gorilla journal - connecting repositories · – unidentified passers-by, – illegal farmers, –...

Journal of Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe

Low Wall High Im-pact: Crisis Man-agement in Virun-ga National Park

Zoonotic DiseasesShared by Gorillasand Humans

Gorilla mtDNA –SequencesUnravelled andSecrets Revealed

GorillaJournal

No. 29, December 2004

Infanticides by aSilverback inKahuzi-Biega

BERGGORILLA & REGENWALD DIREKTHILFE

2 Gorilla Journal 29, December 2004

CONTENTSDemocratic Republic of Congo 3Kahuzi-Biega and the "14-day War" 3Fire in Kahuzi-Biega 4Involvement of Pygmy Women inConservation 5Infanticides in Kahuzi-Biega 6Low Wall High Impact 9Unconventional Warfare in theVirunga National Park 11Fire in the Mikeno Sector 13Confiscation of a Baby Gorilla 13Another Gorilla Orphan 14Rwanda 15Twin Mountain Gorillas 15Uganda 16The Diet of Bwindi Gorillas 16Gorilla Park Fees Raised 17Gorillas 18Zoonotic Diseases 18Bushmeat as a Potential Threat 20Gorilla mtDNA 21Possible Existence of PreviouslyUnrecorded Cross River Gorillas 26PHVA of the Cross River Gorilla 26The Gorillas of "Petit Evengue" 28Wildlife Law Enforcement inCameroon 30GRASP Update 32Reading 33News from the Internet 34Berggorilla & RegenwaldDirekthilfe 35

Germany. She is currently conductingfield work for her PhD dissertation onBwindi gorillas.

Bernard Iyomi Iyatshi has workedfor nature conservation in the D. R.Congo for 22 years. In August 2002,he became Principal Conservator ofthe Kahuzi-Biega National Park.

Dr. Kathryn Jeffery worked on theapplication of forensic genetics to thepopulation biology of gorillas at Lopé,Gabon and is now based at Lopé.

Mireille Johnson-Bawe works atCIRMF and is now a graduate studentat Cardiff University.

John Kahekwa has been workingat the Kahuzi-Biega National Parksince 1983. He founded the Pole PoleFoundation that has been cooperatingwith the population since 1992.

Pierre Kakule Vwirasihikya hasbeen working in the Virunga NationalPark since 1982. Now he is the TaynaGorilla Reserve Coordinator and theUGADEC Executive Secretary.

Frans Keizer has been at Apen-heul since 1979, where he is head ofthe gorilla section. Together with hiswife Marian he was sent to Gabon tolook at the possibilities of co-operat-ing with the project Operation-Loango.

Marian Keizer started to work atApenheul in 1972; when she stoppedworking, she was constantly involvedin problems with sick gorilla babies.

Daniel Malonza worked in theMinistry of Agriculture in Kenya beforehe moved on to British AmericanTobacco. He has been working withUNEP/GRASP since March 2004.

Dr. Angela Meder studied captivegorillas for 10 years. Today she worksas a book editor. Since 1992 she hasbeen part of the Board of Directors ofBerggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe.

Robert D. J. Muir worked on re-search and community-based conser-vation; since February 2004, he hasbeen working to re-start the FrankfurtZoological Society’s Virunga NationalPark Conservation Programme.

Authors of this IssueDr. Katherine A. Abernethy is

based in Gabon at CIRMF’s Lopé fieldstation, studying the dynamics andecology of tropical forests.

Dr. Nicola M. Anthony worked atCardiff University and CIRMF on gorillapopulation genetics before moving tothe University of New Orleans.

David Beamont is Communica-tion Officer with FFI. Before that heworked with the IUCN SSC in the fieldcommunications.

Richard Bergl is a Ph.D. studentin anthropology at the City Universityof New York. He has been studyingCross River gorillas since 2000.

Prof. Michael W. Bruford heads agroup of scientists and students atCardiff University studying biodiversityand environmental process.

Dr. Stephen L. Clifford works atCIRMF using non-invasive methods formeasuring gene flow, dispersal andsocial structure in wild gorilla andmandrill population genetics.

K. Alexandra Dörnath AguirreAlvarez, a veterinarian, worked inGreat Britain and Germany as well asin several wildlife management pro-jects. Presently she finishes her doc-toral thesis on zoo gorillas in Europe.

Jessica Ganas is a graduatestudent at the Max Planck Institute ofEvolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig,

Organization Address:Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfec/o Rolf BrunnerLerchenstr. 545473 Muelheim, GermanyFax +49-208-7671605E-mail [email protected]:http://www.berggorilla.orgBank Account:Account number 353 344 315Stadtsparkasse Muelheim, GermanyBank code number 362 500 00IBAN DE06 3625 0000 0353 3443 15SWIFT-BIC SPMHDE3E

Gorilla Journal 29, Dec. 2004Editor: Angela MederAugustenstr. 122, 70197 Stuttgart,GermanyFax +49-711-6159919E-mail [email protected] and Proofreading: AnnDeVoy, Bettina and Andrew GrieserJohns, Colin Groves, Tami KemptonBraggioDesign: Edwin Artho, Angela MederCover: Women carry stones for theMikeno border wall. Photo: R. Muir

D. R. CONGO


puters, one printer, 2 typewriters, ra-dios, the entire equipment of the dis-pensary including medical drugs, of-fice furniture, administrative files, elec-trical installations – all of it was takenor ripped out; glass was broken, doorswere forced, and so on. Currently, ourstaff members are still living in emptyhouses; most of them own nothing buta single pair of trousers.

After these events, we increasedour contacts with the General Com-mander of the 10th military region,whom we had asked to visit the sta-tion. Thanks to the provincial governorof South Kivu, the people responsiblewithin MONUC and the General Direc-torate/ICCN, to whom we reportedthese events, the patrol jeep was re-turned on July 2nd.

In spite of the atmosphere of inse-curity and uncertainty that dominatesthe region at the moment, we haverestarted the service and rangers havebeen deployed to all patrol posts.Contact has been re-established withall the monitored gorilla families. Theirsizes are:

Kahuzi-Biega and the"14-day War"Bukavu, July 5th, 2004. The TshivangaStation was looted after the recentconflict, the so-called “third liberation”,which swept Bukavu and its surround-ings from May 26th to June 9th. OnJune 2nd, Bukavu town fell under thecontrol of dissidents from the nationalarmy. Following strong internationalpolitical pressure, the dissidents re-treated from Bukavu town and werereplaced by loyalist forces.

These terrible events were accom-panied by an organized bloodbath, therape of girls and women, and the wilfuldestruction of the town’s infrastruc-ture, especially in the areas surround-ing the town that were reached by thedissidents.

The Tshivanga Station could notescape the same fate: the post wasoccupied by the national army fromMay 26th to June 2nd, by dissidentsfrom June 2nd to June 9th, and finallyby the loyal army again from June 9thto date. During this series of occupa-tions, our Land Cruiser patrol jeep, 5radios, 10 batteries and 2 collapsiblesolar panels were taken.

The dissidents completely lootedthe station. Wilful destruction en-gulfed the whole infrastructure, includ-ing the camp of the rangers (15houses) and the dispensary, 3 com-

Destruction in the health centerPhoto: Carlos Schuler

John Bosco Nkurunungi studiedgastro-intestinal parasites of gorillasand humans in Bwindi and the feedingecology of the gorillas. He is currentlystudying their foraging efficiency.

Dr. Daniel Pouakouyou, the FFIProgramme Manager for Central Afri-ca, studied the reproductive biology ofPrunus africana and the implicationsfor in situ conservation and manage-ment. He joined FFI in 2003.

Dr. Johannes Refisch studied theeffect of poaching on monkeys in theTaï Forest, Côte d’Ivoire, and is co-director of the Taï Monkey Project.Now he is developing a project on SIVin monkeys for the SchweizerischesTropeninstitut.

Dr. Martha Robbins, Max PlanckInstitute for Evolutionary Anthropo-logy, has been studying the behavioralecology of gorillas for 14 years, for thepast 6 years in Bwindi.

Carlos Schuler visited Bukavu firstin 1983 and since 1994 he has beenworking for the German developmentalaid organisation GTZ there.

Claude Sikubwabo Kiyengo sur-veyed gorillas in the Maiko NationalPark and took part in a gorilla censusin Kahuzi-Biega. Now he works for theIUCN in eastern D. R. Congo in con-nection with CARPE.

Dr. Jürg Völlm has been workingin Basle Zoo as a veterinarianregularly since 1976. The famousBasle gorillas are among his patients.

Dr. E. Jean Wickings runs themolecular ecology lab at CIRMF,looking at questions of biogeography,population genetics and dynamics oftropical mammal and plant species.

Prof. Dr. Juichi Yamagiwa hasstudied eastern gorillas since 1978.He promoted a cooperative researchproject on gorillas and chimpanzeeswith CRSN and ICCN in Tshibati.

Galit Zangwill was a tour guideand worked mostly in Israel and Jor-dan. She left to join LAGA and was itsassistant manager in Cameroon.

Destruction in a ranger housePhoto: Carlos Schuler

D. R. CONGO


ces to the province, especially thedrying up of the river feeding Bukavu,the erosion and climatic disturbances.

The population mobilized and suc-cessfully extinguished the fire in theaccessible sectors. More than 400people worked day and night, avertingthe risk that the tourist sectors mightburn. MONUC Bukavu provided a 40-minute over-flight to verify the situationon the ground using cameras andother equipment. We are very thankfulfor their support. These are our obser-vations:

– The Mt. Kahuzi area was heavilydamaged by scattered fire.

– The southern part of the ecologicalcorridor was devastated by fire.

– The bamboo sectors were moreresistant to fire than previouslythought.

– The farms and several hills are stillburning.

For better conservation of this site, thefollowing measures must be taken:

International level:– Repatriate the Rwandan armed

forces (Interahamwe) since theirpresence is causing serious harmto the local people and to the park.

– The international community muststrongly involve itself in the rehabili-tation of this World Heritage Site(especially reafforestation).

Mugaruka group 10 individualsChimanuka group 20 individualsLanga group 6 individualsMufanzala group 16 individualsMpungwe group 6 individualsBirindwa group 9 individualsGanywamulume group 5 individuals

Other monitoring and development ac-tivities in the surroundings of the parkare also continuing, in both the high-land and the lowland areas. The per-sonnel in the sub-stations at Nzovuand Itebero were not affected, andthey were able to carry on normallywith all social classes in their respec-tive sectors. We appreciate the effortsof our partners who contribute to thepreservation of this site.

Overall, we can say that luckily thepark’s fauna has not been significantlyaffected by the recent events.

Bernard Iyomi Iyatshi andCarlos Schuler

Fire in the High AltitudeSector of Kahuzi-Biega6 July, 2004: A bushfire threatensseveral sectors of the high altituderegion of Kahuzi-Biega National Park.Our information indicates that theburning hills are occupied by militaryfactions and inaccessible to park offi-cials (the central corridor of Nindja,Katasomwa in the north and Bunyakiriin the west). The premature and verylong dry season, which began inMarch, was partly to blame. But it isworrying that we do not know the ex-act origin of the fire, which has de-stroyed large parts of some sectors ofthe park; recent studies indicate that90% of neighbouring residents favourthe existence of the park. Accordingto our sources, the cause could beany of the following:

– unidentified passers-by,– illegal farmers,

– Congolese soldiers needing toclear sight-lines to their observationposts,

– Interahamwe wandering in the park.

And yet, the people who are living nearthe park, ex Mai-Mai and other sol-diers, are proving to be a grave con-cern to the park's integrity. It is noth-ing new that small groups are still inopposition to the park. In 1995, thesedetractors gave a rough time to thegovernmental commission chargedwith clarifying park boundaries aroundNinja, and since this period, and withthe arrival of the Interahamwe, parkrangers have been unable to enter thearea for fear of their lives.

We don’t yet know the precisesurface area or amount of materialdamage sustained. The worsening ofpoverty and misery is a major ob-stacle in the development of this area,and is undeniably related to thisterrible destruction. Nevertheless, theICCN (Institut Congolais pour la Con-servation de la Nature) is having talkswith local politico-military authoritiesin order to organize a coordinatedover-flight to evaluate the situation onthe ground. Rangers were sent off toattempt to extinguish the fires despitelimited resources.

13 July, 2004: Park leaders in-formed local and national authoritiesand the international community a-bout the damage and its consequen-

The fire on the hills of the national park Photo: Carlos Schuler

– Adopt and enact efficient measuresto reduce the poverty of the peopleliving close to the park.

National level:– Define, once and for all, the park’s

boundary, particularly that of thecorridor.

– Delegate a commission to evaluatedamage caused by destructive peo-ple in the corridors, and imposeappropriate measures.

– Provide surveillance personnel withsufficient and efficient equipmentfor park patrols.

– Lobbying relevant authorities is ofcritical importance to resolving thisproblem.

Local level:– Seriously involve the local authori-

ties and local people in safekeepingof the park.

– Develop alternatives to exploitationof the natural resources in the park

which are sought after by the sur-rounding populations.

Bernard Iyomi Iyatshi andCarlos Schuler

Involvement of PygmyWomen in ConservationIn 1998 the Pole Pole Foundation(POPOF) initiated a project in theKahuzi-Biega National Park as a com-ponent of its programme for the inte-gration of local communities into theconservation of natural resources.Funded by the Dian Fossey GorillaFund-Europe (DFGF-E), the project’starget group is the Pygmy populationliving close to the park. One of theproject’s aims is to assist Pygmywomen in the generation of alternativeincome in order to decrease theirnegative impact on the park. For thispurpose, training courses have beenestablished to teach Pygmy women

how to tailor clothes, including thecutting of material and sewing. Thesetraining activities started in Buyungulevillage in 2001. During this initialcourse, 8 women were trained. Theresults of the course are still evident.

D. R. CONGO


A Message from POPOF – Support is Needed!On 4 November 2004, we received an e-mail from John Kahekwa with anurgent call for help. He wrote to us:

"During the recent war of June in Bukavu town and surroundings, thePOPOF office was looted. Thus the sewing machines used by the pygmywomen, cameras, computers were looted. Until now it remains hard for usto reorganise the work again.In case BERGGORILLA could have some equipment such as digitalcameras and GPS or various materials to offer to POPOF, this will be verywelcome in order to help grow with the activity of fighting against thedestruction of the park's natural resources through creating jobs to peoplearound it.I look forward to hear from you."

Of course we would like to support POPOF with any material that theyneed for their work for the population living near the Kahuzi-Biega NationalPark, but we need additional funds for this support.

Please help POPOF to continue their activities. POPOF is a localNGO and their work is appreciated by the local people.

Bank Account:Account number 353 344 315Stadtsparkasse Muelheim,GermanyBank code number 362 500 00IBAN DE06 3625 0000 03533443 15SWIFT-BIC SPMHDE3E

Pygmy women trained by POPOFPhoto: John Kahekwa

During the second phase in 2003,the project was extended to two morePygmy villages, Kashodu and Mu-yange. This increases to 3 the numberof tailoring training centres already setup by POPOF as a new initiative forthe conservation of the park. All threevillages are located in the vicinity ofimportant gorilla areas (of the Chima-nuka, Mugaruka, Langa, Mishebereand Birindwa families), and the goril-las are therefore direct beneficiaries ofthe project.

The 2003 phase resulted in thetraining of 16 additional Pygmywomen under the supervision of threeBantu tailors (equally distributedamong the three centres). To date, 24women have been able to profit fromthese tailoring courses, an opportu-nity that not many people in the regionhave had.

