Pan Africa News 9(2)
Pan Africa News
The Newsletter of the Committee for the Care and Conservation of Chimpanzees, and the Mahale Wildlife Conservation Society
DECEMBER 2002 VOL. 9, NO. 2
P. A . N . EDITORIAL STAFF Contents
Chief Editor: Toshisada Nishida, Kyoto University, Japan
inhabitants to the apes in forest. Generally speaking, Pan troglodytes is not an en- There are no records of chimpanzee hunting dangered species. Not as the whole species. There Printed on recycled paper 14 Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002 in Tanzania, but two latter factors combined Veterinary Project working in Virunga National caused the death of about 25% population of Park in Rwanda, Uganda and Congo-Zaire. chimpanzees in the Gombe National Park in Tan- The attempts to establish similar Project for zania in the last decade. Reports from the Mahale free-ranging chimpanzees have started in Tan- Mountains National Park also indicate recent zania in October 2001, when the Chimpanzee noticeable decrease in the ape population. Health Project has been established within Due to scale of the problem and variety of Gombe Stream Research Center JGI in Gombe factors involved, it seems inevitable that people National Park. After one year of this study, which involved in various fields of research, conserva- was the pilot one, conducted without any veteri- tion and education join their forces to stop this nary facility yet present, lots of valuable infor- process. Because diseases, especially the mation about such project requirements and anthropozoonoses, are responsible for the death possibilities were gathered. of many of these animals (in Gombe at least 16 The Project work consisted of four main parts: chimpanzees died due to antropozoonotic illness- es in only last 6 years), it seems important that 1. Everyday monitoring of the chimpanzee the team includes also the veterinary component. health status, including observation and There are wildlife veterinarians working in sample collection from both healthy and sick Tanzania, who can be invited to collaboration, but animals. in case of great apes some specific knowledge and 2. Autopsy of every animal—including other skills are required comparing to working with species, found dead in the forest. other African wildlife. 3. Investigation and, in certain cases, treatment There are three facts to explain such an during general disease outbreaks. opinion. First, unlike most other wildlife veteri- 4. Close collaboration with TANAPA and Re- narians, an ape doctor works on foot, following searchers in order to decrease the risk of his patients around thick forest, carrying all antropozoonotic and zoonotic diseases within equipment, for many hours in a row. Second, the Park. dealing with the animals of such complex be- It included the regular social work programs: haviour and social life, it is very important to teaching (health seminars), vaccination in spend lot of time learning to understand their case of disease risk and general investigation reactions to different situations, including the to estimate the health status of the human health disorders. In order to gather this know- and non-human primates living in Gombe ledge veterinarian has to spend reasonable time National Park. just following his targets and watching them carefully for many hours. Also, especially when 1. Monitoring: Observation and Non- darting wild chimpanzees is very difficult, non- Invasive Sample Collection invasive sampling is a main part of practice. As indicated by the pilot study, if there is an on- Again, this requires long-term, regular follows. going research project at the site, this part of Third reason is due to genetical closeness of work can and preferably should be done in collab- apes and humans, which means that doctor and oration with researchers and their assistants. patient can possibly share almost all pathogens, The credits of such collaboration are substan- which therefore creates considerable risk for both tial and mutual. of them. Also, because apes are closer related to Due to the risk of antropozoonotic diseases it people than other animals, working with them is highly advisable to decrease number of people often requires close collaboration with human in contact with chimpanzees. Involving research- doctors and laboratories rather than these of vet- ers in basic veterinary monitoring and sampling erinary medicine. seems the best policy allowing to obtain more The possible solution for the problem is to thorough data without presence of additional vet- establish the project specialised in working with erinary assistants in forest. wild chimpanzees, following the example of Also, because of their everyday presence Morris Animal Foundation Mountain Gorilla around animals and good knowledge of chim- Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002 15 panzee behaviour, researchers of diet and range • Hair (parasites, DNA) are able to notice many abnormalities sooner • Discharges: pus, sputum, exudates (bacteria, than veterinarian, who lacks this experience. So virus, parasites, cytology, DNA) not only they can be help with the data and • Blood—very small amount obtainable (bacteria, sample collection, but also may serve as the virus, parasites, antibodies, DNA). teachers for the veterinary team. If the simple Health Monitoring Sheets are 2. Autopsy used, the basic information can be recorded on Simultaneously