Obituary (1941–2011): Rapport

Frans B. M. de Waal* Living Links, Yerkes National Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America

‘‘ are always new to me.’’ Toshisada Nishida [1]

One of the absolute greats of primatol- ogy, Toshisada Nishida (March 3, 1941– June 7, 2011), recently passed away at the age of 70 (Figure 1). We have come such a long way in our knowledge of chimpan- zees, and the discoveries have reached us in such a gradual and cumulative fashion, that it is easy to forget how little was known when Nishida set out for Africa to establish one of the first chimpanzee field sites, in 1965. At the time, chimpanzees did not yet occupy the special place in our thinking about reserved for them today. Science considered ba- boons the best model of human evolution, since baboons had descended from the trees to become savanna-dwellers, like our ancestors. These rambunctious monkeys, however, are genetically more distant from us, and many of the characteristics deemed important for human evolution Figure 1. Toshisada Nishida in a Kyoto temple, in 2007. Photograph by . are either absent or minimally developed, doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001185.g001 such as tool technology, cooperative hunt- ing, food sharing, territoriality, cultural patiently for chimpanzees at a patch of any need for social bonds—not unlike traditions, and certain cognitive capacities, sugar cane planted to attract them. The Rousseau’s noble savages—Nishida had such as planning and theory-of-mind. started to make regular visits only noticed that chimpanzees live a communal Chimpanzees show all of them. after about six months. Based on his field life with territorial boundaries and perhaps Early primatologists had seen chimpan- observations, Nishida defended his disser- even hostility between neighboring unit- zees travel through the trees, eating fruits tation at in 1968. He groups. This was not an easy discovery, at their leisure, but rarely noticed anything occupied a teaching position at Tokyo because chimpanzees are often encoun- of interest in their behavior. This was University, from 1969 until 1988, before tered alone or in small groups in the forest. partly due to low visibility and the apes’ he became Full Professor in the Zoology One can determine community relations wariness of people. The study of chim- Department of Kyoto University from only if one recognizes all individuals and panzee behavior in nature began in 1988 until 2004. After his retirement from keeps careful track of their travels. Nishi- earnest only in the 1960s with one field this position, he became Director of the da’s discovery upset not only Western site set up by in Gombe Monkey Center. notions of chimpanzees as individualists, Stream, and another one 120 km to the One of Nishida’s first discoveries was but also the expectations of his Japanese south by Japanese scientists led by truly groundbreaking. While science still mentors who thought chimpanzees would Nishida. Both teams were in it for the described the chimpanzee as a peaceful live, like humans, in nuclear family–like long haul rather than the brief expeditions arrangements. Debate about what to others had previously undertaken. vegetarian that roamed the forest without Nishida started his career inspired by the legendary father of Japanese primatol- Citation: de Waal FBM (2011) Toshisada Nishida (1941–2011): Chimpanzee Rapport. PLoS Biol 9(10): e1001185. ogy, , at Kyoto University. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001185 As a graduate student of Imanishi’s Published October 25, 2011 successor, Junichiro Itani, Nishida first Copyright: ß 2011 Frans B. M. de Waal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the studied Japanese macaques before he Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any traveled to . He chose a forest medium, provided the original author and source are credited. in the foothills of the Mahale Mountains, Competing Interests: The author has declared that no competing interests exist. at , where he waited * E-mail: [email protected]

