourist slots?
Numbers of “professionals” viewing chimps
must be regulated. No one should be viewing thechimpanzees who does not have a good reason
and purpose. To help us with this, all “staff”,
whether guides, researchers, trackers, rangers
should be issued with appropriate uniforms andbadges. Sponsorship can supply these. Researchteams, camps and TANAPA could all agree
quotas of how many permits (badges) can beissued and used at any one time.
Efforts should be made on the part of rangers
and tourist trackers to follow individuals not
being followed by the research. More communication from the researchers on their preferredsubjects, where possible, on the day would help
the rangers/trackers identify their “targets” forthat day and keep out of the way of the research,and vice versa. Some efforts are made towards
this already and it is reasonably successful. A bit
more effort on all sides would solve this. Someallowances should be made for the fact that
tourists get their most exciting viewing whenobserving the high-ranking males, more specifically the alpha male.
Long term, high grade TANAPA employees
need to be trained as professional trackers/

Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002
guides/rangers so that numbers accompanying
tourist group can be reduced to one or two at
most. This would require language training,
forest discipline, chimpanzee behavior, forest
navigation, first aid and general guide etiquette.
Within our staff, we have already embarked on
training our own trackers and guides in theabsence of qualified personnel from TANAPA.
Most importantly, if Mahale is to generate goodrevenues and continue to satisfy visitors to its fullpotential, a new project needs to be put in place
to habituate a new group of chimpanzees torelieve increasing pressures on the one study
group. The new group could be reserved exclusively for one or two interest groups.

3. Restriction of Hours of Viewing/Visits
Problems
A tourist may have started viewing the chimps
then the chimpanzees will move and viewing will
stop.
Group size relieves pressure but multiple
groups in the forest becomes hard to coordinate
and messy, often affecting the quality of chimpanzee viewing.
Solutions
A tourist group will be given a time slot within
which they can view. Ideally this should be theonly morning or the only afternoon slot. There
should be two slots available per day. Within thatslot they will be permitted one–two hours ofviewing. If it is continuous viewing, one hour isplenty, if the chimps are particularly mobile thisshould be extended to two hours and possibly
monitored with a stop-watch.
Restrict number of tourist groups per day totwo.
A re-evaluation of park fees could encourage
visitors to come to Mahale, while restricting
chimpanzee access. This could involve payment ofa reduced park entry fee, coupled with a specificchimping permit for desired visits to the chimpanzees.

4. Other Regulationsa) No eatingb) No smokingc) No defecating

19
In emergency, hole should be dug 50 cm deep.
Researcher etc should carry a trowel.
d) Disinfecting of shoes?
Best choice of non-toxic disinfectant-trays inexit points, disposal effects etc.
e) No flash photographyf) No bleepers etc on cameras
Cameras and electronic equipment withalarms etc can be noisy—disturbing generallevel of peace, and probably added chimp
stress.
I do not see any great problems here.

5. Regulations and Code of Behavior
General guide to manners in the forest-posted on
guides huts, Bandas, research posts, camp tents
etc etc—about no shouting, restricted movements
etc etc.
No real problems here just dissemination of
information which would encourage the visitors
to support the rangers keeping regulations.

A Final Problem
The biggest problem I see in implementation of
all of these rules, even once they are agreed uponand laid down is that this is not a new project,and old habits die hard. We are looking at somequite serious re-education and commitment tothese regulations if they are to have any successat all, particularly amongst the entrenched stakeholders, officials and staff.

<NOTE>New Record of Algae Feeding
and Scooping by
Pan t. troglodytes at Lokoué
Bai in Odzala National Park,
Republic of Congo
C. Devos1, S. Gatti2* and F. Levréro2

1 Université de Liège, Laboratoire de Biologie ducomportement: Ethologie et psychologie animale.
Quai Van Beneden 22 B-4020 Liège, Belgium.
2 UMR 6552 CNRS-Université de Rennes 1, Station
Biologique de Paimpont, F-35380 Paimpont, France.
sylvain.gatti@univ-rennes1.fr*to whom correspondence should be addressed.