to being the important source of every day base and the data compared within the diagnostic material, autopsy work with chimpan- long period of time. These sheets should be easy zees creates, much bigger than in case of other to understand by the non-vet assistants and species, risk for the humans involved. It is ex- ideally always carried by them during the forest tremely important to provide the safe conditions work. for this work, including the separate post mortem On the other hand, involving veterinarian in room and limiting number of people who have the behavioural research often helps explain certain contact with potentially highly infectious mate- abnormalities of behaviour connected with a rial. disease. Because of many pathogens shared by differ- Also post mortem findings can help under- ent primates, and even non-primate species in stand some unusual behaviour and a vet, follow- forest, it is important that any animal found dead ing the pattern of injuries and autopsy finding in a forest should be carefully examined and can help understand some facts of predatory and samples collected for the future laboratory test- intra- and intercommunity aggression. In addi- ing. tion a material collected for veterinary purpose can be simultaneously used for other research 3. Disease Investigation and Treatment purposes, for example urine collection for regular As in case of everyday health monitoring, investi- pregnancy testing or fecal sampling for the pater- gation during disease outbreaks should also be nity study. based on non-invasive sampling. Darting should Apart from the data collected during observa- be restricted to the cases when it is absolutely tion, in order to obtain the clear picture of com- necessary and no other method of work can be munity health status, regular, everyday sample used instead. Apart from the risks involved and collection should also be conducted. the fact that a free ranging chimpanzee would Non-invasive sampling is, due to the risk and probably let himself to be darted only once in a difficulty involved in darting of free-raging chim- lifetime, in some cases it has been proved that panzees, the method of choice for gathering the the action had led to result no different than biological material from this species. Unlike the what would anyway happen in natural way. sampling involving anaesthesia, it provides the Therefore it should always be individually con- regular, even everyday source of material. sidered if the risk involved in the action does not Due to the rapid evolution of laboratory tech- create the bigger risk than the injury itself. In niques it is also the potential basis for wide vari- case it is undertaken, the carefully calculated ety of different tests. combination of the oral and injectable drugs should be used to minimize the danger. There are, MATERIAL AVAILABLE FOR NON-INVASIVE of course, situations when anesthesia is the COLLECTION FROM FREE-RANGING CHIMPANZEES: method of choice: for example when animal is • Feces (bacteria, virus, parasites, cytology, hor- found still kept by the snare or darting can be mones, DNA) undertaken before the necrosis of tissue appear- • Urine (bacteria, virus, antibodies, chemistry, ed. parasites, cytology, hormones) In case when disease makes an animal very • Wadge (bacteria, virus, cytology, DNA) weak or unconscious, it is often possible to dart, • Semen (bacteria, virus, DNA) or inject directly with the therapeutic drug (anti-
16 Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002 biotic, steroid, etc) without administration of Meningococcus, Polyo, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, anaesthetic. and actual (at most one year old) tuberculosis Unlike in the work with gorillas, in veterinary test. of free-ranging chimpanzees bases mainly on the oral medicine administration, which is easier, less Apart from vaccination programs, there are risky and usually not less effective. certain attributes of forest work, which can be Still this method can be used only in changed in order to minimize the risk of habituated animals and in case when they are antropozoonotic infection. still strong enough to be interested in food bites. As the forest animals frequently visit camp, it While the single case of disease in habituated is extremely important that the area is clean, chimpanzee is considerably easy to treat, it be- houses well-protected and number of human comes much more difficult in a situation of gen- inhabitants decreased only to the necessary eral outbreak. It is extremely hard to monitor minimum. All residents of Park should be and administrate medicine to a big number of regularly examined in the local hospital. Examin- free-ranging animals and there is a big risk of ation should include the fecal and blood test in loosing many—sometimes up to 50% of com- each case and additional diagnostic method munity members. Therefore it is essential to suggested during the general clinical check up. prevent such outbreaks through the policy of Also the general vaccination program should be rules for all the people in contact with chimpan- carefully considered. zees. It is also essential that during their work in This policy includes the vaccination programs, forest researchers and tourist guides follow the hygiene control and education and the rules for list of rules describing quarantine, distances and researchers, tourists and all the