The results of the courses have avery noticeable, if small, effect on theimprovement of the socio-economicconditions of the women. The variousproducts that have resulted from thesecourses include shirts, trousers,shorts, etc. The situation in the gorillaareas in the vicinity of these villages(Buyungule, Kashodu and Muyange)has stabilized, including a decrease ofthe number of reported violations inthis part of the park.

For the future, POPOF proposes toextend the project to three new vil-lages, i.e. Tshibati, Lukananda andCibumbiro, which are close to the ter-ritories of the Mufanzala, Mpungweand Ganywamulume gorilla groups. Inthe long term, the project will need tobe extended to other (i.e. non-Pygmy)communities in order to involve all thecommunities in the communal con-servation of natural resources in thepark. However, in order to succeed inthis, POPOF needs the assistance ofall individuals and all organizationsconcerned with the survival of the go-rilla and its habitat.

John Kahekwa

First Observations ofInfanticides by a Silver-back in Kahuzi-BiegaThree cases of infanticide have re-cently been recorded in a group ofeastern lowland gorillas inhabiting themontane forest of Kahuzi-Biega Na-tional Park. This group is called theChimanuka group, and they have beenhabituated for tourism since 2003. Theleading silverback, called Chimanuka(means “appearance”), was born in ahabituated group (the Maheshe group)in 1986. Chimanuka left his natalgroup in 1998 when he was 12 yearsold. In December 2002, he was ob-served as a leading silverback with 2females around another habituatedgroup called the Mugaruka group.

Mugaruka (means “winner”) wasalso born in a habituated group (theMushamuka group) in 1987. At thedeath of Mushamuka in 1997, Muga-ruka was 10 years old (a blackbackmale). An older male (a maturing sil-verback) left the group, but Mugarukaremained with the females in thegroup, travelling without any silver-back. After large-scale hunting of go-rillas in 1998 and 1999, Mugaruka wasobserved to travel with 3 females and2 immatures (Yamagiwa 2003). By2003, he had acquired 11 females andlost 2 females. A male baby (calledChubaka, Mugaruka’s first offspringwith a female called Lushasha) wasborn in June, 2000 and another baby(called Maendeleo, Mugaruka’s sec-ond offspring with a female calledMwinja) was born in April 2003.

The first interaction between theChimanuka group and the Mugarukagroup occurred in August 2003. Aftera fierce fight with physical contact,Mugaruka suffered wounds on hisshoulders. Two females transferred in-to the Chimanuka group. The secondinter-group interaction occurred in Oc-tober, when 9 adult females trans-ferred to the Chimanuka group. Mwi-

nja (the mother of Maendeleo) trans-ferred, while Lushasha (the mother ofChubaka) did not. At the transfer, Chi-manuka stole Maendelo from thechest of its mother and killed it bybiting its face and chest. The deadbody of Maendeleo was abandoned onthe ground. Mugaruka traveled withonly Lushasha and her baby Chu-baka.

Two females who transferred intothe Chimanuka group gave birth inNovember and December 2003. Afew days after their birth, Chimanukakilled the two babies. Based on directobservations by park trackers, the vic-tims’ mothers and the other femalestried to prevent him from killing thebabies but failed to stop him. In thefirst case, Chimanuka suddenly roseup during siesta and grabbed a babybeing carried ventrally by its mother.He carried it away to bite its shoul-ders. The baby started crying loudly,and the rest of the group including itsmother attacked Chimanuka, trying totake it back. But Chimanuka ran awayfast, carrying the baby, and finallykilled it. The dead baby was left on theground. The mother picked it up andcontinued to carry it for a week untilthe body became decomposed.

In the latter case, the victim’smother and the other females chasedChimanuka, who carried the baby.The mother bit Chimanuka on the rightfoot to stop the killing; but the baby

D. R. CONGO


Chimanuka Photo: Ian Redmond

was killed by Chimanuka’s bite. Themother also carried her dead baby’sbody until decomposition.

In December 2003, a female whohad been with Chimanuka since 2002gave birth to a baby called Bonane(means “happy new year”). Chima-nuka did not attack the baby, who hassurvived without any wound. He wasprobably the baby’s father.

The third inter-group interaction oc-curred in January 2004. The last fe-male in the Mugaruka group trans-ferred into the Chimanuka group, whileChubaka, her 3-year-old son, did nottransfer but remained in his natalgroup with Mugaruka. This is the firstcase observed in Kahuzi-Biega Na-tional Park that a silverback spent along time together with only an imma-ture male. Recently several femalesand immatures immigrated to theMugaruka group from the Misheberegroup, which previously consisted of39 individuals and whose leading maledisappeared (probably killed bypoachers) in 2003. In September 2004(at the time of writing this report), theMugaruka group consists of 10 indi-viduals.

From these observations, we foundnew behavioral tendencies of gorillasin Kahuzi-Biega National Park. Sincethe late 1960s when Adrian Deschry-ver, the first warden of the park,started to habituate gorillas for tour-ism, no infanticide had been observeduntil the three cases in 2003. Weanalyzed the demographic data on

2–4 habituated groups monitored bythe park on a daily basis between1972 and 1998 (Yamagiwa & Kahe-kwa 2001). Neither infanticide nor in-tense aggression toward any infant bya silverback male was observed duringthe 27-year period. Between 1983 and1998, most of the individuals in thehabituated groups were identified andmonitored by the park. 10 femalescarried suckling infants and 4 femaleswere accompanied by weaned juve-niles when they transferred betweengroups during this period, but no im-mature was killed or wounded in anyof the cases.

Infanticide did not follow either thedeath of the leading silverback, ortakeover by an extra-group male, inKahuzi. After the death of Mushamu-ka, a leading silverback of a habitu-ated group, 3 females with infants im-migrated into the group. They wereaccepted by two young males, and nowounds were observed on either immi-grant female or their infants after join-ing.

After the death of Maheshe, theleading silverback of another habitu-ated group, most of the females andimmatures remained together andtraveled without any silverback for27 months. Then a young silverback(named Lambchop) joined the groupas the new leading silverback. Oneyear after his joining, 2 females withinfants and a female with a juvenileimmigrated into the group. Lambchopwas very tolerant toward them, and noinfanticide occurred.

Based on these results, we con-cluded that these aspects of newgroup formation and female transferswith dependent infants and juvenileswere linked to the lack of infanticide inKahuzi and were in pronounced con-trast to the situation in the Virungas,where many occurrences of infanti-cide have been reported.

In the Virungas, located about 200km north of Kahuzi, long-term demo-

graphic data on several habituatedgroups of mountain gorillas have beencollected by the late Dian Fossey andthe Karisoke Research Center since1967, and 16 cases of infanticideswere reported (Fossey 1984; Watts1989). All of the victims were sucklinginfants or old infants less than 3 yearsof age, and the killers were extra-group males except for two cases (agroup male and probably females). In-fants were killed by extra-group maleswhen their group encountered othergroups or solitary males. When theleading silverback was present, in-fants were rarely killed (in 2 cases),but they were frequently attacked andoccasionally killed by extra-groupmales after the death of the leadingsilverback. Infanticide accounted for37% of infant mortality in the VirungaMountain gorilla population. Watts(1996) argued that infanticide had agreat influence on choice of group byfemales at the time of transfer and onmulti-male group formation. Femalemountain gorillas tend to transferalone between groups and to join alarge group containing more than 2silverbacks. After the death of theleading silverbacks, females did notassociate together but dispersed tojoin other groups. About half of thereproductive groups are multi-malegroups, and no female group withoutany silverback has been observed inthe Virungas. These features of fe-male movements and group formationare probably shaped by the occur-rence of infanticide.

The evolutionary implication of in-fanticide has been explained by thesexual selection hypothesis (Hrdy1979). Infanticide by males has beenreported for about 30 species of pri-mates, and it functions as a malereproductive tactic to hasten the re-sumption of cycling by suckling fe-males; it is likely to occur in specieswith relatively long lactation relative togestation (van Schaik 2000). The life

D. R. CONGO


Photos: Carlos SchulerMaendeleo alive and dead

history of gorillas may provide the con-ditions that favour infanticide by extra-group males. In order to reduce infanti-cide risk, females have evolved coun-ter strategies; one of these is females’prolonged association with protectormales (Sterck et al. 1997). The largeproportion of multi-male groups in theVirunga population is explained as afemale strategy against infanticide bychoosing the group offering the great-est male protection (Watts 1996).

We examined the possible reasonsfor the absence of infanticide in theKahuzi population and reached theconclusion that some unknown fac-tors suppressed the occurrence of in-fanticide as a potential reproductivetactic by males in Kahuzi (Yamagiwa& Kahekwa 2001). The 3 infanticidesby Chimanuka observed in 2003 mayadd new perspectives to our assess-ment. First, the large-scale poachingof gorillas in 1998 and 1999 may haveproduced conditions favouring infanti-cide. Thousands of refugees and sol-diers roamed in the forest of Kahuziduring the civil war and hunted largemammals, frequently for bushmeat.Most of the elephants and about halfof the gorillas were killed during thisperiod (Yamagiwa 2003). All leadingsilverbacks in the 5 habituated groupswere killed by poachers, and dis-integrations of groups and femaletransfers frequently occurred after thedeath of the leading males. Gorillastended to shift their range into thecentral sector of the park, where thepark staff frequently patrolled. Thesesituations may have stimulated unfa-miliar groups to overlap their rangesand so frequently encounter eachother. Infanticides in the Virungas alsooccurred after large-scale disturbanceby human activities. In the 1960s, theRwandan Government took 40% of thepark for farm land. Cultivation and cat-tle encroachment forced the gorillas toshift their range into the central partof the Virunga Volcanoes. Schaller

(1963) had never observed infanticidein 1959 and 1960. No infanticide hasbeen reported in the 1990s or morerecently. Unstable relationships be-tween groups and between individualswithin groups induced by large humandisturbances may have produced con-ditions leading to infanticide.

Recent DNA analysis suggestedthat the silverbacks of neighbouringgroups were related at Mondika, Cen-tral African Republic (Bradley et al.2004). Western lowland gorillas possi-bly form a patrilocal social structure inwhich males remain in their natal re-gion and potentially benefit from kinassociations. In Kahuzi, several newgroups were formed following groupfissions caused by maturing silver-backs taking females out of their natalgroups, before the large-scale hunting(Yamagiwa & Kahekwa 2001). Thenew groups overlapped their rangeswith those of their natal groups, andthese new group formations resultedin a local concentration of severalgroups in which the leading maleswere related to each other. Infanticideis unlikely to occur in these groupsbecause all infants are more or lessrelated to any adult male, even to ex-tra-group males. Human disturbancesduring the civil wars probably de-stroyed these peaceful relationshipsamong related males and thus in-creased encounters and hostility be-tween unfamiliar males.

The second factor favouring infanti-cide would have been the recent in-crease in the proportion of youngsilverbacks, which may have in-creased agonistic interactions be-tween groups and so caused infanti-cide. In the Virungas, most infanticidalmales were solitary males, who werestrongly motivated to attract femalesto establish their own groups (Fossey1984; Watts 1989). After the large-scale hunting and disintegration ofgroups, young males dispersed assolitary males in Kahuzi. Most of the

leading silverbacks were killed, andthe proportion of young silverbacks inthe population may have increased.These unmated males constitute agreater infanticidal threat than dobreeding males. Chimanuka was ob-served as a solitary male just beforehe appeared in the range of the Muga-ruka group in 2002. Both Chimanukaand Mugaruka were young (17 and 16years old, respectively) and would bestrongly motivated to attract females.They were born in different groups andwere not related to each other. Al-though the details of interactions be-tween Chimanuka and the victims’mothers before the infanticides werenot known, Chimanuka’s strong moti-vation for reproduction may have re-sulted in his killing these infants oftransferred females.

Thirdly, it is worth noting that theoccurrences of infanticides in Kahuziwere different from those in theVirungas. Chimanuka killed 2 new-born babies just after birth in hisgroup. On the other hand, he did notkill a baby (Bonane) whose motherhad remained for at least one year inhis group prior to delivery. It seemslikely that Chimanuka discriminatedthe infant he accepted from those hekilled, probably based on his past in-teractions with their mothers. Was hisdecision on whether to kill based onthe relatedness of the infants to him?It is difficult to answer this questionbecause the interactions betweenChimanuka and the victims’ mothersremain unknown in detail. The ab-sence of copulation or the short lengthof these mothers’ stay in his grouppossibly influenced his decision.

When Chubaka’s mother trans-ferred into the Chimanuka group, Chu-baka did not join his mother but re-mained with Mugaruka, his putativefather. In most of the previous femaletransfers, immatures transferred withtheir mothers in Kahuzi. Chubaka’scase suggests that he or his mother

D. R. CONGO


may have learned from the occur-rences of infanticide. His mother prob-ably noticed the risk of infanticide ather transfer and left her weaned infant,who could travel independently withMugaruka. If this is the case, femalegorillas may be able to quickly andeffectively respond to the occurrenceof infanticide by changing the patternsof association.

Fourthly, we can expect socialchanges in the Kahuzi population inthe near future. If the female gorillas inKahuzi can learn the proper strategyagainst the risk of infanticide, they willseek more protection from their part-ners, as did the female mountain goril-las in the Virungas. They will transferalone to avoid competition with otherfemales over a male mate and willchoose a multi-male group to gainmore protection. Maturing males willremain in their natal group after matu-rity and will start reproduction withoutspending time in solitary life. The pro-portion of multi-male groups will in-crease in the Kahuzi population.

Association among related malesmay be a common social featurewithin Homininae, including Africangreat apes and humans. The genusGorilla may have evolved two typesof association among related males.One is association within a group, andthe other is tolerance between malesof neighbouring groups. The occur-rence of infanticide may promote theformer, and its absence may promotethe latter. Populations of gorillas mayhave such flexibility between thesetwo types of social organization.

Another population of mountain go-rillas in the Bwindi Forest contains alarge proportion of multi-male groupsas observed in the Virungas, but noinfanticide has been reported so far(Robbins 2001). This suggests thatthe Bwindi population may have al-ready experienced infanticide in thepast and may have succeeded in pre-venting it by shaping multi-male social

structure. Future intensive researchon eastern and western lowland goril-las and DNA analysis will examinethis hypothesis.

We suspect, however, that the Ka-huzi population is too small to sustainlarge social changes. In order to sup-port them, we should realize the pres-ent conditions influencing them andmake a wise conservation plan basedon new knowledge about them. Wehope this report will contribute tothese urgent actions.