20

Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002

Introduction

this time was devoted to algae feeding.
The same three individuals were later seen on
4 November (12:57–13:53 hr), and on 6 November(11:38–13:16hr), the tool-using male performing
the same scooping behaviour while the two others
still feeding using their hand. On 4 November,the tool-using chimpanzee left the clearing with atool in his mouth.

Odzala National Park is in the north west of the
Republic of Congo (0°23′–1°46′N; 14°16′–16°40′E).
At 13,600 km2, it is one of the largest protectedareas in central Africa. The vegetation in thepark is a mosaic of savanna and forest islands inthe south, and in the north is an evergreen rain
forest with large areas of Marantaceae and many
natural clearings, commonly called bais (1, 2).
Primate censuses conducted in 1994–1995 showed the park to contain one of the highest known
densities of chimpanzees (Pan t. troglodytes) witha mean density of 2.2 individuals/km2 as well as ahigh population density of gorillas (Gorilla g.
gorilla) which is up to 10.3 individuals/km2 (3).
Since April 2001, a long-term survey of the gorilla
population visiting a bai close to the Lokoué
River has been done by S.G. and F.L. From
November 2001, C.D. has studied the use of theforest surrounding the clearing by the samegorillas. Forest clearings in the Odzala National
Park are usually not visited by chimpanzees (2).
However, in November 2001, we saw for the firsttime chimpanzees entering the Lokoué clearing.
This note reports their harvesting of algae.

Observations
Observations were made from a hide located at
the edge of the forest, using 10×40 binoculars anda 20–60× telescope, at an average distance of 180
m. On 3 November (during the main rainy season), three male chimpanzees entered the clearing at 11.24 hr and quickly walked to a small
flood pool. They were clearly identified by distinctive physical characteristics. One of them stoodquadrupedally while the two others sat by thewater. Two chimpanzees, using their fingers,
removed the algae filaments from the pool andate them by putting their fingers into theirmouth. The third chimpanzee, who was sitting
uprooted a whole (about 20 cm long) herbaceous
plant, a sedge (Cyperaceae) and clipped off thehead, using his incisors, leaving the stem. He
held the stem between the third and the fourth
digit and immersed it into the water, withdrew it,then cautiously put it to his mouth, the stem
covered with green algae. When he walked fromone pool to another, the chimpanzee carried thetool between his pursed lips. The three chimpanzees spent 71 min at the clearing, and most of

Discussion
Overall, chimpanzees were seen at the bai on 6
out of 442 observation days. This is the firstrecord of algae-feeding and algae-scooping at aforest clearing. Feeding on algae has been seen inchimpanzees at Bossou, Guinea (4) and for one
individual at Mahale, Tanzania (5). At Bossou,
chimpanzees use tools (twig or grass stem) to
scoop algae from a pond surface but they hold it
in one hand instead of keeping it between theirfingers. Curiously, feeding on algae has neverbeen seen in gorillas despite their recurrent visits
to the clearing. However it was seen in black andwhite colobus (Colobus guereza occidentalis).
The use of tools to fish for insects is wellknown in many populations (6). Chimpanzees of
the Lossi sanctuary, 90 km south of Lokoué bai,have been repeatedly seen to use complex toolsets to fish for termites and honey (7). Eating andfishing for algae at Lokoué is probably rare due tothe scarcity of pools where algae grow. Moreover,the formation of such pools is restricted to therainy season. Any new record of the presence of aparticular behavioural pattern improves the comparison of behavioural repertoires across thedifferent chimpanzee populations across Africa(8).
We thank the ECOFAC program for support,
logistics and permission to work at Odzala National Park, especially JM Froment, L Ndahiliwe,all members of the ECOFAC Composante Congoand the staff of Lokoué Bai. The gorilla study is
supported by the Institut Français de la Biodiversité, the National Geographic Society, theUniversité de Rennes-1, AGRECO-GEIE (European Union) and the Institut Royal des Sciences
Naturelles de Belgique. We thank A Gautier-Hion,
N Ménard and an anonymous referee for theircomments and suggestions on earlier versions of
the text.

Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002
References(1) Hecketsweiler P, Doumenge C, Mokok Ikonga
J 1991. Le Parc National d’ Odzala, Congo.
IUCN. Gland, Suisse.
(2) Vanleeuwe H, Cajani S, Gautier-Hion A 1998.
Large mammals at forest clearings in the
Odzala National Park, Congo. Rev Ecol (Terre& Vie) 53:171–180.
(3) Bermejo M 1999. Status and conservation ofprimates in Odzala National Park, Republic ofCongo. Oryx 33:323–331.
(4) Matsuzawa T, Yamakoshi G, Humle TA 1996.
A newly found tool use by wild chimpanzees:
Algae scooping. Primate Res., 12:283.
(5) Sakamaki T 1998. First record of algaefeeding by a female chimpanzee at Mahale.
PAN 5(1):1–3.
(6) McGrew WC 1992. Chimpanzee Material Culture: Implications for Human Evolution. Cambridge University Press.
(7) Bermejo M, Illera G 1999. Tool-set for termites-fishing and honey extraction by wild
chimpanzees in the Lossi Forest, Congo.
Primates 40:619–627.
(8) Whiten A, Goodall J, McGrew WC, Nishida T,
Reynolds V, Sugiyama Y, Tutin CEG,
Wrangham RW, Boesch, C 1999. Cultures inchimpanzees. Nature 399:682–685.

<NOTE>
Social Scratch among the
Chimpanzees of Gombe
Masaki Shimada

Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University

Nakamura and others (1) reported that the
behavioral pattern of “social scratch” is common
among the M group chimpanzees of the Mahale
Mountains National Park, Tanzania, but it’s notfound among the chimpanzees of Gombe National
Park, which is located 150 km north of Mahale,
despite more than 40 years of the field work.
However, I found some chimpanzees in the

21
Kasakela community of Gombe that scratchsocially during my short visit in the park. This
paper reports new observations and discusses
some features of social scratch in Gombe by comparison with the behavior in Mahale.

Observations
I visited Gombe and sampled behavioral data ofchimpanzees of the Kasakela community (2) from27 October to 1 November using a digital video
camera. My purpose was to compare chimpanzee
behaviors between Mahale and Gombe. The
Kasakela community included around 50 individuals when I was there (M. Lukasik and E.
Greengrass, pers. comm.). I videotaped chimpanzee behaviors by the ad lib. sampling method for14.1 hrs, during which I recorded grooming for3.58 hrs as total accumulation of social groomingof each individual. During my observation, fieldassistants or a researcher identified the individuals for me. A list of names, ages, and family lines
of individuals was also made available throughthe kindness of Dr. S. Kamenya, chief investigator of the Jane Goodall Institute in Gombe. For
data analysis, I used the same definition as (1) fora bout of social scratch, in which one bout was
defined to be separated from another by otherelements of grooming (e.g. stroke or pick). Total
grooming hours were calculated by accumulating
grooming time in which one individual groomed
another. Frequency of social scratch was calculated by dividing the number of social scratch bouts
by total grooming hours.
Seventeen individuals were observed to groomsocially. Table 1 shows the total grooming hoursof 6 individuals who groomed for a relatively longtime (more than 0.2 hrs). At least 3 individuals(GL, FN, and an unidentified individual) performed social scratch during these observations.
Social scratch was observed only when they weregrooming another individual. The response of therecipients to social scratch seemed to be “noreaction”. The frequencies of social scratch per
grooming hour by GL and the unknown individual seemed higher than that of the individual
who showed the most frequent social scratch in
Mahale. I could not determine whether otherindividuals also performed this behavior due tothe short observation time.

22

Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002
Table 1. The List of Individuals Who Groomed Socially More Than 0.2 hrs
and One Unknown Individual Who Showed Social Scratch.