people living in time spent with animals. Only the good will and the forest. close collaboration between TANAPA and re- searchers can make the situation better. List of Diseases Considered as Most Jeopardising for the Free-Ranging Apes 4. Social work. During the pilot study the veterinary project in BACTERIAL INFECTIONS: Gombe has also been involved in wide variety of Shigella, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Myco- social work, including: bacterium (tuberculosis and bovis, possibly also • Open health seminars for research assistants avium), Streptococcus pneumoniae, very probably and TANAPA employees working and living also Neisseria meningiditis and Haemophilus inside the park. These seminars were prepared influenzae. and presented together with TANAPA nurse and covered the subjects of general biology, VIRAL INFECTIONS: anatomy and hygiene. Herpes simplex, Chicken pox, Measles, • Collaboration with TANAPA in order to create Mumps, Polyo, Rota, Hepatitis A and B, Influ- the list of animal safety rules for people work- enza viruses, Parainfluenza type 3, Resp. ing and leaving in Gombe, as well as visiting Syncytial virus. researchers and tourists. Since such list is ready, the work is concentrated on practical aspect of PARASITE INFECTIONS: rules being followed. Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lamblia, • Collaboration in work of GOMBE HEALTH Balantidium coli, Sarcoptes scabiei. COMMITEE, formed together with TANAPA (Ott-Joslin, Zoo and wild animal medicine, directory of the Park. Jones et al. 1984, Speare 97, Brack 87). It proved very beneficial for the general understanding of health issues among the people Of which the humans working and living within living and working in Park and seems a highly the chimp habitat should be vaccinated or tested advisable component for the Chimpanzee Veteri- for: Hepatitis A and B, Yellow fever, nary Project work. Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002 17
Conclusions After 14 Months of Project
18 Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002
These areas of regulation are not revolutionary, per group from our camp but frequently meet and I am not here trying here to assess their many, many more people when viewing, whether value, which I think is fairly well-understood and these are other tourist groups, or those connected agreed upon. I have taken this opportunity to ex- with research and park maintenance. Further- amine them carefully, assess whether they are more, we require a park ranger plus a tracker practical, and make further suggestions. 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 Solutions voluntarily supply a chimp briefing. One of the We should encourage TANAPA to take a firm main issues this covers is the need to keep 5 m- hand concerning which tourist/film/visitor groups distance from the chimpanzees to avoid risks of are allowed in the forest, when, and for how long. stress and infection. The tourists have been found There still appears to be unrestricted access for reasonably willing to accept this and adhere to it, all. We currently have to negotiate amongst our- but it is not easy to maintain in situ. selves to avoid bumping into other visitors. This is not always successful. Problems Film crews must be regulated somehow, not 1) Some others viewing the chimpanzees (some only on their distance and behavior in the forest, other tourist groups, some film crew staff, which is generally more intrusive, but when they some researchers, some park guides) do not are permitted to film. As they require full day adhere to the rules, thus invalidating our rea- and general access, should they be restricted to sons for it, and therefore, our authority off peak tourist season—or on days when tour- 2) The chimpanzees are very mobile, and often ists are present should they be required to with- approach much closer than this rule allows draw during the tourist slots? Numbers of “professionals” viewing chimps Solutions must be regulated. No one should be viewing the 1) A commitment by everyone to keep this rule. chimpanzees who does not have a good reason The researchers and research team, rangers and purpose. To help us with this, all “staff”, and trackers particularly (that is, the “ex- whether guides, researchers, trackers, rangers perts”) need to set an example to the visitors: should be issued with appropriate uniforms and the tourists and film crews, and become badges. Sponsorship can supply these. Research self-regulating. teams, camps and TANAPA could all agree 2) The distance, set originally for gorillas, who quotas of how many permits (badges) can be are much less active, should be increased. 