Juichi Yamagiwa andJohn Kahekwa

ReferencesBradley, B. J. et al. (2004) Dispersed malenetworks in western gorillas. Current Biology14: 510–513Fossey, D. (1984) Infanticide in mountain go-rillas (Gorilla gorilla beringei) with comparativenotes on chimpanzees. In: Infanticide: Com-parative and Evolutionary Perspectives.Hausfater, G. & Hrdy, S. (eds.). Hawthorne,NY (Aldine), pp. 217–236Hrdy, S. B. (1979) Infanticide among animals.Ethology and Sociobiology 1: 13–40Robbins, M. M. (2001) Variation in the socialsystem of mountain gorillas: the male per-spective. In: Mountain gorillas. Robbins, M. M.et al. (eds). Cambridge (Cambridge UniversityPress), pp. 29–58Schaller, G. B. (1963) The Mountain Gorilla.Chicago (University of Chicago Press)Sterck, E. H. M. et al. (1997) The evolution offemale social relationships in nonhuman pri-mates. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology41: 291–309van Schaik, C. P. (2000) Infanticide by maleprimates: the sexual selection hypothesis re-visited. In: Infanticide by Males. van Schaik, C.P. & Janson, C. H. (eds.). Cambridge (Cam-bridge University Press), pp. 27–71Watts, D. P. (1989) Infanticide in mountaingorillas: new cases and a reconsideration ofthe evidence. Ethology 81: 1–18Watts, D. P. (1996) Comparative socio-ecol-ogy of gorillas. In: Great Ape Societies.McGrew, W. C. et al. (eds.). Cambridge (Cam-bridge University Press), pp. 16–28Yamagiwa, J. (2003) Bushmeat poaching andthe conservation crisis in Kahuzi-Biega Na-tional Park, Democratic Republic of Congo. J.Sustainable Forestry 16: 115–135Yamagiwa, J. & Kahekwa, J. (2001) Dispersalpatterns, group structure and reproductiveparameters of eastern lowland gorillas at Ka-huzi in the absence of infanticide. In: Mountaingorillas. Robbins, M. M. et al. (eds.). Cambrid-ge (Cambridge University Press), pp. 89–122

Low Wall High Impact:Crisis Management inVirunga National ParkWhile clashes between the former dis-sident rebel leader, General LaurentNkunda, and forces loyal to the transi-tional government in the DemocraticRepublic of Congo brought renewedunrest to the troubled Kivu Region, analtogether different offensive was be-ing played out in Congo’s Virunga Na-tional Park. While the eyes of theworld’s media were drawn to the ad-vance of Nkunda’s troops on the townof Bukavu and the human rights at-rocities that followed, thousands ofRwandan farmers entered the gorillasector of the Virunga National Parkand started cutting down the forest.On the 10th June 2004, park rangerssent a report to the Congolese WildlifeAuthority (ICCN) who immediatelycalled upon the international conser-vation community to intervene.

Results from the regular aerial re-connaissance carried out by the Euro-pean Union (EU) and Frankfurt Zoo-logical Society (FZS) confirmed thatthat the destruction was taking placeat an estimated rate of up to 2 km2 aday. This rapid deforestation of theMikeno sub-sector was alleged tohave been authorised by the Rwandan

D. R. CONGO


Men are walking on the borderbetween Rwanda (left) and thedeforested Virunga National Park(on the right)

Photo: Robert Muir

military in order to reduce their vulner-ability to attack along the sensitiveborder region. Investigations carriedout on the ground revealed that aworkforce of up to 6,000 Rwandansmade the daily trip across the border,paying 1 US$ to the Rwandan militaryand local Chiefs to clear a hectare ofland.

Within a month, 15 km2 of foresthad been either cut down or severelydegraded, and trees were being felledas far as 10 km from the internationalborder, apparently in the name of se-curity. Once cleared, the land wasthen sold to Rwandan citizens, someof whom travelled from as far as Ru-hengeri and Kigali, and paid up to1,000 US$ per ha. There was outragefrom the local Congolese community,who relied heavily on this forest for thecollection of firewood, and as theironly source of water during the dryseason.

The information collected on theground and through aerial surveys wasused to inform the international con-servation community, the EuropeanCommission, UNESCO, USAID, dip-

lomats and foreign officials, who ap-plied pressure on the Rwandan Gov-ernment and local and regional au-thorities to bring a halt to the incursionand destruction of the forest. On the27th June, 2 days before the UN DRCGroup of Experts had scheduled anofficial onsite investigation, an orderwas given by the Rwandan military forall farmers to immediately evacuatethe area.

With the area now clear, the ICCNrequested that the international con-servation community help fund the de-velopment of a 20 km long dry stonewall, 1 m high and 1 m wide, aroundthe affected area to help re-establishthe park limits. The wall would alsoprevent further movement of domesticlivestock into the park, and would pro-vide a strong visual response to therecent incursion. FZS and the EU im-mediately made funds available, butthere were now concerns over the levelof security at the site, given the pres-ence of Rwandan military in the area.The United Nations Peace Keepingforce for the Democratic Republic ofCongo (MONUC) was asked to inter-vene and support the ICCN with a de-tachment of 15 UN Peace Keepers toassure the security of those involvedin building the wall. At the time,MONUC was still smarting from theaccusation that they had not takendecisive action in preventing theclashes in Bukavu, but despite con-

siderable pressure from the EU,MONUC was unwilling to provide thenecessary support, and alternativemeasures were therefore needed. Af-ter consultation with the UN’s Officefor the Coordination of HumanitarianAffairs (OCHA) it was agreed that onlywith the support of the Governor ofNorth Kivu could security be guaran-teed. During a meeting on the 29thJune, attended by OCHA, the EU,WWF and FZS, the Governor gave theguarantees needed to ensure thesafety of those building the wall.

Work started on Tuesday 6th July,and by the 20th August over 7 km hadbeen built. Funds from the UnitedNations Environment Programme(UNEP), the International Gorilla Con-servation Programme (IGCP) and theWorld Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)had been pledged to complementthose funds already provided by FZSand the EU. The IGCP developed apartnership with the World Food Pro-gramme (WFP) who provided 29 t offood as a salary supplement. TheICCN Community Conservation Officerengaged 42 local Congolese associa-tions to build the wall, and the totalworkforce comprised 989 men and1,051 women. Six Rwandan associa-tions were also engaged to build thesection of wall which ran along theinternational boundary, as this was

D. R. CONGO


A completed part of the wall withthe people who built it – at theright is the park

Photo: Robert Muir

Forest destruction on MikenoPhoto: Robert Muir

Grey area: deforested part of theVirunga National Park

considered by the Congolese to carrythe greatest risk. This presented anopportunity to raise the awareness ofthe Rwandan military to the impor-tance of park conservation, for the lo-cal people and the wildlife. It was alsoan opportunity to bring the Congoleseand Rwandan people together at alocal level; an initial step towardswider reconciliation. Over 12 km of thewall had been completed by the end ofSeptember with FZS overseeing muchof the construction, and at the currentrate of work it is expected that the wallwill be completed by the end of No-vember.

The rapid intervention by the NGOcommunity, and other internationalbodies, which resulted in an agree-ment to fund the construction of thewall in the Mikeno sub-sector, hashad a positive outcome. Above all itdemonstrated to the communities liv-ing along the edge of the Mikeno for-est the determination of those pledgedto protect the World Heritage Site torespond quickly in an emergency andtake appropriate action. The wallclearly demarcates the boundary ofthe park and will over time be ac-cepted as the limit of cultivation. In theinterim the ICCN will need to carry outregular patrols and inspections alongthe length of the wall to help establishits legitimacy and integrity.

Perhaps the most positive aspectof the wall construction so far hasbeen the integration of the various as-sociations charged with its construc-tion, including 6 from Rwanda, whichhas helped bring the communities to-gether. It has also been a vehicle forconservation education. As the wallcontinues to be built, these two impor-tant aspects will be fostered, with theover-arching aim of providing long-termsecurity to the Mikeno sub-sector ofthe Virunga National Park.

Robert D. J. Muir

Unconventional Warfarein the Virunga NationalParkThere are 480 park rangers based instations and patrol posts throughoutthe Virunga National Park, an area ofsome 7,900 km2 with one of the mostdiverse ecosystems in the world. Thesuccessful conservation of this parkrelies heavily on the efforts and dedi-cation of its park rangers, who in theworst form of irony find themselvesunder attack and in desperate need ofprotection.

It was at 2:45 in the morning of the7th September 2004, that more than100 bandits and ex-militia launched adevastating attack on the 40 smallhouses that comprised the park sta-tion of Kabaraza. The Chief Wardenwas too late to escape, but outside hecould hear his team of 33 rangershurrying all the women and childreninto the bush while a few providedcovering fire. The rangers quickly real-ised that they were outnumbered andoutgunned, their AK47s proving nomatch for sophisticated heavy calibre

weapons, so they too fled into thebush.

In order to save his own life, theChief Warden quickly opened all hisdoors to give the impression that hetoo had fled, before scrambling up intoa hole in the ceiling of the food store,with a half sack of beans serving as astepladder. Less than a minute laterseveral armed men ran into his houseand moved from room to room lootingas they went. Only his mattress andbed were left untouched. They movedinto the communications room and re-moved both the HF and VHF radiosets, the station’s only link with theoutside world.

One man entered the store roomand noticed the sack of beans and thehole directly above it. He fired a shotpiercing the hardboard ceiling. Thebullet narrowly missed the warden andexited through the corrugated roof.Not satisfied that the shot would flushout anyone hiding in the roof, heclimbed up through the hole andshone his torchlight around an appar-ently empty space. The warden waslying flat out on his stomach betweentwo wooden beams which providedsufficient cover while the torch lightdarted from left to right before the ban-dit disappeared back down the hole.

Suddenly there was a scratchingand tearing noise at the roof. Theywere not after the warden but the solarpanels bolted onto the corrugated ironsheeting just a couple of feet fromwhere he was lying. The panels cameaway from their steel frame leaving theroof intact and the warden undiscov-ered.

An hour or so after the attack beganand some 15 minutes after the last ofthe bandits had left, the warden heardfamiliar voices coming from down be-low. The rangers had returned andwere looking for him. He called downand asked them to move a table underthe hole so that he could lower himselfdown.

D. R. CONGO


Position of Kabaraza in the park

As he was re-grouping his men toestablish who was missing and unac-counted for, a labourer ran into thestation from the same direction theattackers had left. He told the Wardenthat he had been caught as he wastrying to flee and that he had beenordered at gun point to carry a sack ofducks and chickens to a drop off pointseveral kilometres away. As he re-turned he passed the sentry postwhere he found one ranger dead andanother seriously injured. The Wardenimmediately sent a team of six rang-ers to bring back the guard who wasalive as well as the body of his com-rade.

In the meantime, the remainder car-ried out a quick check of the station toestablish the extent of the damage.Each of the 40 houses had been bro-ken into and anything that had a re-sale value or would serve their militaryoperations had been taken. They ran-sacked the canteen and stripped thedispensary bare. The most damaging

blow was the theft of ten AK47 riflesleft behind by the rangers as they fledinto the bush, reducing further theirdefensive capabilities against futureattacks. The following morning the in-jured ranger was taken to a nearbyhospital in Rutshuru while those whostayed behind mourned the body ofthe ranger who gave his life trying toprotect his comrades in arms.

Sadly attacks like this in theVirunga National Park are not iso-lated. The park rangers have beensystematically targeted over the last10 months for the procurement ofweapons and food by rogue militia andmilitary groups operating within thepark boundaries. Since January 2004,there have been 13 attacks on parkstations and patrol posts and onlythree were successfully repulsed. Al-though the militias lack organisationand military discipline, they aregreater in number and better equippedthan the park rangers. The rangerssimply do not have the training or the

weapons to properly defend them-selves, and the militias and militarygroups know this.

There are reports of militia groupsworking together to attack the largerpatrol posts, in some areas assistedby the local population, many of whomare internally displaced and soughtrefuge in the park during the war. Theysee the removal of the rangers as anopportunity to increase the level oftheir own illegal exploitation of thepark’s resources, and are thereforewilling to provide the militias with theintelligence necessary to carry out ef-fective raids.

The injured ranger from Kabarazahas three bullets lodged in his skull,and as a result of this injury and a stabwound to the temple he has been leftsemi blind and paralysed down oneside of his body. The rangers say thatin this violent period of national re-unification their work is more danger-ous and unpredictable than it was dur-ing the recent civil war which involved

D. R. CONGO


Support for Reconstruction Work in KabarazaRobert Muir has asked us urgently to support the rangers of the VirungaNational Park. They lost everything during the attack. We want to provideas much help as we can to enable them to continue their conservationactivities efficiently again. We cooperate closely with Robert Muir, Frank-furt Zoological Society, who works in Congo and knows exactly what therangers need now.

We would be grateful for your help in this critical situation. If youmake a donation for the Kabaraza rangers, you can be sure that wewill use it to support their work. Please mention the keyword"Virunga" on your check or bank transfer.

Our address:Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfec/o Rolf BrunnerLerchenstr. 545473 Muelheim, GermanyFax +49-208-7671605e-mail [email protected]

Bank Account:Account number 353 344 315Stadtsparkasse Muelheim,GermanyBank code number 362 500 00IBAN: DE06 3625 0000 03533443 15SWIFT-BIC: SPMHDE3E

nine African nations and directly af-fected the lives of 50 million Congo-lese.

Although the responsibility for themanagement of the park restssquarely with the ICCN and the Con-golese authorities, the internationalcommunity continues to play a keyrole in holding this fragile environmenttogether. While the diplomatic see-saw continues between neighbouringstates in an effort to reach a peacefulcompromise, it remains a key respon-sibility for conservation organisationsto deliver support to those few dedi-cated park rangers and their familieswho find their lives on the line in anattempt to protect this world heritagesite for the benefit of us all.

Robert D. J. Muir

Report on a Fire in theMikeno Sector of theVirunga National ParkAt midday on July 8th, 2004, theJomba dialogue committee was ableto save the Mikeno sector from a bushfire that threatened to spread fromMugongo hill. The entire region, andJomba in particular, had been suffer-ing from a severe dry season: plantshad dried out through the combinedeffect of the scorching sun and violentwinds that robbed the air of its mois-

D. R. CONGO


The gorilla orphan with caretakers

ture. During midday hours the heatwas intense.

The Jomba patrol post guards onepart of the Mikeno sector that is regu-larly visited by 29 mountain gorillasbelonging to three families. At 12o’clock, the head ranger of the postalerted the chairman of the dialoguecommittee based at Bunagana by ra-dio that a fire had started. As soon ashe received the message, the chair-man mobilised the committee mem-bers and villagers who were in thevillage at the time, together with thepolice, to go to the park. (At this timeof the day, the villages are usuallydeserted, as everybody is either in thefields, in the market or at school.Apart from the sick and elderly, thereare very few people in the village andeven the shops close at this time.)

After this rapid mobilisation, every-body reached the site of the fire via astony path, which is almost 4 km longand which winds between the fieldsfrom Bunagana village, where thecommittee has its headquarters, tothe park. When they arrived, theyfound the fire was located at the forestedge and was in the process ofspreading in the shape of a pentagon.Another appeal for help was made tothe villagers who were working in thesurrounding fields. In this way, a totalof 26 people were mobilized.

The assembled people discussed amethod to put out the fire. As the fireprogressed only slowly and the volun-teers had nothing but hoes and ma-chetes as tools, they extinguished thefire with branches, soil and clods ofearth. Branches were cut, plants stillwet were torn from the earth by handor with the help of hoes, soil was dugout. The 26 people quickly threwthemselves into action and suc-ceeded in putting out the fire.

The fire had been started in thecamp of a man called Mulindahabi andhad subsequently spread onto a smallhill before arriving at the edge of the

park. The fire spread into the forest fora distance of 25 m along a 20 m widefront.Claude Sikubwabo Kiyengo; from thereport of the Jomba dialogue commit-tee, August 30th, 2004

Confiscation of a BabyGorilla in GomaSome time ago, the trafficking of babygorillas seemed all set to become thecurrent fashion in certain towns ofNorth Kivu (eastern Democratic Re-public of Congo). Most of these rareanimals come from the east of theDemocratic Republic of Congo, espe-cially from national parks such asVirunga, Kahuzi-Biega and Maiko.Many species of animals, such asmountain gorillas and chimpanzees,live in these three parks.