Gombe

MahaleTotal
Number of
Frequency ofgrooming social scratch social scratchhour (hrs)(bouts)per grooming

Names Sex

Year of
birth

GL
m
TB
m
AO
m
FE
m
FF
f
FN
f
unknown* ?

1977
1977
1979
1992
1958
1981
?

0.64
0.20
0.88
0.28
0.38
0.25
0.14

54
0
0
0
0
2
4

8.05
29.56

MJ**

1980?

3.32

88

26.54

f

83.83

*: An adult individual, not GL nor FN, whose name and sex was not ascertained.
**: An individual who showed social scratch most frequently in Mahale (1).

Discussion
The context and the reaction of the recipients ofsocial scratch in Gombe seemed to be the same as
those in Mahale (1). Each of these observations
was made only when chimpanzees were groomingsocially, and recipients showed no positive reaction to the received social scratch.
Nakamura and others (1) argued that most
adult individuals in Mahale perform social
scratch. All of 6 individuals in Gombe that groomed more than 0.2 hrs were older than 10 years.
Two of them (GL and FN) performed social
scratch, while the rest of them were not observed
to do this. This result suggests that not all of theadult individuals of the Kasakela community in
Gombe perform social scratch at this time, while
it is thought to be very common among the adultindividuals of the M group in Mahale. On theother hand, two performers in Gombe (GL andunknown) seemed to scratch socially more
frequently than performers in Mahale (Table 1).
The performer who socially scratched mostfrequently in Mahale was MJ, and the frequency
was 26.54 social scratches per grooming hour (1).
GL and the unknown’s frequencies of social
scratch (83.83 and 29.56, respectively) were higher than even the highest value in Mahale.
Although McGrew and Marchant (1) investigated hand laterality of Kasakela chimpanzees

from September to December 1992, they neverobserved social scratch. If no chimpanzee of the
Kasakela community performed social scratch or
the frequencies were too low to be observed 10
years ago, these three performers (or more) musthave somehow acquired the behavioral pattern or
their frequencies must have increased significantly over the past 10 years. Two hypotheses
can explain the acquisition process (3): 1. The
three chimpanzees acquired it independently,
thus by individual learning, 2. They acquired itby social learning. Hypothesis 2 can explain thiscase better than 1, because it is unreasonable tothink that they learned their behavior one-by-one
independently where the behavior had not existed at all. Some kinds of social learning arethought to promote the propagation of the behavioral pattern in the community. Furthermore,
the variation in the social learning may affect thedifferent features of social scratch as discussed
above between Gombe and Mahale.
If the above hypothesis 2 is the case, theprocess of social learning and acquisition of the
new behavioral pattern are in progress in the
Kasakela community, and it is worth studying
the concrete process of the phenomenon because
cases of social propagation of cultural behavior
are very rare in the animal kingdom (4).
In order to answer the question of whether thepattern of social scratch in Gombe and Mahale

Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002
are the same, we have to investigate how many
chimpanzees in the community perform social
scratch and what kinds of social learning sustain
its propagation. Researchers who are interested
in the behavior of social scratch in other fields
should study the chimpanzees in Gombe.
This study was financially supported by a
MEXT Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research(Basic Research A1, #12375003 to T Nishida). I
received many constructive suggestions from M
Nakamura.

References(1) Nakamura M, McGrew WC, Marchant LF,
Nishida T 2000. Social scratch: Another custom in wild chimpanzees? Primates 41:237–
248.
(2) Goodall J 1986. The Chimpanzees of Gombe,
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
(3) Nishida T 1987. Local tradition and culturaltransmission. In: Primate Societies, Smuts B,
Cheney DL, Seyfarth RM, Wrangham RW,
Struhsaker TT (eds), The University of
Chicago Press, pp. 462–474.
(4) Boesch C 1995. Innovation in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Int J Primatol 16:1–16.