PLoS Biology | www.plosbiology.org 1 October 2011 | Volume 9 | Issue 10 | e1001185 expect must have been heated, because Mahale ended in 1982, aggressive behav- discovered that wild chimpanzees con- when Nishida’s teacher Itani arrived in ior of the chimpanzees towards neighbors sume Aspilia leaves. These leaves have no Kigoma, the student couldn’t wait for their hardly changed. Moreover, violent behav- known nutritional value, and are in fact physical reunion to shout from aboard the ior has also been reported from field sites not digested. The chimpanzees consume steamship Liemba: ‘‘There is no familoid where researchers never provisioned chim- them very slowly, mostly in the morning, in the chimpanzee society.’’ Itani-sensei panzees. For this reason, there is little swallowing the leaves without chewing. shouted back, ‘‘That can’t be true!’’ doubt among experts that chimpanzee Together with , the We have learned much about chimpan- males are naturally violent [2]. first Western primatologist to set foot in zees since then, such as that they hunt and A true pioneer of chimpanzee field Mahale, in 1971, Nishida published his eat meat, that they raid neighboring research, Nishida inspired many students, observations of potentially medicinal use territories, that they have complex tool collaborated with numerous international of plants by wild chimpanzees, thus skills that differ from group to group, that colleagues, and left one of the most founding the new field of they medicate themselves with plants, that impressive publication records of any (i.e., self-medication by animals ingesting males engage in power politics while primatologist (a complete list can be found plants, insects, or soils) [7]. competing over status and females, and in [3]). Nishida was a most dedicated Another important moment in primatolo- so on. The list of discoveries is impressive scientist who in his early career spent gy occurred when William McGrew and and the Mahale field site has been central years, and later many months per year, Caroline Tutin visited Mahale in 1975. in furnishing the evidence. From the start, under relatively primitive circumstances, Extensively familiar with the chimpanzees the approach followed at Mahale has been without tap water or electricity, at Kasoje, in Gombe National Park, they had no reason that of Imanishi, who urged his students to at the foot of the mountains. As a result, he to expect striking behavioral differences in the identify individuals, give them names, and knew all chimpanzees in several groups, same subspecies with the same ecology. follow them over time. Not just for weeks and by ‘‘knowing’’, I mean that he Nevertheless, the Mahale chimpanzees fre- or months, as done previously, but for observed them as infants, saw them grow quently engaged in hand-clasp grooming, years and years, so that one could up as juveniles, and followed them whereas this behavior is entirely unknown understand the kinship relations within through their prime into old age. from Gombe. One chimpanzee takes the the community. With a species that breeds In 1982, at the same time that I wrote hand of another, which they then lift above as slowly and is as long-lived as the Chimpanzee Politics [4], Nishida and his their heads, while both groom each other’s chimpanzee, one needs to follow individ- students were documenting very similar armpits with their free hands. Based on their uals for a long time indeed to know power struggles among wild chimpanzees visit, McGrew and Tutin were the first to whether or not two adult males are [5,6], including one by a male named seriously question the assumption of ‘‘typical’’ brothers or how many offspring a female Kalunde. Kalunde played a game that chimpanzee behavior, an important step rears during her lifetime. Before scientists Nishida called ‘‘allegiance-fickleness,’’ which towards culture studies on the great apes [8]. learned to analyze DNA from fecal or hair allows over-the-hill males to carve out a key Nishida fostered many such contacts, samples, the only way to determine position by regularly switching sides in and was central in bringing Japanese kinship relations was to hunker down for alliances with younger adult males. It was a and Western scientists togeth- the long term. thrill for me to meet Kalunde on a visit to the er. He stimulated his students and col- At the time, habituation of chimpanzees Mahale Mountains, and see Nishida in leagues to write in English, and was was typically done by means of food action. Nishida lived up to his reputation in himself the first Japanese primatologist to provisioning. Nishida first tried sugarcane, the field, being incredibly knowledgeable not publish an entire article in this language. until he found that bananas worked better. only about the primates he studied, but about He was first author or editor on no less He developed a ‘‘mobile provisioning’’ the forest as a whole and all of the flora and than 17 books and volumes, mostly in technique, in which scientists announced fauna therein. Not satisfied with bookish Japanese, but the last two in English. His their presence to distant chimpanzees by knowledge, he personally tasted each and work was characterized by great attention imitating the species-typical hooting calls, every new leaf or fruit that he saw his to the smallest details, resulting in com- after which the apes would approach and chimpanzees consume—the ultimate act of prehensive catalogues of behavior patterns obtain food. This way, their normal roaming identification with one’s subjects. [9]. Nishida’s magnum opus, Chimpanzees patterns remained intact, as they never Nishida had met ‘‘my’’ chimpanzees of the Lakeshore: Natural History and Culture at attached themselves to a fixed feeding site. about a decade before I met ‘‘his.’’ When Mahale, will soon be released by Cam- After the feeding session, the investigators he visited the Yerkes National Primate bridge University Press. followed the apes for the rest of the day. Research Center’s Field Station, in Geor- Nishida was one of the world’s most Some scientists have criticized food gia, I showed him around the way I do respected primatologists, and was present- provisioning as a technique that makes many guests. One big difference, however, ed in 2008, along with Jane Goodall, with chimpanzees more aggressive, using this as was the reaction of the chimpanzees. the prestigious Leakey Prize of the L. S. B. an argument against reports of lethal Normally, they do not like strangers, Leakey Foundation, which recognizes intergroup warfare. In the 1970s, these which they express by spitting, throwing, accomplishments in human evolutionary reports engendered fierce debate about the displaying, and the like. But with Nishida, science. He was President of the Primate aggressive nature of our own species. If there was no reaction at all. He was Society of Japan, President of the Inter- chimpanzees kill each other like we standing next to me, leaning sideways a national Primatological Society, and Edi- humans do, so the argument went, we little, walking quietly without abrupt tor-in-Chief of the journal Primates. probably inherited our territorial tenden- moves as he also did at Mahale, and the In March 2004, I attended Nishida’s cies from the ancestor shared with chim- apes seemed to think that this man was retirement reception at Kyoto University. panzees. Opponents of this view blamed perfectly all right. His lecture for a full room was riveting, the violence of wild chimpanzees on food One major advance in the study of especially given the historical details of provisioning. But while provisioning in chimpanzee habits came when Nishida how our knowledge has grown over the