The reasons behind this illegal traf-fic are not far to seek: corrupt foreign-ers entice local people with colossalsums of money to capture gorillasfrom the forest and bring them backfor sale. As soon as UGADEC (Uniondes Associations de Conservationdes Gorilles pour le Developpement al’est de la Republique Democratiquedu Congo/Union of Gorilla Conserva-tion Associations for the Developmentof Eastern Democratic Republic ofCongo) became aware of this horriblepractice, they organized a publicawareness campaign over the air-

The wounded ranger at KabarazaPhoto: Robert Muir

D. R. CONGO


waves and in the newspapers, and bycontacting the local authorities, thechiefs and the local people. Theyalerted regional airports, as well asthose in Kigali, Entebbe and Nairobi,and organized a policing team.

In June 2003, a baby gorilla wascaptured in Bukonde and smuggled toButembo. The local population, al-ready well aware of the problem, didnot hesitate to inform trackers fromthe Tayna Gorilla Reserve and helpedthem confiscate the animal. The go-rilla was handed over to officials of thereserve who, after it had been exam-ined by local veterinarians, placed itfor observation in the compound ofthe residence of ”Maman Denise” inButembo. Several days later, severalother baby gorillas, captured for thesame commercial purposes in the for-est of Walikale, were successfullyconfiscated in the town of Goma.Three chimpanzees were also seizedwith the support of ICCN and wereimmediately transferred to the Lwiroorphanage in South Kivu.

In June 2004, another baby gorilla,from Itebero/Walikale, was smuggledinto Goma to be sold. Fortunately, thelocal population shared the concernsof UGADEC, and organized its sei-zure. This time the confiscation wasparticularly difficult given that the thiefhad already received US$ 7,000 onaccount from the purchaser, whowould pay the balance of the agreedsum of US$ 15,000 when he returnedto collect the animal. Our trained in-formants in Goma were quick to con-tact us, and together we took meas-ures to recover and save the gorilla.

In view of the delicacy of the opera-tion, we requested the help of our col-leagues at ICCN, and ConservateurSebuke provided a much-appreciatedarmed escort. Captain Dienze of thelocal police also contributed to thesuccess of the operation with valuableadvice. The baby gorilla, which wasconfiscated on July 4th, 2004, after

further examinations was identified asmale (not female, as previously mis-takably diagnosed). It was 7 monthsold when it was confiscated.

When it arrived in the enclosure atthe office of "Landscape Graueri"(comprising UGADEC, the Maiko Na-tional Park and the Kahuzi-Biega Na-tional Park) in Goma, the MountainGorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP)joined with the Dian Fossey GorillaFund International (DFGF-I) andUGADEC to contribute technical, ma-terial and financial assistance. A com-plete physical examination was con-ducted on the gorilla as a priority,including parasite, microscopic, bloodand chemical tests. The gorilla’shealth continues to improve day byday. After less than 4 months, itsweight has increased from 6.3 to9.4 kg. The baby is remaining for thetime being under the care of MGVP incollaboration with UGADEC, whileawaiting the decision of the compe-tent authorities.

In order to deal with problems ofthis nature in future, UGADEC is pre-paring to sign a memorandum of un-

derstanding with the sanctuary ofKatoyo located at Kasugho. The ad-vantage of this sanctuary is that it issituated close to the Tayna Center forConservation Biology (TCCB), not farfrom the Tayna Gorilla Reserve. Thesanctuary is very concerned about go-rillas being illegally kept in the townsand already well prepared for thiswork. There is also a team of compe-tent staff ready for this exercise addedto the veterinarians only with someauxiliary agents. The population aswell as this staff and the veterinariansonly need to be encouraged to beginthis work so that the sanctuary ofKatoyo may be really fully operational.Their objective is to create a sanctu-ary that is capable of lodging captivegorillas.

We would like to take this occasionto thank ICCN and the politico-militaryauthorities of North Kivu, and we sa-lute the bravery and vigilance of ourlocal populations. Our heartfelt thanksalso go to DFGF-I and MGVP who say”No to trafficking in baby gorillas!” andhave supported us in all our activities.

Pierre Kakule Vwirasihikya

Another Gorilla OrphanOn 18th December 2004, Rwandan police arrested four suspected poach-ers and recovered a 3–4 year old mountain gorilla that was said to havebeen stolen from its family in Congo. The men had smuggled the younggorilla into Rwanda, hidden in a sack. It had been ordered by unknownbuyers in Kenya. According to the suspects, the youngster was from ahabituated gorilla group in Congo. They said that they had drugged adultmembers of the group by feeding them intoxicated bananas.

Summary of an AP press releaseUpdate: On 7th January, it was not yet clear what had happened. Thehabituated gorilla groups in the Congolese part of the Virunga Volcanoesare intact and no gorilla is missing. Although the forest was searchedintensely, no hint was found that the animal is from the Bukima area, asthe arrested persons had declared.

Personal information from Fidele Ruzigandekwe, ORTPN,and Deo Mbula, ICCN

As soon as we receive more news, we will present it on our website – thedirect link is www.berggorilla.de/english/aktuell/orphan.html

Twin Mountain GorillasTwin births happen in gorillas with ap-proximately the same frequency as inhumans. On 19 May twins were bornto 12-year-old Nyabitondore in theSusa group, Parc National des Vol-cans, Rwanda – a male and a female.The mother had had one infant beforegiving birth to the twins. When thebabies were 5 months old, they werestill very alert and active. Their motherwas also doing well and had no prob-lem eating and moving around whilecarrying her infants.

Although twins have been born al-ready twice before in wild mountaingorillas, there has been no previouscase of both babies surviving. TheSusa group is habituated for tourists.It is a very large gorilla group with 37members.

In 1991, there was a previous twinbirth in the Susa group, by Umu-hanga. One of her twins died soonafter birth, and the other died soonafter Umuhanga was killed by poach-ers in 2002. But this was not the firstpair of twins observed in the mountaingorillas in Rwanda: in 1986 Walanzagave birth to two females, one of whichdied after one week and the other onetwo days later.

The only documented twin birth out-side of the Virungas happened on 31December 2003 in the Mufanzalagroup, Kahuzi-Biega National Park.As this group is not well habituated to

18 September 1966 Kansas City: abortion (3 months)3 May 1967 Frankfurt: 2 females

11 July 1981 Barcelona: 2 females11 December 1981 Yerkes: stillbirth, 2 males26 October 1983 Columbus: 2 males16 August 1987 La Palmyre: stillbirth, 2 males8 August 1994 New York Bronx: 2 males

21 March 1999 Oklahoma City: male + female

Twin Gorilla Births in Zoos

humans, it is difficult to take photos.The group is monitored regularly, how-ever, and at their first birthday bothbabys were developing well.

In the captive gorilla population, 8twin births have been recorded in the

studbook until 2003; 5 of the pairswere born alive. None of them wasmother-reared. 8 twin births in 1066gorilla births in captivity registered inthe International Gorilla Studbookmeans that statistically there is onetwin birth in 133 births. In humans,about one birth in 90 is a twin birth.

Latest zoo twin news: On 26 Au-gust 2004 Kena, one of the twins bornin Barcelona Zoo in 1981, gave birth toa pair of twins – a male and a female(www.zoobarcelona.com). They arebeing hand-reared, like all the otherzoo-born twins.Compiled by Angela Meder with infor-mation from Undine Bender, MarykeGray, Jörg Hess, Sabine Hilsberg andCarlos Schuler – many thanks!

RWANDA


Photo: Siegbert LappNyabitondore with her twins in August

Variability in the Diet ofBwindi GorillasStudying the diet of gorillas can assistin our understanding of their foragingbehavior, habitat utilization, popula-tion dynamics, and social behaviorand it may also assist in conservationefforts. The diet of gorillas is likely todiffer among gorilla populations be-cause they are found in a diversity ofhabitats that vary in plant compositionand availability (Doran & McNeilage1998), so it is important to investigatetheir diets in a variety of habitats.

From the pioneering studies ofmountain gorillas (Gorilla beringeiberingei) at the Karisoke ResearchCenter in Rwanda, gorillas were tradi-tionally thought of as strict herbivores(Fossey & Harcourt 1977; Watts1984). As researchers began investi-gating the diets of western gorillas(Gorilla gorilla) and Grauer’s gorillas(Gorilla beringei graueri), it becameapparent that gorillas also consume asignificant amount of fruit, as well asmany different species of herbaceousvegetation (Tutin & Fernandez 1985;Yamagiwa et al. 1996; Doran et al.2002). While much has been learnedabout the variability of dietary patternsbetween gorilla populations in recentyears, less is known about how gorilladiets may vary within a small popula-tion (but see McNeilage 2001).

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park,Uganda is home to almost half of theworld’s remaining mountain gorillas(the other population is found in theVirunga Volcanoes and the majority ofour knowledge of gorillas is derivedfrom over 30 years of research at theKarisoke Research Center). Bwindi isat a lower altitude (1160–2607 m) thanKarisoke (~2700–3700 m); corre-spondingly the two areas differ greatlyin habitat types and plant speciescomposition (Butynski 1984). Further-more, the Bwindi Forest spans a widerange of altitudes that correspond to

differences in temperature, rainfall,and plant species composition withinthe park (Nkurunungi et al. 2004). Be-cause of the differences in altitude/habitats between the areas surround-ing Karisoke and Bwindi, and also thedifferences within Bwindi itself, moun-tain gorilla diets in Bwindi are ex-pected to differ from those at Kari-soke, and also between different ar-eas of Bwindi.

Over a one year period betweenSeptember 2001 and August 2002, weconducted a study to investigate dif-ferences in diet among three gorillagroups at two different locations inBwindi (separated by ~17 km). Twogorilla groups, Mubare and Habinya-nja, at a low altitude site (Buhoma,1450–1800 m) were compared withthe Kyagurilo group at a high altitudesite (Ruhija, 2100–2500 m). We stud-ied the gorillas’ diets by using fecalsamples to record frugivory (samplescollected from night nests on an ap-proximately daily basis were exam-ined to identify fruit seed species andthe number of seeds found), and byfollowing the gorillas’ trails to recordherbivory (examining food remains leftbehind is an indication of which herb,shrub, and tree plant parts wereeaten).

The results of our study demon-strate that the diets between gorillagroups at the two study sites inBwindi are notably different. Thegroups at the low altitude site con-

sumed more species of both fibrousfoods (non-fruit food from herbs,shrubs, and trees) and fruit than thegroup at the high altitude site (fibrousfoods: 140 vs. 62 species; fruit: 36 vs.11 species). Furthermore, there waslittle overlap in the actual species offoods eaten; the Mubare (low altitude)and Kyagurilo (high altitude) groupsshared only 24.4% of their importantfibrous food species (those speciesconsumed on more than 5% of days)and 16.7% of their important fruit spe-cies (those species found in feces onmore than 1% of days), while theHabinyanja (low altitude) and Kyagu-rilo groups shared only 12.7% of theirimportant fibrous food species and16.7% of their important fruit species.A surprising result was that the Mu-bare and Habinyanja groups sharedonly 46.3% of their important fibrousfood species and 62.5% of their impor-tant fruit species, despite having over-lapping home ranges.

By examining the availability anddistribution of the plants consumed bythe gorillas at each site, we found thatthe majority of differences in the diets


UGANDA


UGANDA

between the groups at the two sitescould be explained by differences infood availability, but the difference indiet between the groups with overlap-ping home ranges could not be en-tirely accounted for by differences inavailability. We suggest that differ-ences between these two groupscould be possibly due to small scaledifferences in patterns of habitat utili-zation by the two groups, or due to”group traditions” (gorillas learn differ-ently as to what plants to incorporateinto their diet), or that gorillas choosedifferent plant species with similar nu-trient contents which would makethem equally profitable to the gorillas.We are currently investigating the nu-trient and chemical content of foodsconsumed by the three gorilla groupsto examine the latter possibility inmore detail.

How does the diet of Bwindi gorillascompare with the diets of other east-ern gorilla populations? Eastern goril-las (Grauer’s gorillas and mountaingorillas) live in a particularly widerange of habitat types and altitudes inUganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic

Republic of Congo. A comparison ofthe results of our study with thosefrom the Virunga Volcanoes in Rwan-da (Watts 1984; McNeilage 2001) andKahuzi-Biega (Yamagiwa et al. 1996),shows that the gorillas in these threelocations have very few species ofplants in their diets in common. Fur-thermore, it is apparent that, as alti-tude increases, the number of plantspecies eaten and the degree of frugi-vory declines. Bwindi mountain goril-las are much more frugivorous thanthose in the Virungas, but less thangorillas of Kahuzi-Biega. Thus there isa great amount of variability in thedietary patterns of eastern gorillas.

Our study reveals new informationabout the dietary patterns of mountaingorillas in Bwindi and highlights thehigh degree of dietary flexibility withineastern gorillas. These results em-phasize the importance of using acomparative approach across multiplesites and habitats when studying aspecies’ dietary patterns, social sys-tem, and when making conservationplans.

Jessica Ganas, John BoscoNkurunungi, Martha Robbins

The full results of this study were pub-lished in the October 2004 issue ofthe International Journal of Prima-tology.ReferencesDoran, D. M. & McNeilage, A. (1998) Gorillaecology and behavior. Evol. Anthropol. 6:120–131Doran, D. M. et al. (2002) Western lowlandgorilla diet and resource availability: new evi-dence, cross-site comparisons, and reflec-tions on indirect sampling methods. Amer. J.Primatol. 58: 91–116Fossey, D. & Harcourt, A. H. (1977) Feedingecology of free ranging mountain gorillas (Go-rilla gorilla beringei). In: Primate ecology.Clutton-Brock, T. H. (ed.). London (AcademicPress), pp. 539–556McNeilage, A. 2001. Diet and habitat use oftwo mountain gorilla groups in contrastinghabitats in the Virungas. In: Mountain Gorillas.Robbins, M. M. et al. (eds.). Cambridge (Cam-bridge University Press), pp. 265–292Nkurunungi, J. B. (in press) A comparison oftwo mountain gorilla habitats in Bwindi Impen-

etrable National Park, Uganda. Afr. J. Ecol.Tutin, C. E. G. & Fernandez, M. (1985) Foodsconsumed by sympatric populations of Go-rilla g. gorilla and Pan t. troglodytes in Gabon:some preliminary data. Internat. J. Primatol. 6:27–43Watts, D. P. (1984) Composition and variabilityof mountain gorilla diets in the central Vi-rungas. Amer. J. Primatol. 7: 323–365Yamagiwa, J. et al. (1996) Dietary and rang-ing overlap in sympatric gorillas and chimpan-zees in Kahuzi-Biega National Park, Zaire. In:Great Ape Societies. McGrew, W. C. et al.(eds.). Cambridge (Cambridge UniversityPress), pp. 82–98

Gorilla Park Fees RaisedSince August 2004, the price for apermit to visit gorillas in Uganda hasbeen US$ 360 for foreign tourists. TheUganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) saidthe new rates, which include new en-trance fees into parks, would matchRwanda’s charges of US$ 375. EastAfricans pay US$ 340 and UgandansUSh 100,000. UWA has maintained amaximum of 6 permits per group,while in Rwanda 8 tourists may visitthe same gorilla group.