<NOTE>
Competition between Baboons
and Chimpanzees at Mahale.
Toshisada Nishida

Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University

It appears that the yellow baboons of Kasoje haverecently increased in number and expanded theirranges enormously at the cost of the M groupchimpanzee range (1, 2). The question of why
they have expanded their ranges is addressed
here. Before the national park was established,
there were only two baboon troops at Kasoje, one
in the southern region and the other in thenorthern region. The northern troop’s range,
which S. Uehara and I had studied in 1973–74,
was very narrow and limited to the open areas

23
along the shoreline of Lake Tanganyika (Fig. 1)(3). Kasiha Village was at the northern limit of
the troop range, and since villagers were antagonistic to crop-raiders, baboons did not penetrate
more deeply into the Kasoje area at that time.
After the resident people moved out of the park
area in 1975, baboons did not face any obstacles
to expanding their ranges. Moreover, fruit trees
such as oil palms, mango trees and guava trees,
formerly protected by the villagers, suddenly fell
into their possession. In particular, oil palm fruit,
which is highly nutritious, became their favorite
food item. Now, five to six, instead of two, baboon
troops reside within the M group study area (5).
They also began to invade the interior forested
areas, which they had never used before (Fig. 1).
In the early 1990s, I noticed food remnants suchas chewed stalks of elephant grass along the pathfrom Kasiha Village to Kansyana Camp, 1 km
inland from the lake. In April, 1992, baboons
came to the Kansyana Camp and stole dried fishfrom the camp kitchen (Uehara, unpublished). In
1995, baboons first fed on the fruits of thePseudospondias tree, which had been used only
by chimpanzees before (2). In October 2002, theyreached as far as the G4-1 point (* in Fig.1) andbegan to eat Garcinia fruits, which were the M
group chimpanzees’ major food resource in thelate dry–early rainy season.
One possible consequence of the baboon invasion is more frequent use of the higher part of
the range by M group chimpanzees. Although thelong-term changes in the range use pattern ofchimpanzees has not been systematically studied,the drastic decrease in some food plants such as
Harungana madagascariensis has already been
noticed in 1992 (Uehara, unpublished) (4). Therefore, both baboon invasion and vegetation
changes would be responsible for the more extensive use of the higher part by chimpanzees. In
1994, we had to cut a new trail, Route 7, known
as the “Skyway”, above Route 6, then the highest
trail, in order to follow chimpanzees. From May
to July 1994, it was impossible for us to study
chimpanzees without this new trail.
It is likely that baboons are winning the competition with chimpanzees. First, baboons have awider food repertoire than do chimpanzees.
Baboons eat almost all of the major foods of the

24

Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002

Home range of theK-group in 1974
Home range of the
M-group in 1974
Home ranges ofbaboon troops
V. Valley
R. RiverFigure 1 Expansion of the range used by baboons 1974–2002 (Estimate)* G4-1 point

M group chimpanzees (Table 1). According toMatsumoto-Oda and Kasagula (1), during their
two-month study period in 1998–99, baboons ate
36 species of plants, while chimpanzees ate only
18 species. Moreover, baboons can ingest even
unripe fruits, while chimpanzees mostly eat only
ripe fruits. This dietary difference in effect deprives the chimpanzees of several food sources
they previously enjoyed. For example, althoughchimpanzees used to eat mango fruits in the
1980s, they have not been observed to do so for atleast the past five years.
Should we assume that this takeover of chimpanzee ranges by baboons is a completely naturalprocess? I do not think so.
First, of course, oil palms and mango trees are
not indigenous but were planted by humans.
Second, I speculate that the recent invasion of thechimpanzee range by baboons has been facil-

Table 1. Major Food of Chimpanzees
Shared by Baboons
FRUITS 6/9 species
Cordia millenii
Ficus sur
Ficus urceolaris
Ficus vallis-choudae
Garcinia huillensis
Saba florida
LEAVES 3/5 species
Baphia capparidifolia
Ficus exaperata
Ficus urceolaris
PITHS 2/2 species
Pennisetum purpureum
Aframomum alboviolaceum
Compiled from (6), unpublished data, and (1).

Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002

25

itated partly by the widening of observation
ecosystem cannot be estimated without detailed
paths for the convenience of tourists. The park
research.
tourism strategy appears to have provided an
References
opener and dryer environment that is more con(1) Matsumoto-Oda A, Kasagula MB 2000. Preducive to baboon survival.
liminary study of feeding competition between
Therefore, I would suggest the following tenbaboons and chimpanzees in the Mahale
tative solutions:
Mountains National Park, Tanzania. African
1. Cutting down oil palm groves that are likely
Study Monographs 21:147–157.
to lead baboons to the core feeding area of the(2) Nishida T 1997. Baboon invasion into chimM group chimpanzees.
panzee habitat. PAN 4(2):11–12.
2. Keeping the widths of observations paths as(3)
NishidaT, Uehara S, Nyundo R 1979. Predanarrow as possible (less than 1 m).
tory behavior among wild chimpanzees of the
Oil palms are most nutritious food of baboons
Mahale Mountains. Primates 20:1–20.
introduced by humans. Since chimpanzees of M
group do not eat them, thedestruction of oil palms
would have little, if any, influence on the nutritional
status of the chimpanzees.
I want to point out thatbaboons influence the ecosystem in another aspect.
Chimpanzees eat the pulpof fruits such as Cordia,
swallow the seeds, andeliminate them in defecation; as a result, some ofthese seeds germinate after
being transported by thewalkinganddigestingFigure 2 Seedlings of Cordia millenii which germinatedchimpanzees (Fig. 2). In
from chimpanzee feces.
contrast, baboons not only
eat fruit pulp but also ingest kernels inside the hard
seeds of Cordia recoveredfrom the feces of chimpanzees (Fig. 3). This can hinder the seed dispersal bychimpanzees and thus deter
their contribution to forestregeneration. For baboons,however, such a transformation would be adaptive
to them because it would
make the habitat more
savanna-like, since Cordia
is a forest tree. However,the degree of influence thisFigure 3 Seeds of Cordia millenii which were evacuatedby chimpanzees and then destroyed by yellow baboons.
baboon habit has on the

26

Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002

(4) Norikoshi K 2002. The changes in the vegetation of the Kasoje study area and ranging
patterns of M group chimpanzees during two
decades. In: The Mahale Chimpanzees,
Nishida T, Uehara S, Kawanaka K (eds),
Kyoto University Press, pp.101–128.
(5) Uehara S, Ihobe H 1998. Distribution andabundance of diurnal mammals, especiallymonkeys, at Kasoje, Mahale Mountains, Tanzania. Anthropol Sci 106:349–369.
(6) Nishida T 1991. Primate gastronomy: cultural
food preferences in nonhuman primates andorigins of cuisine. In: Chemical Senses vol.4:
Appetite and Nutrition, Friedman MI, et al.
(eds), Marcel Dekker, New York, pp.195–209.

little portion he left the baby on a branch, descended the tree, and moved away, apparently to
avoid the observer. Luckily the male was alone
with no other chimps around, and so the researchers were later able to retrieve the baby’s
body.
The fact that members of the public are allowed to use paths through the park, and the factthat some of those people have not remainedalert to the danger from chimps, were contributory factors to this incident. We are continuing toenforce the safety rules as well as explaining tostaff and to visitors what the risks are and how to
avoid them.
Frodo is not scared of people and sometimes includes them in his displays, by hitting or pushing
them, but researchers and Park guides can usually tell by the signs that he is going to do this, andhelp people to avoid him. This aspect of his behaviour is in a way like play, but of a rough sort.
However, Frodo’s behaviour during this incident
seemed more to be part of the natural hunting behaviour of chimpanzees: it seems they can view
human babies just as they view the young ofother species such as colobus monkeys and baboons, as potential prey. This was not the firstcase of human babies being taken by chimps in
the Gombe area, but it was the first within thePark and the first involving a habituated chimpof the research community. We hope very much it
will be the last.