5 issued and used at any one time. meters distance for a very mobile chimpanzee Efforts should be made on the part of rangers is actually still very close. Eight meters would and tourist trackers to follow individuals not be more than adequate for a visitor to still being followed by the research. More communi- have a quality experience, and would allow cation from the researchers on their preferred the chimps more room for maneuver. subjects, where possible, on the day would help 3) An acceptance that this distance rule isn’t the rangers/trackers identify their “targets” for merely set for static viewing, but also for that day and keep out of the way of the research, when following chimps on paths—or moving and vice versa. Some efforts are made towards through the forest. The most obvious infringe- this already and it is reasonably successful. A bit ments occur when trackers, researchers, rang- more effort on all sides would solve this. Some ers, and tourists walk past the chimps on the allowances should be made for the fact that path. tourists get their most exciting viewing when observing the high-ranking males, more specifi- 2. Restriction of Viewer Numbers cally the alpha male. Problems Long term, high grade TANAPA employees We now rigidly restrict to maximum six tourists need to be trained as professional trackers/ Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002 19 guides/rangers so that numbers accompanying In emergency, hole should be dug 50 cm deep. tourist group can be reduced to one or two at Researcher etc should carry a trowel. most. This would require language training, d) Disinfecting of shoes? forest discipline, chimpanzee behavior, forest Best choice of non-toxic disinfectant-trays in navigation, first aid and general guide etiquette. exit points, disposal effects etc. Within our staff, we have already embarked on e) No flash photography training our own trackers and guides in the f) No bleepers etc on cameras absence of qualified personnel from TANAPA. Cameras and electronic equipment with Most importantly, if Mahale is to generate good alarms etc can be noisy—disturbing general revenues and continue to satisfy visitors to its full level of peace, and probably added chimp potential, a new project needs to be put in place stress. to habituate a new group of chimpanzees to relieve increasing pressures on the one study I do not see any great problems here. group. The new group could be reserved ex- clusively for one or two interest groups. 5. Regulations and Code of Behavior General guide to manners in the forest-posted on 3. Restriction of Hours of Viewing/Visits guides huts, Bandas, research posts, camp tents Problems etc etc—about no shouting, restricted movements A tourist may have started viewing the chimps etc etc. then the chimpanzees will move and viewing will No real problems here just dissemination of stop. information which would encourage the visitors Group size relieves pressure but multiple to support the rangers keeping regulations. groups in the forest becomes hard to coordinate and messy, often affecting the quality of chim- A Final Problem panzee viewing. The biggest problem I see in implementation of all of these rules, even once they are agreed upon Solutions and laid down is that this is not a new project, A tourist group will be given a time slot within and old habits die hard. We are looking at some which they can view. Ideally this should be the quite serious re-education and commitment to only morning or the only afternoon slot. There these regulations if they are to have any success should be two slots available per day. Within that at all, particularly amongst the entrenched stake- slot they will be permitted one–two hours of holders, officials and staff. viewing. If it is continuous viewing, one hour is plenty, if the chimps are particularly mobile this should be extended to two hours and possibly monitored with a stop-watch.
Restrict number of tourist groups per day to
1 Université de Liège, Laboratoire de Biologie du 4. Other Regulations comportement: Ethologie et psychologie animale. a) No eating Quai Van Beneden 22 B-4020 Liège, Belgium. 2 b) No smoking UMR 6552 CNRS-Université de Rennes 1, Station Biologique de Paimpont, F-35380 Paimpont, France. c) No defecating [email protected] *to whom correspondence should be addressed.
20 Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002
Introduction this time was devoted to algae feeding. Odzala National Park is in the north west of the The same three individuals were later seen on Republic of Congo (0°23′–1°46′N; 14°16′–16°40′E). 4 November (12:57–13:53 hr), and on 6 November At 13,600 km2, it is one of the largest protected (11:38–13:16hr), the tool-using male performing areas in central Africa. The vegetation in the the same scooping behaviour while the two others park is a mosaic of savanna and forest islands in still feeding using their hand. On 4 November, the south, and in the north is an evergreen rain the tool-using chimpanzee left the clearing with a forest with large areas of Marantaceae and many tool in his mouth. natural clearings, commonly called bais (1, 2). Primate censuses conducted in 1994–1995 show- Discussion ed the park to contain one of the highest known Overall, chimpanzees were seen at the bai on 6 densities of chimpanzees (Pan t. troglodytes) with out of 442 observation days. This is the first a mean density of 2.2 individuals/km2 as well as a record of algae-feeding and algae-scooping at a high population density of gorillas (Gorilla g. forest clearing. Feeding on algae has been seen in gorilla) which is up to 10.3 individuals/km2 (3). chimpanzees at Bossou, Guinea (4) and for one Since April 2001, a long-term survey of the gorilla individual at Mahale, Tanzania (5). At Bossou, population visiting a bai close to the Lokoué chimpanzees use tools (twig or grass stem) to River has been done by S.G. and F.L. From scoop algae from a pond surface but they hold it November 2001, C.D. has studied the use of the in one hand instead of keeping it between their forest surrounding the clearing by the same fingers. Curiously, feeding on algae has never