The entrance fee to national parksremains at US$ 20 for foreign non-residents. Ugandan citizens pay USh3,000. East Africans US$ 10 pernight/day and US$ 20 for two days/nights. Passes for the individual cat-egory cost US$ 100/year for East Afri-can residents and US$ 50 for Ugan-dans. Passes for a couple cost nowUS$ 150/year for East Africans andUS$ 75 for Ugandans. Passes for afamily including only four children costUS$ 200 for East Africans, and US$100 for Ugandans. New categories forspecial passes have also been intro-duced, including the Annual CorporatePass (US$ 500 for East Africans, US$400 for Ugandans). Members of theAssociation of Uganda Tour Opera-tors (AUTO) will pay US$ 40/year.

The new structure will remain in useuntil 2006.Summary of an article in The Monitor,12 July 2004 by Dorothy Nakaweesi

GORILLAS


Zoonotic DiseasesShared by Gorillas andHumansThis paper provides a brief introductioninto zoonotic diseases that affect go-rillas and humans, and briefly outlinesthe ways in which the risk of diseasetransmission between gorillas and hu-mans can be reduced or prevented. Ofcourse, we cannot list all of the ap-proximately 150 theoretically trans-missible diseases between non-hu-man primates (and therefore also be-tween gorillas and humans).

The World Health Organisation(WHO) defines zoonotic diseases asnaturally transmissible diseases be-tween vertebrates and humans. Thetransmission of an infectious diseasecan be either direct through immedi-ate contact, or indirect by exposurethrough inanimate objects (e.g. food,soil, leaves) or living organisms (e.g.ticks, mosquitoes, rodents). Zoonoticdiseases are caused by infectiousagents such as viruses, bacteria,fungi, parasites and presumably alsothrough prions.

Infectious Diseases: an ExistentDanger for Decimated, SmallPopulationsIn the past, the threat of infectiousdiseases to wildlife was often under-estimated; today, infectious diseasesare recognised as a significant dangerto wildlife species that have been deci-mated or artificially manipulated attheir population level, habitat or geo-graphic range. Acknowledging thisrole of infectious diseases and reduc-ing the transmission risk is, therefore,of essential importance in wildlife con-servation.

For a few years now, scientistshave talked of pathogen pollution, thecontamination of the environment withdisease causing infectious agents. Al-though many infectious agents arespecies-specific, a number of patho-

genic organisms can cross the spe-cies barrier and cause severe clinicaldiseases in the new host. The move-ment of humans into wild habitatsleads to the occurrence of new infec-tious diseases which can be transmit-ted bidirectionally between wildlife andhumans. Carriers of these infectiousagents do not always have to be obvi-ously sick.

As a result of these new diseases,the so-called emerging diseases, anumber of wild animals have beenpushed further towards extinction. Pa-thogen pollution is a global problem,which threatens all wildlife and also allhumans. Historically, habitat destruc-tion and chemical pollution were con-sidered major threats to biodiversity;today, in fact, pathogen pollution isthe largest danger for threatened ani-mal species and hence for our plan-et’s biodiversity. If members of a deci-mated population were infected with apathogenic agent, for which this pop-ulation was immunologically naive,then this population could decreaseand eventually become extinct. Par-ticularly infectious agents of humanscan be lethal for rare animal species,especially for primates. Consequen-ces would be fatal not only for thesuffering individual, but also for theentire species. This is why infectiousagents are such a real danger forsmall, threatened populations.

Zoonotic Diseases Shared byGorillas and HumansBecause of its close genetic relation-ship with humans, the gorilla is, likeall apes, susceptible to infectious dis-eases of humans and vice versa. Thepathogenicity of an infectious diseasedepends on host and pathogen evolu-tionary mechanisms; for example, adisease that may be highly patho-genic to gorillas may be harmless tohumans and vice versa. As the im-mune system of gorillas is naive toinfectious agents of humans, trans-

missible human diseases can causemore severe clinical illness in the go-rilla than in its original host, humans.The knowledge of zoonotic diseasesbetween gorilla and man comesmostly from zoological institutions,but also from work on wild rangingmountain gorillas.

Gorillas can fall ill with viral dis-eases, such as the viral human child-hood illnesses. In general, people andgorillas are susceptible for a numberof bacterial infections; any bacterialdisease in the gorilla as well as inhumans should be considered zoo-notic with a risk of mutual transmis-sion. Parasitic diseases of zoonoticimportance are those with protozoic(e.g. amoebiasis), helminthic (e.g.strongyloidosis) as well as arthro-podic aetiology (e.g. scabies). In com-parison to other infectious germs,fungi seem to play a lesser role aszoonotic agents.

Gorillas and people can be asymp-tomatic carriers for certain infectiousagents. Such individuals then serve asthe often unrecognized source of in-fection (e.g. human infected with theHerpes simplex virus, gorilla infectedwith Strongyloides stercoralis).

Gorillas Living in the Wild: Dan-ger and Protection from HumanDiseasesBeside habitat destruction and hunt-ing, human infectious diseases areanother major threat to wild ranginggorillas. These diseases cannot on-ly be transmitted through tourists,gamekeepers, veterinarians and sci-entists, but also by the local people.

Vaccinating wildlife as a preventivemeasure is a controversial, often dis-puted issue. During an epidemic withfatalities in the 1980s in wild mountaingorillas which had shown heavy respi-ratory symptoms, antibodies for mea-sles were detected. Suspecting thedisease, some mountain gorillas werevaccinated against measles to prevent

GORILLAS


future disease. Scabies and yaws areother zoonotic diseases with severeclinical symptoms described for wildgorillas.

Today there are rules for touristsvisiting habituated gorilla groups toprotect the health of the gorillas: onlya healthy person is allowed to go, amaximum number of participants ispermitted, only one visit per gorillagroup per day is allowed, minimumdistance and minimum age are stipu-lated, and human faeces must be bur-ied. But remember: one does not haveto be diseased with tuberculosis toput the gorillas’ health in danger, anda widely travelled tourist could bein the incubation period for flu andmight already have spread infectiousagents; this – to us – simple flu couldthen have severe consequences when

transmitted to the gorilla group. Alsoscientists, veterinarians and game-keepers have to act according to therules of infectious disease prophylaxiswhen encountering gorillas.

There are good preventive meas-ures for certain zoonotic diseases,such as vaccinations, deworming andtreating skin parasites. We have themoral obligation to provide advantagesof modern health care to people in so-called third-world countries includingfree examinations and, if necessary,treatment of the local people, whichwould also be a step towards protect-ing gorillas from potential zoonoticagents.

And what about Zoos?Humans can also transmit diseasesto gorillas in captivity. Gorillas are

regularly infected by keepers withcolds, particularly during spring andautumn, but this commonly does notthreaten the lives of the gorillas. Thezoo gorilla population of today is con-sidered sustainable and its existenceis not threatened by infectious dis-eases unlike their wild counterparts.Severe infectious diseases are ex-tremely rare in zoos and they do notthreaten the survival of the entire zoopopulation.

Today, the zoo gorilla is protectedfrom contact with visitors and so fromtheir infectious germs through sheetsof glass or wide moats. This did notuse to be that way: before introducingthese protective measures, tuberculo-sis in particular was a fear in primateholdings. Today, visitors are not at allor only in exceptional cases allowedto go behind scenes. Access for chil-dren to behind scenes is prohibitedcompletely in most zoos as they bearthe risk of transmitting childhood ill-nesses to the gorillas.

Gorillas, their keepers and vet-erinarians are protected through therules of the hygienic outline plan ofeach zoo. These rules together withthose of good animal keeping andmanagement reduce the danger ofdisease transmission between goril-las and personnel. Hygiene, pest con-trol, regular health checks and vacci-

Zoonotic Diseases of Gorillas in the Literature (Examples)

Zoonotic disease Infectious agent Clinical symptomsHerpes Herpes simplex virus Vesicles on lips, deathChickenpox Varicella-Zoster virus skin rash, feverInfluenza Influenza virus fever, cough, cold,

pneumonia, weaknessPoliomyelitis Poliomyelitis virus paralysisHepatitis A, B Hepatitis A and B virus jaundice, feverTuberculosis Mycobacterium mostly respiratory

tuberculosis, organs affected; oftenM. bovis, M. avium subclinical

Salmonellosis Salmonella sp. diarrhoeaShigellosis Shigella sp. diarrhoeaCampylobacter infect. Campylobacter sp. diarrhoeaWhooping cough Bordetella pertussis cough

(Pertussis)Ring worm Trichophyton sp. circular hair loss, itchingScabies Sarcoptes scabiei hair loss, itchingInfections Amoeba spp. diarrhoea

with protozoa Giardia spp. diarrhoeaBalantidium coli diarrhoea

Infestations Strongyloides spp. diarrhoeawith helminths Enterobius vermicularis diarrhoea

Trichuris trichuria diarrhoeaOesophagostomum spp. diarrhoeaAscaris lumbricoides diarrhoea

A gorilla in a zoo with Herpessimplex that was transmitted bythe keeper

Photo: Wolfram Rietschel


GORILLAS

nation of the personnel as well aswearing working clothes are all impor-tant, and employees are banned fromwork with apes if any suffers respira-tory or gastrointestinal infections orskin or mucous membrane lesions;the disease prevention programme willinclude quarantine, parasite control,TB-testing and vaccinations of the go-rillas.

And what about Humans?It should not be forgotten that hu-mans, in the wild as well as in zoos,can in turn contract infectious dis-eases from gorillas. There will alwaysbe a certain risk of infection throughdirect or indirect contact for peoplewho work with gorillas. Many agentsare transmitted by oro-faecal contami-nation or by aerosol. Certain parasitessuch as Strongyloides can find theway into their host through skin pen-etration. It is advisable to avoid con-tact with the gorillas’ body fluids(blood, faeces, urine, nasal discharge)or, in the case of a vet, to take care

not to hurt oneself with contaminatedneedles.

In today’s zoos, there is only aminimal risk for the personnel of con-tracting zoonotic diseases from zoogorillas. Overall, only a few individualcases of zoonotic diseases of hu-mans through work with gorillas incaptivity are published (e.g. amoebia-sis, strongyloidosis, mycoplasmaticarthritis); as the experience of morethan 100 years of gorilla keepingshows, there is no reason to be overlyconcerned in the zoo. Still, everyonewho works with apes must be aware ofa residual occupational risk, as someinfectious agents may remain undis-covered for some time. Because ofthis, certain hygienic norms must befulfilled to protect the personnel asmuch as the gorillas from each other’sinfectious agents.

In the wild, there is a risk of infec-tion for tourists, rangers, veterinar-ians, scientists as well as for the localpeople. According to a recent publica-tion a few local hunters in Central Af-

rica were infected and then died of theEbola virus which they contractedthrough the consumption of infectedmeat of dead gorillas. In the literature,infection of humans with the malariaprotozoon Plasmodium gorillae hasbeen described. In theory, humanscould contract an infection with somegorilla-specific agents which were on-ly recently discovered, especially thegorilla Herpes virus or the gorillaSpumavirus, or with gorilla-unspe-cific viruses, such as the Simian T-lymphotrophic virus 1 (STLV-1). Therate of dissemination of these virusesin gorillas so far remains unknown. Tothe best of our knowledge no knowncase of a gorilla infecting a humanwith such viruses has been reported.

To reduce the risk of contracting azoonotic disease, in the wild as wellas in the zoo, certain hygienic ruleshave to be followed. This is of coursehuman self-protection, but primarilyprotection of the gorillas from humansand their pathogens.K. Alexandra Dörnath Aguirre Alvarez

and Jürg VöllmFor a detailed list of references pleasehave a look at the section further read-ing at www.berggorilla.de/english/gjournal/texte/29zoonos.html

Bushmeat in Africa as aPotential Threat toPeople’s HealthInfectious diseases, which have beentransmitted from animals to humans,constitute a major part of the cata-strophic disease epidemics of moderntimes. The best-known example ofthis is AIDS, which has confrontedhumanity with one of the greatesthealth problems in history. In 2003,UNAIDS published statistics indicat-ing that 3 million people had alreadydied of AIDS. Africa south of the Sa-hara remains the centre of the AIDSepidemic and the damage done to the

A gorilla in a zoo with Tonsillitis that was transmitted by the keeperPhoto: Wolfram Rietschel

GORILLAS


various countries’ economies is enor-mous.

AIDS broke out at the start of the1980s. It is a consequence of thetransmission of the simian immunode-ficiency virus (SIV) from primates topeople, which probably took placeseveral decades earlier. Based on ge-nome and phylogenetic relationships,two AIDS viruses have been distin-guished: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 canbe traced back to SIVcpz found in thecentral African chimpanzee; HIV-2originated in SIVsm found in WestAfrican mangabeys (Barre-Sinoussi etal. 1983; Clavel et al. 1986). Becauseof the affinity of virus strains thereseems to be no doubt that the virushas been transmitted from manga-beys to humans at least six times,independently of each other, whereasthe virus was transmitted from chim-panzees to humans only once. HIV-2infections seem to be restricted toWest Africa, whereas HIV-1 has de-veloped into a global threat.

But it is not only SIV that has in-fected humans via primates. The so-called HTLVs (human T-lympho-trophic viruses type 1 and 2) have theirorigins in STLV (simian T-lympho-trophic virus). In addition, Wolfe et al.(2004) recently reported that anotherretrovirus (i.e. a virus that carries RNAas its genetic information), the pri-mate foamy virus, has been transmit-ted to the human population. Eachprimate foamy virus infection was con-tracted from a distinct lineage of thevirus, involving cross-species trans-missions from three different primatespecies.

The three virus groups share a com-mon trait in that they don’t have apathogenic effect on their primaryhosts, but cause symptoms of dis-ease in their new host. However, whileHIV-1 infections have spread globally,HIV-2 remains restricted to West Af-rica, whereas HTLV is most prevalentin tropical Africa. In contrast to HIV,

only some carriers of the HTLV virusactually develop the disease – andthis only after a long incubation pe-riod. To date, very little is known aboutthe primate foamy virus and there isas yet no indication that the virus canbe transmitted from humans to hu-mans.

Pathogens that can cause acutedisease symptoms also have greatsignificance. Among them are the vi-ruses that cause monkey smallpoxand Ebola, which can kill non-humanprimates as well as humans. TheEbola virus caused havoc among goril-las and chimpanzees in Gabon andthe Congo Republic and killed a majorpart of these populations; this is prob-ably the most dangerous example ofthe threat it presents (Walsh et al.2003; Leroy et al. 2004). It is probablyresponsible for the current dramaticdecrease of gorillas in the Odzala Na-tional Park (press release by the Inter-national Primatological Society).

Contact with blood and body fluids,for example during hunting and cuttingup of the animal prey, can lead todisease transmission. This is consid-ered a primary mechanism of HIVtransmission. The widespread Africancustom of keeping primates as petsalso increases the risk of infection. Bynow, more than 30 primate speciesare known to be infected with SIV.Some of the SIV strains have alreadybeen transmitted from one primatespecies to another, which suggeststhat they could be transmitted to hu-mans sooner or later (Peeters et al.2002). This risk has been increasingat a constant rate ever since morestakeholders have become involved inthe bushmeat trade. Animals have al-ways been hunted in Africa, but not atcurrent levels. There are many rea-sons for the increase in hunting andthe bushmeat trade. Firstly, the well-to-do classes of the cities are willingto pay considerably more for bush-meat than for the meat of domesti-

cated animals. Hence the demand in-creases. In addition, new roads, par-ticularly logging roads, are openingrainforest areas that were formerly vir-tually inaccessible. Modern weaponsmake hunting easier and, at the sametime, increase the pressure on thehunters, as they can pay for new gunsand ammunition only if they bringdown a sufficient quantity of prey.Lastly, many rainforest areas have ac-commodated migrants from climati-cally less favoured areas of Africa.These migrants do not obey localhunting taboos.