PLoS Biology | www.plosbiology.org 2 October 2011 | Volume 9 | Issue 10 | e1001185 years and the critical role Japanese and established the Mahale Wildlife Con- end. He made his last field trip to Mahale scientists have played in modern prima- servation Society, in 1994. He also led the in the summer of 2009. A few months tology [10]. Many friends and colleagues attempt with the UNESCO to make the before his death of cancer, which he had from all over the world had come, because great apes a ‘‘World Heritage Species.’’ foreseen for several years, he called in two Nishida fostered excellent relations and His face always lit up when he talked of of his trusted students, now professors was active in the conservation movement. chimpanzees, so there was no doubt how themselves, telling them that all he wanted He successfully lobbied the Tanzanian close to his heart they were. from them was to make sure the Mahale government to accord the Mahale Moun- He remained dedicated to primatology project would continue for at least another tains the status of National Park, in 1985, and the protection of primates to the very century [11].

References 1. Nishida T (1993) Chimpanzees are always new to 5. Nishida T (1983) Alpha status and agonistic 8. McGrew WC, Tutin CEG (1978) Evidence for a me. In: The great ape project: equality beyond alliances in wild chimpanzees. Primates 24: social custom in wild chimpanzees? Man 13: humanity Cavalieri P, Singer P, eds. London: 318–336. 243–251. Fourth Estate. pp. 24–26. 6. Nishida T, Hosaka K (1996) Coalition strategies 9. Nishida T, Zamma K, Matsusaka T, Inaba A, 2. Wrangham RW (2010) Chimpanzee violence is a among adult male chimpanzees of the Mahale McGrew WC (2010) Chimpanzee behavior in the serious topic: a response to Sussman and Mountains, Tanzania. In: Great ape societies. wild: an audio-visual encyclopedia. Tokyo: Marshack’s critique of ‘‘Demonic Males: Apes McGrew WC, Marchant LF, Nishida T, eds. Springer. and the Origins of Human Violence.’’ Global Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 114– 10. de Waal FBM (2003) Silent invasion: Imanishi’s Nonkilling Working Papers 1: 29–47. 134. primatology and cultural bias in science. Animal 3. Yamagiwa J (2011) Professor Toshisada Nishida 7. Wrangham RW, Nishida T (1983) Aspilia spp. Cognition 6: 293–299. (1941–2011). Primates 52: 291–300. leaves: a puzzle in the feeding behavior of wild 11. Hosaka K (2011) Professor Toshisada Nishida: 4. de Waal FBM (1982) Chimpanzee politics: power chimpanzees. Primates 24: 276–282. Chief Editor of Pan Africa News. Pan Africa and sex among the apes. London: Jonathan Cape. News 18(1): 1–3.

PLoS Biology | www.plosbiology.org 3 October 2011 | Volume 9 | Issue 10 | e1001185