gorillas. Forest clearings in the Odzala National been seen in gorillas despite their recurrent visits Park are usually not visited by chimpanzees (2). to the clearing. However it was seen in black and However, in November 2001, we saw for the first white colobus (Colobus guereza occidentalis). time chimpanzees entering the Lokoué clearing. The use of tools to fish for insects is well This note reports their harvesting of algae. known in many populations (6). Chimpanzees of the Lossi sanctuary, 90 km south of Lokoué bai, Observations have been repeatedly seen to use complex tool- Observations were made from a hide located at sets to fish for termites and honey (7). Eating and the edge of the forest, using 10×40 binoculars and fishing for algae at Lokoué is probably rare due to a 20–60× telescope, at an average distance of 180 the scarcity of pools where algae grow. Moreover, m. On 3 November (during the main rainy sea- the formation of such pools is restricted to the son), three male chimpanzees entered the clear- rainy season. Any new record of the presence of a ing at 11.24 hr and quickly walked to a small particular behavioural pattern improves the com- flood pool. They were clearly identified by distinc- parison of behavioural repertoires across the tive physical characteristics. One of them stood different chimpanzee populations across Africa quadrupedally while the two others sat by the (8). water. Two chimpanzees, using their fingers, removed the algae filaments from the pool and We thank the ECOFAC program for support, ate them by putting their fingers into their logistics and permission to work at Odzala Na- mouth. The third chimpanzee, who was sitting tional Park, especially JM Froment, L Ndahiliwe, uprooted a whole (about 20 cm long) herbaceous all members of the ECOFAC Composante Congo plant, a sedge (Cyperaceae) and clipped off the and the staff of Lokoué Bai. The gorilla study is head, using his incisors, leaving the stem. He supported by the Institut Français de la Bio- held the stem between the third and the fourth diversité, the National Geographic Society, the digit and immersed it into the water, withdrew it, Université de Rennes-1, AGRECO-GEIE (Euro- then cautiously put it to his mouth, the stem pean Union) and the Institut Royal des Sciences covered with green algae. When he walked from Naturelles de Belgique. We thank A Gautier-Hion, one pool to another, the chimpanzee carried the N Ménard and an anonymous referee for their tool between his pursed lips. The three chimpan- comments and suggestions on earlier versions of zees spent 71 min at the clearing, and most of the text. Pan Africa News, 9(2), December, 2002 21
References Kasakela community of Gombe that scratch (1) Hecketsweiler P, Doumenge C, Mokok Ikonga socially during my short visit in the park. This J 1991. Le Parc National d’ Odzala, Congo. paper reports new observations and discusses IUCN. Gland, Suisse. some features of social scratch in Gombe by com- (2) Vanleeuwe H, Cajani S, Gautier-Hion A 1998. parison with the behavior in Mahale. Large mammals at forest clearings in the Odzala National Park, Congo. Rev Ecol (Terre Observations & Vie) 53:171–180. I visited Gombe and sampled behavioral data of (3) Bermejo M 1999. Status and conservation of chimpanzees of the Kasakela community (2) from primates in Odzala National Park, Republic of 27 October to 1 November using a digital video Congo. Oryx 33:323–331. camera. My purpose was to compare chimpanzee (4) Matsuzawa T, Yamakoshi G, Humle TA 1996. behaviors between Mahale and Gombe. The A newly found tool use by wild chimpanzees: Kasakela community included around 50 indi- Algae scooping. Primate Res., 12:283. viduals when I was there (M. Lukasik and E. (5) Sakamaki T 1998. First record of algae- Greengrass, pers. comm.). I videotaped chimpan- feeding by a female chimpanzee at Mahale. zee behaviors by the ad lib. sampling method for PAN 5(1):1–3. 14.1 hrs, during which I recorded grooming for (6) McGrew WC 1992. Chimpanzee Material Cul- 3.58 hrs as total accumulation of social grooming ture: Implications for Human Evolution. Cam- of each individual. During my observation, field bridge University Press. assistants or a researcher identified the individ- (7) Bermejo M, Illera G 1999. Tool-set for ter- uals for me. A list of names, ages, and family lines mites-fishing and honey extraction by wild of individuals was also made available through chimpanzees in the Lossi Forest, Congo. the kindness of Dr. S. Kamenya, chief investiga- Primates 40:619–627. tor of the Jane Goodall Institute in Gombe. For (8) Whiten A, Goodall J, McGrew WC, Nishida T, data analysis, I used the same definition as (1) for Reynolds V, Sugiyama Y, Tutin CEG, a bout of social scratch, in which one bout was Wrangham RW, Boesch, C 1999. Cultures in defined to be separated from another by other chimpanzees. Nature 399:682–685. elements 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 calculat- ed by dividing the number of social scratch bouts by total grooming hours. Seventeen individuals were observed to groom socially. Table 1 shows the total grooming hours
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. Total Number of Frequency of Year of Names Sex grooming social scratch social scratch birth hour (hrs) (bouts) per grooming Gombe GL m 1977 0.64 54 83.83 TB m 1977 0.20 0 AO m 1979 0.88 0 FE m 1992 0.28 0 FF f 1958 0.38 0
FN f 1981 0.25 2 8.05