<NEWS>
Human Baby Killed by Gombe
Chimpanzee
Shadrack Kamenya

Gombe National Park

At Gombe National Park, Tanzania, a tragic
incident occurred on the 15th of May, 2002. A
human baby, 14 months old, was kidnapped andkilled by an adult male chimpanzee.
The mother and her baby were coming into
Gombe from their village of Mgaraganza which isoutside the National Park. She was accompaniedby her niece, aged 16, who was carrying the baby.
They were walking on a public footpath whichruns through the Park, and about 11:20 am,
when they were still about three kilometers awayfrom the research camp at Kasekela, they passed
through the forest near the shore at Kahama.
They had just crossed a small dry gully, when
they came unexpectedly on the alpha male ofKasekela community, Frodo, just 4 metres fromthe path, where he was feeding on oil-palm
fronds on the ground.
The chimpanzee approached the two women,
and at that distance they had no time to run andwere too weak to do anything to protect theirchild, so he took the baby from the girl’s back,and moved off into the forest. When he was next
seen, by one of the researchers, he was in a tree
and the baby was dead, but after eating only a<EDITORIAL>
A Request for Conservation
NGO/NPOs: For the Great Apes’“World Heritage Status”
Dear Madame/Sir:
Prof. Toshisada Nishida, the former Presidentof the International Primatological Society, in collaboration with others, has launched a project toaward the great apes “World Heritage Status” inorder to prevent their extinction. For more detailed information on the project, please see PAN 8(1) and 8(2).
In order to obtain World Heritage Status forthe great apes, we are collecting information on

Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002
NGOs/NPOs who are working to conserve any of
the great apes and their habitats. Compiling information on NGOs/NPOs is important to negotiations with UNESCO because we will be able toshow them how many people and organizations
are actually involved in the effort to conserve thegreat apes. Therefore, we would be very happy if
you could answer the questionnaire below about
your conservation NGO/NPO and send it to the
PAN editorial office at your earliest convenience.
The information you give us will be used only
for the above purpose. We will send you news of
our progress in the near future and also ask foryour input when making the preamble of theWorld Heritage Species Status.
Answering the questionnaire does not necessary mean that you positively or wholly support
this project (though of course we would be happy
if you do so). In other words, we are not asking
you to make a quick decision on whether you arefor or against this project, but simply we need thebasic information on your NGO/NPO to demonstrate the breadth of interest in the fate of thegreat apes; we do not purport to speak on behalfof any other group or individual.
We would also appreciate it if you could provide
us information on other NGOs/NPOs that are
working for the preservation of the great apes inorder to compile a comprehensive list. You do nothave to resend your reply if you have alreadysent it to Dr. Michio Nakamura by e-mail.
Thank you for your cooperation and any assistance you can provide.

27e) Mailing address:f) E-mail address:g) Web site if available:h) Name of periodical publication if available:i) Number of members:j) Country(s) of activity:k) Area(s) of activity:l) Focus of conservation (within 4 great apes):m) Recent activities:---------------------------------------------------------------------[EXAMPLE]a) Name of organization: Mahale Wildlife Conservation Societyb) Nationality of organization: Tanzaniac) Name of the representative person: Hosea Y.
Kayumbo & Toshisada Nishidad) Name of contact person for correspondence if
different from c): Toshisada Nishidae) Mailing Address: c/o T Nishida, Dept. of
Zoology, Kyoto Univ., Kyoto, 606-8502, Japanf) E-mail address: PAN@jinrui.zool.kyoto-u.ac.jpg) Web site: http://jinrui.zool.kyoto-u.ac.jp/PAN/h) Periodical publications: Pan Africa Newsi) Number of members: ca. 100j) Country(s) of Activity: Tanzaniak) Area(s) of Activity: Mahale and western
Tanzanial) Focus of conservation (within 4 great apes):
Chimpanzee (P t schweinfurthii)m) Recent Activities: Elimination of alien plants,
Environmental education, Community conservation, Assistance to local researchers.