For all these reasons, the restric-tion of hunting activities is increas-ingly important – not only for the pro-tection of many endangered primatespecies, but also to reduce the risk ofdisease transmission to humans.

Johannes Refisch

ReferencesBarre-Sinoussi, F. et al. (1983) Isolation of aT-lymphotropic retrovirus from a patient at riskfor acquired immunodeficiency syndrome(AIDS). Science 220, 868–871Clavel, F. et al. (1986) Molecular cloning andpolymorphism of the human immune defi-ciency virus type 2. Nature 324, 691–695Leroy, E. M. et al. (2004) Multiple Ebola virustransmission events and rapid decline of cen-tral African wildlife. Science. 303, 387–390Peeters M. et al. (2002) A plethora of simianimmunodeficiency viruses in primate bush-meat: expanding bushmeat trade may posenew risks to human health. Emerging Infec-tious Diseases 8, 451–457Walsh, P. D. et al. (2003) Catastrophic apedecline in western equatorial Africa. Nature422, 611–614Wolfe, N. D. et al. (2004) Naturally acquiredsimian retrovirus infections in Central Africanhunters. The Lancet 363, 932–937

Gorilla mtDNA –Sequences Unravelledand Secrets RevealedNon-invasive genetics, the analysis ofDNA variability using samples suchas hair or fresh faeces collected in thefield, has made enormous progresssince the days of its infancy in the late

GORILLAS


1980s and early 1990s (Higuchi et al.1988; Constable et al. 1995). At thistime, such genetic analyses heldgreat promise for ecologists, with thecapacity to explain all the mysteriesof population structure and socialorganisation, degrees of relatednessand gene flow of species not amena-ble to direct study (Avise 1994). Wewere no less enthusiastic in our pre-dictions of its power and our prowess.So much so that we convinced a poolof gorilla researchers and conserva-tion organisations to help us collectmaterial for the first range-wide studyof genetic variability in the gorilla.

Traditionally three subspecies havebeen recognised within a single spe-cies, Gorilla gorilla (Groves 1967,1970): western lowland (G. g. gorilla),eastern lowland gorillas (G. g. graueri)and mountain gorillas (G. g. beringei).A more recent evaluation of the avail-able data has led to a reclassificationof the gorilla into two species (Groves2001): the western gorilla Gorilla go-rilla and the eastern gorilla Gorillaberingei. Within western gorillas, twosubspecies have been proposed: G.g. gorilla (western gorillas exceptthose in the Cross River area betweenNigeria and Cameroon) and G. g.diehli (Cross River gorillas). Withineastern gorillas, three subspecieshave also been proposed: G. b. grau-eri (eastern lowland), G. b. beringei

of local expertise. Equally, having re-alised that it is not feasible to attemptautomated genetic analyses in Gabonwithout the difficulties associated withequipment maintenance and delivery,we have developed a strategy, in col-laboration with overseas laboratories,whereby fundamental molecular workis carried out at CIRMF, leaving cost-lier and more technologically chal-lenging work to collaboration.

Through such collaboration, localscientists and students receive tech-nical training and scientific support fortheir research both in-country andoverseas. For example, sample ex-traction, species and sex determina-tion, and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)screening are carried out in theUGENET laboratories at CIRMF, andDNA for automated sequencing andmicrosatellite techniques is analysedthrough collaborating laboratories.Such high cost, high throughput, tech-nically challenging work on non-inva-sive material is best done through

Maximum Likelihood tree with branch lengthsgenerated from unique mitochondrial HV1 haplotypes.Midpoint rooting is employed. Three letter taxa namewith number correspond to samples sequenced in thisstudy; Genbank accession numbers are given forthose samples retrieved from the database. Taxanames labelled with an asterisks represent multipleindividuals which shared a common haplotype.Bwindi: BWD, Kahuzi-Biega: KBG, Itombwe: ITW, Tshiaberimu: TSH,Lobéké: LBK, Equatorial Guinea: EQG, Central African Republic/Lobéké/Ndoki: CAR/LBK3/NDK1 and Gabon/Congo: GAB/CON, Be-linga: BEL, Conkouati: CQT, Itombe: ITO, Lopé: LOP, Lastourville:LAS, Lossi: LOS, Petit Loango: PLO, Rabi: RAB. Haplogroups A to Dand subgroups C1, C2, D1, D2 and D3 are indicated. Reproduced bypermission of Blackwells Publishing from Clifford et al (2004)

(Virunga mountain gorilla) and, per-haps, an as yet unnamed third taxo-nomic unit from the Bwindi forest,Uganda.

Nearly 10 years later we believe wehave achieved our goal (Clifford et al.2004), and with this article I wouldlike to acknowledge all the peoplewho have been instrumental in thisachievement (see list of field collabo-rators).

In fact our aims were three-fold: inparallel to the question of gorilla popu-lation genetics we were committed todeveloping a regional molecular ecol-ogy laboratory where African scien-tists could receive training and to pro-viding a facility where samples couldbe treated without having to leave theregion. The Centre International deRecherches Médicales de Franceville(CIRMF) still remains the only centrewhere such work can be carried out.Too many studies in the Central Afri-can region have involved the collectionof material, its export to northern insti-tutions and analyses carried out tosatisfy the requirements of a thesis,without reference to the development

such collaborative networks. By thismeans, all samples can remain in theregion providing valuable resources forfurther study without compromising fu-ture capacity for host country re-search and development.

Biological material collected non-invasively provides the only means ofgleaning information on feeding ecol-ogy, habitat preference and now ge-netic population structure for anumber of cryptic species living inhabitat conditions unsuitable for directstudy. Gorillas conveniently leave be-hind night nests and faecal deposits,which have, in other species, beenused as a source of DNA for geneticwork (Morin et al. 1994). Hairs col-lected from night nests were initiallythought to be an ideal source of DNA,but forensic based work by KathrynJeffery (2003) in Cardiff, UK, has nowshown that many shed hairs are infact largely devoid of cellular materialfrom which DNA could be extractedquantitatively. Molecular techniques,however, have advanced so far as tobe able to amplify the tiny (pg)amounts of mitochondrial and ge-nomic DNA associated with thesehairs and faeces (Morin et al. 2001).

We now know, however, that thesevery small amounts of DNA, degradedinto short fragments on exposure tohumid forest conditions, can lead togenotyping errors from allelic dropout(stochastic non-amplification of oneallele over the other; Taberlet et al.1996), and false amplification of non-allelic artefacts. Mitochondrial DNA(mtDNA) analyses are further compli-cated by the translocation of mtDNAfragments into the nuclear genome(Numts), where they undergo a sepa-rate evolutionary history and can con-sequently confound the analysis oftrue mitochondrial phylogenies (Col-lura & Stewart 1995). Other errors insequence interpretation can arisethrough in vitro recombination be-tween mitochondrial and nuclear

translocated fragments (Thalmann etal. 2004) and heteroplasmic muta-tions that appear common in thehyper-variable control region (e.g.Tully et al. 2000).

The presence of a poly-cytosine(poly-C) rich tract within the firsthyper-variable region (HV-1) has alsoproved difficult to align and sequence,further complicating the analysis ofthis region. Recently, one researchgroup has stated that, due to all thesepotential errors, it is impossible toplace any confidence in studies usingmtDNA to characterise genetic vari-ability within gorillas (Thalmann et al.2004; Vigilant et al. 2004).

So where does this leave us? Whatfuture is there for molecular ecologistswithout access to biological materialyielding high quality DNA wherelonger sequences of DNA can be gen-erated and authenticated? Or for stud-ies of recent evolution of populations,based on sex-specific gene flow if ma-ternally inherited mtDNA is deemedunreliable? Must we abandon all hopeof studying the phylogeography ofspecies for which we have no alterna-tive but to use low quality DNA fromnon-invasive samples? Could we notput this knowledge of mtDNA variationpresent within one and the same indi-vidual to some use?

MtDNA sequence variation providesa powerful means of understandinggenetic variation and evolution, andmtDNA sequences have been the pri-mary source of data for resolvingquestions about modern human ori-gins (Ruvolo et al. 1994) and the sub-specific genetic variation of extantchimpanzees (Gagneux et al. 2001)and gorillas (Garner & Ryder 1996;Jensen-Seaman & Kidd 2001). In par-ticular, analyses have focused on thecontrol region that is involved in thecontrol and initiation of replication.This region has an extremely high rateof mutation, and in most species hascharacteristic motifs that allow se-

GORILLAS

quences to be aligned into specifichaplogroups.

Rather than class nuclear translo-cation of mitochondrial genes as con-founding factors in the interpretation ofmtDNA variation, we have tried toprofit from their existence, by recogni-tion of the fact that they can be char-acterised into different groups, whichcan then be used as evolutionarymarkers in their own right. The meth-ods we used for identifying Numtswere as exhaustive as we could affordto make them and relied heavily oncloning of PCR products with se-quencing of multiple clones from oneindividual. A combination of phylo-genetic analysis, poly-C domain se-quence motifs and diagnostic sites inthe region flanking this domain al-lowed us to (i) discriminate betweenputative Numt DNA sequences andtheir presumed mtDNA counterparts,and (ii) classify Numts into differentcategories. We could provisionallyidentify Numts not only in the data setwe generated ourselves, but also insequences deposited in GenBank,the central repository for genetic se-quence data, that were previouslyclassified as authentic mtDNA.

From the several hundred hair sam-ples received from 20 different sites ofthe gorilla range we were able to gen-erate 53 complete sequences of 258bp of the HV-1 region of the controlregion from gorillas throughout theeastern and western ranges. An addi-tional 30 sequences from 3 new and5 sampled sites were retrieved fromGenBank. Of these 83 sequences, 59were deemed to be true mtDNA se-quences; 16 from eastern gorillas and43 from western gorillas. The remain-ing 24 sequences (14 from GenBank)were classified as Numts. Work inprogress is now examining an evenlarger data set using additional se-quence data derived from sites inour initial study and additional sitesthroughout Gabon.


Having identified and subsequentlyexcluded Numt sequences from theanalysis, 4 major mtDNA haplogroupswere identified (A–D), comprising atotal of 36 unique mitochondrialhaplotypes at 23 different sites of thegorilla range. Haplogroups A and Bcorrespond to mountain and easternlowland gorillas, respectively. Haplo-groups C and D together cover thewestern lowland gorilla range, with Cspanning from the Cross River regionin Nigeria/Cameroon, through Dja andLobéké in Cameroon to Ipassa innortheastern Gabon and one museumsample from the Uele Valley, Demo-cratic Republic of Congo. HaplogroupD encompasses Gabon, Congo, Cen-tral African Republic and EquatorialGuinea, as well as one museum sam-ple from Cameroon. The separationbetween eastern (A, B) and western(C, D) haplogroups recapitulates thelarge genetic distance and major evo-lutionary split between eastern and

western gorillas, with mountain goril-las (A) distinct from eastern lowlandgorilla populations (B) (Garner &Ryder 1996).

The most striking finding in thisstudy is the identification of two dis-tinct groups within western lowlandgorillas (haplogroups C and D). Ge-netic divergence in the mitochondrialcontrol region between the two west-ern groups C and D is on averagegreater than that seen between thetwo eastern haplogroups A and B,which are presented in the new taxo-nomic description as two differentsubspecies (Groves 2001). This diver-gence within western lowland gorillasdoes not coincide with any previouslyrecognised biogeographic barrier, butmay potentially be linked to historicclimatic events and changes in forestcover (see later). In addition, westerngorillas are more genetically diversewithin each haplogroup than are thetwo eastern groups, and sub-structur-

ing is evident within both groups C andD. The Cross River gorillas (G. g.diehli) belong to the most diversehaplogroup (C), which also includesgorillas from south of the Sanaga Riverin southern Cameroon and from adja-cent northeastern Gabon.

Within the two western lowlandgorilla haplogroups, two major sub-groups are evident in haplogroup C(C1, C2) and 3 geographically parti-tioned subgroups in haplogroup D (D1,D2, D3). Subgroup D1 comprises go-

GORILLAS

Geographic distribution and haplogroup designation (A–D) ofsequences sampled from 23 sites across current gorilla range. The areaof each circle is proportional to number of sequences analysed at eachsite and proportionally divided where more than one haplogroup ispresent. The present day geographical distribution of gorillas is shadedin grey. Subgroups are reflected in circle coloration. Reproduced bypermission of Blackwells Publishing from Clifford et al (2004)

Minimum spanning network ofpair-wise absolute differencesbetween gorilla mitochondrialDNA haplotypes. For three-lettercodes see Figure 1. The area ofeach circle represents the pro-portional representation of each ofthe respective haplotypes. Branchlengths are also proportionallyrepresented and hash marks forclosely related haplotypes indicateindividual mutational steps.Haplogroups A to D are colourcoded and subgroups C1, C2, D1,D2 and D3 are indicated.Reproduced by permission ofBlackwells Publishing from Cliffordet al (2004)


rillas almost exclusively from Equato-rial Guinea, subgroup D2 constitutesgorillas from Central African Republic,northern Congo and one sample fromLobéké, and subgroup D3 comprisesthe majority of gorillas from Gabonand adjacent Congo. Interestingly,subgroup D3, which covers the largestsurface area and contains the largestnumber of gorillas, also shows thelowest genetic diversity of the 5 sub-groups.

Patterns of genetic variation indi-cate that a history of population frag-mentation may have given rise to thedistinct haplogroups identified in thisstudy. Mismatch distributions providelimited evidence of demographic ex-pansion in eastern lowland gorillapopulations as observed in a previousstudy (Jensen-Seaman & Kidd 2001).

Within western gorillas, sub-groupsD2 (CAR) and D3 (Gabon/adjacentCongo) show evidence of expansionwhereas gorilla populations in Nigeria/Cameroon (C) exhibit a more complexpopulation structure and history. Peri-odic changes in climate during recentPleistocene history led to repeatedretractions of vegetation cover into iso-lated refugia during glacial maxima(Maley 1996). Distributions of speciesdependent on closed canopy forestwould have followed these changes,leading to population fragmentationwithin restricted forest refugia, fromwhich expansion would later followduring climate warming. Such re-peated isolation and expansion eventsmay have had profound effects on ge-netic structure, as demonstrated inwestern gorillas. Several montane ref-uges have been identified in westernCentral Africa (Maley 1996), and theexistence of fluvial refuges has alsobeen proposed (Colyn 1991). Thepresent location of D2 would corre-spond to one of these fluvial refuges,whereas the remaining subgroupscould be traced to montane forestremnants in Cameroon and Gabon/

Equatorial Guinea. Riverine barriersdo not appear to have influenced go-rilla history to the same extent.

Recognised barriers such as theSanaga River (Grubb 2001) have hadno apparent effect on gorilla diver-gence; rather the occurrence ofhaplogroups C and D in Lobéké(Cameroon) may reflect recent geneflow between adjacent haplogroupsacross the Sangha River following re-cent post-glacial expansion. Similarlyadmixture consistent with ongoingpopulation expansion out of Nigeria/Cameroon, and refuges in Gabon(Monts de Cristal and Massif duChaillu), could explain the diversity oftypes found in northeastern Gabon.

What are the implications of thesefindings for gorilla conservation? Therelatively deep subdivision betweenhaplogroups C and D within westerngorillas in conjunction with the divi-sions between eastern and mountaingorillas would support the recognitionof four distinct evolutionary significantunits (ESU, Moritz 1994). It might bepremature to base such conclusionson mtDNA diversity alone, given thestochasticity of a single marker sys-tem and the fact that neutral markersmay fail to detect divergence in eco-logically important traits. Neverthe-less, “demes” based on morphologicaltraits identified in western gorillas(Groves 1967, 1970) correspond byand large to the geographical separa-tion seen in genetic signatures, al-though the morphologically distinctCross River gorillas in Nigeria belongto a larger haplogroup encompassinggorillas in Cameroon. The conserva-tion status of all gorillas within group Cappears equally precarious, due toextreme habitat fragmentation and hu-man pressure (Oates 2002; Groves2002).

This study demonstrates that au-thentic mitochondrial genetic diversi-ty can be assessed in the contextof biological and analytical artefacts

such as Numts, heteroplasmy and invitro recombination, and future workwill clarify the importance of hetero-plasmy and nuclear integrations asevolutionary markers in their ownright. In a historical and biogeographi-cal context, our results show thatdistribution of forest cover during therecent past may have had profoundeffects on the divergence of gorillapopulations, and we would suggestthat conservation policy should aim topreserve these regional differences.

E. Jean Wickings, Stephen L.Clifford, Nicola M. Anthony, Kathryn

Jeffery, Mireille Johnson-Bawe,Katherine A. Abernethy and

Michael W. BrufordField collaborators: Kahuzi-Biega, D. R.Congo: D. Bonny, K. P. Kiswele (CRSN), I.Omari, C. Sikubwabo (ICCN), L. White, J.Hall, I. Bila-Isia, H. Simons Morland, E. Wil-liamson, K. Saltonstall, A. Vedder, K. Free-man, B. Curran (WCS) J. Yamagiwa (KyotoUniv.); Itombwe, D. R. Congo: I. Omari, F.Bengana (ICCN); J. Hart (WCS); Concouati,Congo: B. Goossens (Univ. of Cardiff), A.Jamart (HELP); Rabi, Gabon: S. Lahm(IRET); Petit Loango, Gabon: J. Yamagiwa(Kyoto Univ.); Lopé, Gabon: C. Tutin, K. Ab-ernethy, E. Dimoto, J. T. Dinkagadissi, R.Parnell, P. Peignot, B. Fontaine (CIRMF), M.E. Rogers, L. White, B. Voysey, K. McDonald,(Edinburgh), R. Ham (Stirling), J. G. Emptaz-Collomb; Lastourville, Gabon: Y. Mihindou(WCS-MIKE); Ipassa and Belinga, Gabon: S.Lahm, J. Okouyi (IRET); Itombe, Gabon: P.Telfer (NYU); Lossi, Congo: M. Bermejo, G.Illera, F. Maisels (ECOFAC); Bai Hokou,Central African Republic: M. Goldsmith(Tufts Univ.), L. White (WCS); Nouabalé-Ndoki, Congo: P. Walsh (WCS); Lobéké,Cameroon: L. White, L. Usongo (WCS); Dja,Cameroon: E. Williamson (ECOFAC), L.Usongo (WCS/ECOFAC); Afi Mts./CrossRiver, Nigeria: K. McFarland, J. Oates(CUNY, USA). E. Nwufoh (CRNP); MonteAlen, Equatorial Guinea: M. Bermejo, G.Illera (ECOFAC); Belar, Cameroon: M. Har-man (Powell-Cotton Museum)

ReferencesAvise J. C. (1994) Molecular Markers, NaturalHistory and Evolution. New York (Chapmanand Hall)Clifford, S. L. et al. (2004) Mitochondrial DNAphylogeography of western lowland gorillas(G. g. gorilla). Mol. Ecol. 13: 1551–1565Collura, R. V. & Stewart, C.-B. (1995) Inser-tions and duplications of mtDNA in the nuclear

GORILLAS


genomes of Old World monkeys and ho-minoids. Nature 378: 485–489Colyn, M. (1991) L’importance Zoogéographicdu Basin du fleuve Zaïre pour la spéciation.Annales Sciences Zoologiques 264: 180–185Constable, J. J. et al. (1995) Nuclear DNA fromprimate dung. Nature 373: 393.Garner, K. J. & Ryder, O. A. (1996) Mitochon-drial DNA diversity in gorillas. Mol. Phyl. Evol.6: 39–48Gagneux, P. et al. (2001) Gene flow in wildchimpanzee populations. Phil. Trans. R. Soc.Lond. Ser. B 356: 889–897Groves, C. P. (1967) Ecology and Taxonomyof the Gorilla. Nature 213: 890–893Groves, C. P. (1970) Population systematicsfor the gorilla. J. Zoology 161: 287–300Groves, C. P. (2001) Primate Taxonomy.Washington, DC (Smithsonian Inst. Press)Groves, J. (2002) Good news for the Nigeriangorillas? Gorilla Journal 24: 12Grubb, P. (2001) Endemism in African RainForest Mammals. In: African Rain Forest Ecol-ogy & Conservation. Weber, W. et al. (eds.).New Haven (Yale Univ. Press), pp. 88–100Higuchi, R. et al. (1988). DNA typing fromsingle hairs. Nature 332: 543–546.Jeffery, K. (2003) Application of ForensicGenetics to the Population Biology of WesternLowland Gorillas at Lopé, Gabon. Thesis, Uni-versity of CardiffJensen-Seaman, M. I. & Kidd, K. K. (2001)Mitochondrial DNA variation and biogeogra-phy of eastern gorillas. Mol. Ecol. 10: 2241–2247Maley, J. (1996) The African rain-forest –main characteristics of changes in vegetationand climate change from the Upper Creta-ceous to the Quaternary. Proc. R. Soc. Edin. B104: 31–73Morin, P. A. et al. (1994) Kin selection, socialstructure, gene flow, and the evolution ofchimpanzees. Science 265: 1193–1201Morin, P. A. et al. (2001) Quantitative polymer-ase chain reaction analysis of DNA fromnoninvasive samples for accurate micro-satellite genotyping of wild chimpanzees (Pantroglodytes verus). Mol. Ecol. 10: 1835–1844.Moritz, C. (1994) Defining evolutionary signifi-cant units for conservation. Trends Ecol. Evol.9: 373–376Oates J. F. et al. (2002). The cross rivergorilla. Gorilla biology. Taylor, A. & Goldsmith,M. (eds.). Cambridge (Cambridge UniversityPress), pp. 472–502Ruvolo, M. et al. (1994) Gene trees and homi-noid phylogeny. Proceedings of the NationalAcademy of Sciences, USA 91: 8900–8904Taberlet, P. et al. (1996) Reliable genotypingof samples with very low DNA quantities us-ing PCR. Nucleic Acid Res. 24: 3189–3194Thalmann, O. et al. (2004) Unreliable mtDNAdata due to nuclear insertions: a cautionarytale from analysis of humans and other greatapes. Mol. Ecol. 13: 321–325

Tully, L. A. et al. (2000) A sensitive denaturinggradient gel electrophoresis assay reveals ahigh frequency of heteroplasmy in the hyper-variable region 1 of the human mtDNA controlregion. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 67: 432–443Vigilant, L. et al. (2004) The problem withgorilla mitochondrial DNA analysis. GorillaJournal 28: 15–17

Possible Existence ofPreviously UnrecordedCross River GorillasConservationists from the Cameroon-based Environment and Rural Devel-opment Foundation have discovered12 previously unrecorded nestingsites of what are believed to be thecritically endangered Cross River go-rilla Gorilla gorilla diehli and the en-dangered Cross River chimpanzeePan troglodytes vellerosus. If verified,this discovery, made during February–March 2004 in Bechanti-Fossimondi-Besali forest in southwestern Camer-oon and comprising over 40 individualnests, would confirm that the range ofboth subspecies extends further thanoriginally thought and that total popu-lation numbers are higher than currentestimates. The surveys were fundedby the Flagship Species Fund – a jointinitiative between Fauna & Flora Inter-national (FFI) and the UK Govern-ment’s Department for Environment,Food & Rural Affairs.

Daniel Pouakouyou andDavid Beamont

First published in Oryx 38, 252 (July2004)

Population and HabitatViability Analysis of theCross River GorillaThe Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilladiehli) is one of Africa’s most endan-gered primates, numbering approxi-mately 250 individuals split into atleast 10 subpopulations, and threat-ened by hunting, habitat loss, and

population fragmentation. There is anurgent need to develop a realisticmanagement plan, one that takes ac-count of the small size of the remain-ing population, its fragmentation, andthe continuing pressures on the ani-mals and their habitat.

One of the main factors hinderingthe development of such a plan is thelack of population-wide data for thesegorillas. In order to provide governmentofficials and conservation profession-als with quantitative data upon whichto base management decisions, I amconducting a population and habitatviability analysis (PHVA). The goal ofthis analysis is to evaluate the overallviability of each of the Cross Riversubpopulations and to identify themain threats to their persistence,thereby contributing to a conservationaction plan. This evaluation will inte-grate existing information from newfield surveys, a study of their geneticvariability, remote-sensing analysis(satellite imagery), and demographicmodeling with previously collecteddata on subpopulation size and distri-bution.

ApproachCross River gorillas have proven ex-tremely difficult to study in the field.The extremely rugged terrain in whichthey live, coupled with their scarcityand extreme wariness after years ofhunting, has made them challengingresearch subjects. In Nigeria, KelleyMcFarland conducted a pioneeringecological study of one subpopulationon Afi Mountain, and in Cameroon,Jacqui Sunderland-Groves has con-ducted surveys throughout their rangeand established a long-term gorilla re-search and monitoring site at Ka-gwene. Other than these studies andlimited distribution surveys, little re-search has been conducted on them.

Despite the success of these priorand ongoing research projects, little isknown of levels of migration between

GORILLAS


putative Cross River subpopulations orthe genetic ”health” of the populationas a whole. Small populations suchas this are in danger of reduced fit-ness due to decreased genetic diver-sity caused by inbreeding and geneticdrift. In order to elucidate patterns ofsub-structuring and estimate relativelevels of genetic diversity within theCross River population I am analyzingmicrosatellite DNA data which is ex-tracted from faecal samples. Thistechnique is entirely non-invasive anddoes not require any contact with thegorillas.

In addition to small population sizeand its associated genetic problems,the Cross River gorillas are threatenedby habitat loss and fragmentation. In-tense human population pressure iscausing forest loss throughout the go-rillas’ range due to small-scale log-ging, clearing of forest for farms, andburning by pastoralists. It is currentlyunclear how connected each of thegorilla habitat areas are, which areas

are losing forest most rapidly, andhow much potential gorilla habitat re-mains. Analysis of satellite imagerywill allow assessment of existing for-est cover, identification of corridorsbetween gorilla habitat patches, andthe potential carrying capacity of theremaining forest.

I will also use demographic model-ing to examine the effects of variouspopulation parameters on populationgrowth trends in the Cross River goril-las. Demographic models are compu-ter-based ways of predicting changesin population size and composition.The goal of these analyses will be toexamine which demographic variablesare predicted to affect the populationmost significantly.

Field Work and AnalysisThe first field survey for the PHVAproject was conducted between De-cember 2002 and March 2003 inCross River State, Nigeria. In coopera-tion with the management of Cross

River National Park (CRNP), the De-partment of Forestry Development,the Nigerian Conservation Foundation(NCF), the Wildlife Conservation Soci-ety (WCS) Nigeria Biodiversity Re-search Programme and the Biodi-versity Preservation Group (BPG),surveys of 3 of the Nigerian subpop-ulations were made: those at theBoshi Extension area of Cross RiverNational Park, the Mbe Mountains,and the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctu-ary. Research was conducted with theassistance of rangers from CRNP andthe Forestry Department as well asNCF research staff, BPG researchstaff, and local guides.

Further field work in SouthwestProvince, Cameroon was conductedbetween October 2003 and June 2004in cooperation with the CameroonianMinistry of Environment and Forestry(MINEF) and WCS Cameroon. All 7Cameroonian subpopulations weresurveyed in upper Mbulu, KagweneMountain, Takamanda, and Mone.Research was conducted with the as-sistance of WCS/CRGRP staff andlocal guides.

Over 40 nest sites were found fromwhich samples could be collected. Intotal, over 300 faecal samples werecollected from nest sites, trails, andfeeding sites.

Molecular genetic laboratory workis being conducted in collaborationwith the Max Planck Institute for Evo-lutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Ger-many. Analysis of the molecular ge-netic data is just beginning; prelimi-nary data suggest at least somegenetic differentiation between severalof the Cross River gorilla subpopula-tions.

The remote sensing analysis anddemographic modeling portions of thePHVA are also in the early stages, butinitial analysis of satellite imagery in-dicates considerable forest loss withinand between many of the forestblocks in which the gorillas live. This

GORILLAS


Locations where gorilla faecal samples were collected. Topographicrelief shown in shades of grey Map: Richard Bergl

is particularly significant in several ar-eas (e.g. the forest between the BoshiExtension area of CRNP and centralOkwangwo/Takamanda forest) as for-est corridors between subpopulationsare on the verge of being eliminated.

What Hope for Cross River Goril-las?When examining all the threats to thepersistence of the Cross River gorillapopulation, it is tempting to believethat the conservation of the subspe-cies is a hopeless task. But it is im-portant to note that these gorillas havepersisted in the Cross River regiondespite years of bushmeat huntingand population fragmentation. Thoughsome of the extant subpopulations arelikely separated from one another,forested connections remain betweenmost areas. Substantial areas of for-est also remain that are currently notoccupied by the gorillas.

If hunting pressure and human dis-turbance of the forest were decreasedthere is considerable area into whichthe gorillas could expand. Recent sur-veys also suggest that previously un-

known subpopulations may exist inseveral highland areas in Cameroon,meaning that the total population maybe larger than current estimates. Fur-thermore, at a workshop in Cameroonlast year, the Ministers for Environ-ment of both Nigeria and Cameroonboth identified Cross River gorilla con-servation as a priority for their respec-tive ministries.

Since resources for conservationare limited and the situation facing thegorillas is dire, conservation effortsmust be directed where they can havethe most impact. The data accumu-lated by the Cross River gorilla PHVAwill provide government agencies andNGOs working for the conservation ofthese unique animals with a clearerunderstanding of population and habi-tat dynamics to aid in making in-formed management decisions.

Richard A. BerglThis research is supported by the Na-tional Geographic Conservation Trust,Conservation International, PrimateConservation Inc., Lincoln Park Zoo,and the Max Planck Society.

The Gorillas of "PetitEvengue"About 3 years ago ”Operation Loango”started a project to develop researchand eco-tourism in and around thePetit Loango Reserve in the southwest of Gabon. Part of this projectinvolves an island with four (2.2) west-ern lowland gorillas. Originally 3 ofthese animals came from the CIRMF(Centre International de RecherchesMedicales Franceville) research cen-tre where they had lived in cages formost of their life, but fortunately werenever used for any medical research.

They were put on the island for sev-eral reasons – first of all to give themthe opportunity to live a more naturallife, including simple but importantthings like finding natural foodsources, climbing trees and buildingnests. Furthermore it was planned tolook at the possibilities of using themfor research and for the education oftourists, and to help the local villagersto learn to appreciate them.