Yours sincerely,

PAN Editors
Your answer should be sent either by e-mail to:
PAN@jinrui.zool.kyoto-u.ac.jp
or by snail mail to:
PAN Editorial Office, c/o T. Nishida, Dept. of
Zoology, Kyoto Univ., Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan[QUESTIONNAIRE]a) Name of organization:b) Nationality of organization:c) Name of representative person:d) Name of contact person for correspondence if
different from c):<LETTER TO EDITOR>
Orphanage of Great Ape Babies
Augustin Kanyunyi Basabose

Head, Department of Biology,
Laboratory of Primatology,
CRSN-Lwiro, DS Bukavu, R.D. Congo,
augubasabose@yahoo.com

Background
The forests of eastern Democratic Republic ofCongo are home to 96% of the world’s eastern
lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla graueri) andlarge populations of chimpanzees (Pan28

Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002

troglodytes schweinfurthi); however instability
resulting from the war in the eastern Congo(former Zaire), has led to a slaughter of a large
number of these great apes. In the montane
sector of Kahuzi-Biega National Park, a recent
gorilla census done in 2000 (Omari, Wildlife Conservation Society, unpub. data) revealed half ofthe population was killed for meat. Only 130
gorillas have survived from the 258 individuals
counted in 1996 (Inogwabini et al., African J. of
Ecology 38:269–276, 2000). In addition, poachers
illegally bring many gorillas and chimpanzees
babies to cities in the region such as Bukavu.
Kahuzi-Biega Park staff in collaboration with theCentre de Recherche en Sciences Naturelles(Lwiro) has launched a campaign to search andconfiscate ape babies brought by the poachers to
Bukavu and has created an orphanage at the
CRSN (Lwiro) station. The orphanage project has
already received six chimpanzee babies. The
poachers have been seriously punished andbrought before the courts to be judged and jailed.

national community, which focuses on animal
conservation and especially great apes, might
support our effort to bring back hope to thesethreatened animals. We urgently need approximately $5,900(US). This support would be used
for rehabilitation of the housing and much needed equipment ($1,400 US); an education campaign ($900 US) and daily living costs ($3,600
US), including food, care and medicines foreighteen months.

Reference:
Dr. Juichi Yamagiwa
Professor
Laboratory of Human Evolution Studies,
Department of Zoology
Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, JAPAN
Tel: +81-75-753-4108; Fax: +81-75-753-4098
e-mail: yamagiwa@jinrui.zool.kyoto-u.ac.jp

Aim of the Orphanage Project
In confiscating those animals from the hands ofpoachers and bringing them before the courts
where they pay high amends, we hope to discourage poaching activity of these endangered
species at the brink of extinction in the great lake
region. This is a conservation effort seen as a partof a systematic approach at regional and local
scale. The Orphanage Project is another part ofthis approach. The goal of the Project is to keep
the confiscated ape babies in a protected, but
healthy environment until they are old enough tolive freely in the forest without special care. The
park accepted this plan to reintroduce them into
Kahuzi-Biega. However, we will need assistancefrom other specialists to achieve this task.

Funding Support Required
We have been receiving some assistance ($50 US
per month) from the park to launch the project,
but this is not enough to support the daily living
cost of the six animals we now have in theorphanage. In addition, this support from thepark will stop at the end of July 2002 andrenewal is not guaranteed. We are now looking
for an additional financial support for ourOrphanage Project. Our hope is that the inter-

Baby Chimpanzees in the Orphanage at Lwiro© A.K. Basabose, 2002

Pan Africa News, Vol. 9, No.2
Published in December, 2002
Address:
Editorial Office, Pan Africa News
Department of Zoology
Graduate School of Science
Kyoto University
Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8502
JAPAN
TEL: (+81)75-753-4085
FAX: (+81)75-753-4098
E-mail: PAN@jinrui.zool.kyoto-u.ac.jp