The gorillas are housed in a smallenclosure surrounded by a 2 m highhotwire fence, where they also haveaccess to two small cages. The origi-nal idea was that the gorillas wouldhave access to the whole island (ap-proximately 2 km2) with the exceptionof a little tourist camp, based on theother side of the island; this camp wasalso surrounded by a hotwire fence.

GORILLAS


Kim as a juvenilePhoto: Frans Keizer

Richard Bergl collecting samples in Cameroon

Furthermore it was hoped that itwould be possible to follow the gorillasfrom a short distance to do some re-search, preferably joined by a smallgroup of tourists.

A Little HistoryMabeke (wild-caught), a silverback,21 years old, Kessala (wild-caught) afemale, 15 years old, and their off-spring Kim (captive-bred, female), 3years old, and Congo (captive-bred,male), 8 months, arrived in July 2001.After they had spent 3 months in theirsmall enclosure to get accustomed totheir new surroundings, they were re-leased onto the island for the firsttime. To reduce stress as much aspossible, no attempt was made to tryto follow the animals, so it was notknown where they went and wherethey spent the night.

The next morning, at the first feed-ing session, the young male Congowas missing. Kessala, his mother,had left him at the edge of the forest,where he was found dead after theremaining three were locked up againin their small enclosure. Kessala wasprobably under considerable stressand lacked maternal behaviour, whichmay be why she had neglected him.

The gorillas stayed in their enclo-sure until April 2002 when they werereleased for the second time, but nowwith an attempt to see if they wouldaccept human company.

Without going into too much detail,it was very clear after about 20 min-utes that the silverback wanted todominate the two female keepers. Af-ter displaying two or three times, heslowly approached them and startedbiting and tearing at their arms andlegs. It was mainly with the help of thetwo female gorillas Kessala and Kim,who started screaming at the silver-back, that the keepers were able toget to the boat without too manyscratches. Because of their dis-illusionment, the two keepers con-

cerned left the project soon after thisincident.

A New StartAfter having visited the project a cou-ple of times, we decided that we wouldtake over the job for one year. We hadnot only to take care of the gorillasand improve their situation, but wealso had to run and develop the littletourist camp.

As the camp had to be extendedfrom two to four bungalows, it wasdecided to tear down the hot wirefence that surrounded it. The gorillaswill now get two smaller enclosuresand a big one of 50 ha, with a lot offorest, swamp and savannah, all im-portant parts of their natural habitat.The part of the fence that has to crossthe savannah will be in a 2 m deep drymoat so it will not be visible from adistance.

The part of the forest next to thecamp will be used to educate touristsabout some of the plants and fruitsthat are eaten by the wild gorilla popu-lation.

On the 23rd of July 2003 the femaleKessala gave birth to a male offspring.He was named Ozange, which means”light” in the locale Myene language.

The OrphansOn the 2nd of July 2003, we received aphone call concerning a one-year-oldmale orphan gorilla tied up in one ofthe local villages, surrounded by

screaming kids and barking dogs. Hismother had been trapped in a snareand killed for bushmeat.

The next day he was confiscatedby the ministry of Eaux et Forêts, andthey gave us permission to look afterhim until further notice. We had hopedit would be possible to send him to thePPG (Projet Protection des Gorilles)as soon as possible, but they had justdecided not to take any new gorillaorphans for a while. The young malewas named Owendja, which means”the day” in Myene.

Owendja is still with us and he isbeing taken into the forest on a dailyroutine, so he can learn to search forvegetation which is part of the diet ofwild gorillas. We were at once quitesurprised by what he knew he couldeat or not eat, and he spends hourshigh up in the trees by himself, lookingfor anything to fill up his big belly.

Essogoue (named after the villagehe came from) was brought in on the27th September 2003 by two boyswho said they had found him alone inthe forest and that his family had lefthim, but the real story will definitelyturn out to be different. The youngmale, whose face was full ofscratches and covered with lice andticks, was estimated at 3–4 monthsold, for he had only 2 upper and 2lower teeth and he could not walk.

GORILLAS

The first orphan, OwendjaPhoto: Frans Keizer

Essogoue Photo: Frans Keizer


My wife Marian undertook theheavy task of looking after him, for heneeded attention 24 hours per day.For a couple of weeks his face wasswollen with the inflammation, butluckily that soon healed and now he isa healthy looking gorilla. We also takehim into the forest every day, so hecan learn from his big pal Owendja theart of climbing into and falling out oftrees.

September 2004By the end of June 2004 the secondenclosure with an area of 4,000 m2

was finally finished, and now the goril-las enjoy the larger space very much.They can climb the big Raphia palms,and build nests in and under the othervegetation where they still find a lot offruits and plants that they add to theirdiet.

So far, we have dug just a part ofthe moat for the 50 ha enclosure. Un-fortunately we have had a lot of prob-lems with our bulldozer, which hasmeant still further delay.

In April 2004 we started with theintroduction of the orphan Owendja tothe group. First he was housed in asmall enclosure next to the group sothey could all get accustomed to eachother. The real introduction happenedwithin 2 months and went verysmoothly. In the beginning the twofemales Kessala and Kim made lifetough for him, but slowly he started tofeel more confident, and nowadays heplays a lot with the one-year-old maleOzange.

The orphan Essogoue is still withus in the camp and is taken into theforest and to the gorillas on a dailyroutine.

Next to the island of Petit Evenguelies the bigger island of Grand Even-gue, with an area of about 8 km2. Wehope it will be possible to use it in thenear future to re-introduce the orphansinto a more natural situation, and totry to help them to develop as much

species-specific behaviour as possi-ble.

For us, our gorilla adventure in Ga-bon ended at the end of September,for I have to start work again at theApenheul primate park, but I hope tobe able to return to Gabon to see howeverything develops in the future.

Frans and Marian KeizerUpdated version of an article first pub-lished in Gorilla Gazette 17(1), 2004

Wildlife Law Enforce-ment in CameroonTonye Nken stood in the courtroom,holding the wooden rail with bothhands. He could not believe that thesentence was referring to him – 30days in prison and CFA 600,000 fine(US$ 1,000). A few months earlier he

GORILLAS

had met a man claiming to be inter-ested in buying Kita, a baby chimpan-zee that he kept chained in hisbackyard. When the policeman show-ed up and caught him trying to sellKita, he thought that with a few buckshe would sort out this minor problem.This time it did not work out that way.Outside the court journalists werewaiting to report on this unique case –the first wildlife law violator that hasever been prosecuted in Cameroon.

The numbers of wild chimpanzees,gorillas, forest elephants and otherthreatened species are declining at aworrying rate. One of the main causesof this crisis is what is known as the”bushmeat problem” – wild animalsare hunted for their meat. It is impor-tant to mention that not all bushmeatis illegal; there are species that arenot protected under the law, so hunt-


Caricature in the Cameroon Tribune (for explanation see text)

GORILLAS

ing and trade in some bushmeat islegal.

The trade in threatened and endan-gered species is a modern businessthat requires a well organized system,from the hunter through the dealer andthe seller to the clients. Apes andelephants are generally no longerhunted for the villagers’ pots – theirmeat is an exclusive product whichfetches much more profit from wealthycustomers in modern towns.

The Cameroonian wildlife law isstrict regarding threatened species.According to this law, any personfound with a protected animal (living ordead) or part of it in his possession isconsidered to have killed it. This lawhas existed since 1994, and someefforts have been made by MINEF(Ministry of Environment and Forestry)to enforce it but none of these effortsresulted in a trial. For 9 years thewildlife law has been neglected andhas not constituted any threat to thetrade in endangered species; thetrade has continued. The situation is

not unique to Cameroon but commonto most countries in Africa with for-ests.

The precedent on July 2003 was ledby The Last Great Ape Organization(LAGA). LAGA is a young field-basedorganization designed to establish ef-fective enforcement of local wildlife lawin Cameroon. It is the first specializedlaw enforcement NGO in the sub-re-gion and it focuses on threatened spe-cies, dealers – the primary generatorsof the illegal bushmeat business, theivory trade and the pet trade.

LAGA follows wildlife cases fromthe first stage (the field) to the laststage (the executions of prosecution).As in the case of Tonye Nken, under-cover agents collect filmed and audiorecorded information about wildlife lawviolations. When the evidence is con-crete, LAGA coordinates betweenMINEF and the enforcement agenciesto arrest the violators. In most opera-tions, suspects attempt to bribe theirway out or arrest.

It is only possible to enforce andapply the wildlife law if efforts aremade to fight corruption in the fieldand if good governance is promoted.LAGA formed a legal department toassist MINEF’s lawyer, who repre-sents the wildlife cases. LAGA’s legaldepartment also tracks the cases incourt. This enables them to Identifybottlenecks in the judicial systemwhich is extremely important. Obsta-cles that were intentionally thrown outby middle-level officials were solved bybringing the incidents to the attentionof a higher-level official.

Punishing all criminals is not possi-ble. The most important thing in lawenforcement is to create a deterrent.By publicizing arrests and punish-ments, LAGA is trying to reach activeand potential wildlife criminals. Creat-ing public debate by using the media –television, radio and press – is essen-tial for raising awareness and for de-terrence.

A caricature was published by theCameroon Tribune after Tonye Nken’sprosecution, the first ever prosecutionof wildlife crime in Cameroon andmost of the sub-region. In this carica-ture, a dealer chooses a rifle. Thepublic recognizes the dealer as awealthy, well-fed man. The sellerwarns the dealer that he should nothunt protected animals, and showshim a list in his possession. The wild-life law is so strange to the public thatit seems a caricature. This is the be-ginning of a public debate that willcontinue as new cases arise.

Legal precedents, by their nature,are heralds. In the one and a halfyears since the Tonye Nken case, 28cases have been brought to court inCameroon, thanks to the collaborationbetween LAGA and MINEF. All thisneeds to be put in proportion, consid-ering that we are in very early stagesof the process, but we see budding ofa change in governance through atten-tion to wildlife law and its enforce-ment.


Gorilla poached in Abong Mbang

Ofir Drori with bush-meatincluding apes Photo: LAGA

Photo: LAGA

GORILLAS


I remember the first time I partici-pated in an operation. It was Fridaymorning, and I had recording equip-ment hidden in my bag as I waited forthe ivory dealer to show up. He arrivedwith another man, looking very happy,ready to close the best deal of his life.50 m away the arresting team and OfirDrori, the director of LAGA, were wait-ing for my signal. It all happened veryquickly; the dealer was arrested, hesigned a complaint report on his crimeand was locked up.

The scale of his offence was takenseriously in court. Seeing the proudexpressions on our team membersfaces was one of the most satisfyingmoments in my work. For more thanone year I have been working with Ofirand LAGA’s team – a local team.These committed and devoted peopleare proud to take a part in a processthat aspires to turn around the gloomyforecast of the future of the great apesand other threatened species.

Galit Zangwill

GRASP UpdateSince its launch in 2001, GRASP (theGreat Apes Survival Project) hasbrought together a diversity of stake-holders to address the crisis facingthe great apes and their habitat. Froma dozen partners in 2001, the partner-ship has grown to 39 partners includ-ing UNESCO and virtually all the mainNGOs with major programmes in Af-rica or Asia dealing with great apeconservation and the four biodiversityrelated conventions.

GRASP has sent technical mis-sions to 17 of the 23 great ape rangestates which have resulted instrengthened support for great apeconservation and promotion of Na-tional Great Ape Survival Plan(NGASP) workshops. To date, work-shops producing national action planshave been held in Democratic Repub-lic of Congo (September 2002), Cam-

eroon (March 2003), Republic ofCongo (April 2003) and Rwanda (July2003).

GRASP has also financially sup-ported NGO partner projects such asthe Wild Chimpanzee Foundation’sconservation of chimpanzees in theIvory Coast, Fauna & Flora Interna-tional’s conservation of Cross Rivergorillas in Nigeria, the InternationalGorilla Conservation Programme’sconservation of mountain gorillas andtheir afromontane forest habitat, theDian Fossey Gorilla Fund Europe’sDurban Process with artisanal minersof coltan in the Democratic Republicof Congo and CARE/Nature Uganda’sparticipatory environmental manage-ment in Kasyoha-Kitomi landscape.

GRASP carried out an awarenesscampaign on the infant ape and bush-meat trade in April 2004 in coordina-tion with UN missions in the Demo-cratic Republic of Congo and southernSudan.

Following a preparatory expertsmeeting for an intergovernmentalmeeting on great apes and GRASP,key partnership documents have beenproduced including the final report ofthe preparatory experts meeting, theGlobal Strategy for the Survival ofGreat Apes, the GRASP OutlineWorkplan 2003–2007 and the draftrules for the organization and manage-ment of the GRASP Partnership.These have been distributed to thepartnership and are available on theGRASP website at this address:h t t p : / / w w w . u n e s c o . o r g / m a b /grasp/revised_documents.pdf

GRASP is making progress to-wards the convening of a major inter-governmental meeting (IGM) to beheld in 2005. The IGM is expected toadopt the Paris intergovernmentalmeeting preparatory committee reportand documents and, most impor-tantly, to set the stage for a majorincrease in the funding of great apeconservation programmes and pro-

jects and the adoption of a high-levelpolitical declaration on great apes.

Richard Leakey, a world-renownedconservationist and one of theGRASP patrons, will be taking a moreactive role in GRASP activities.

UNEP/GRASP intervened in theApril 2004 illegal occupation and for-est destruction of the Virunga NationalPark, a world heritage site and hometo the remaining population of themountain gorilla. Together with otherconservation NGOs and governmentalagencies, UNEP/GRASP prevailedupon the governments of Rwanda andthe Democratic Republic of Congo tobring to a halt the destruction of thepark habitat by settlers and the sub-sequent withdrawal of all settlers whohad moved into the park. UNEP con-tributed US$ 50,000 towards the build-ing of a wall to demarcate the parkfrom the settlement area.

Daniel Malonza

A few months ago, the Berggorilla &Regenwald Direkthilfe became an offi-cial GRASP partner. We will do ourbest to join our forces with GRASP tosolve the bushmeat problem thatthreatens almost all the gorilla pop-ulations.


READING

A. Alonso Aguirre, Richard S.Ostfeld, Gary M. Tabor, CarolHouse and Mary C. Pearl (eds.)Conservation Medicine: Ecologi-cal Health in Practice. Oxford (Ox-ford University Press) 2002. 407pages, 12 line illustrations. Hardcover,US$ 45. ISBN 0-19-515093-7

Conservation medicine is anemerging scientific field, focusing onthe intersection of ecosystem health,animal health, and human health. Itexplores the connections betweenthese, traces the environmentalsources of pathogens and pollutants,develops an understanding of the eco-logical causes of changes in humanand animal health, and addresses theconsequences of diseases to pop-ulations and ecological communities.It relates to aspects of social and po-litical sciences, which are fundamen-tal for understanding the human-induced changes in climate and ha-bitats and the use of marine andterrestrial ecosystems. It unites eco-logists and zoologists as well as cell,micro and molecular biologists, ep-idemiologists, toxicologists, patholo-gists, veterinarians and human doc-tors in transdisciplinary collaboration.

Conservation Medicine defines thisnew discipline. It examines ecologicalhealth issues from various stand-points, including the emergence andresurgence of infectious diseaseagents, the increasing impacts oftoxic chemicals and hazardous sub-stances, and the health implicationsof habitat fragmentation, degradationand global loss of biodiversity. It pro-vides a framework in which to examinethe connections between health of theplanet and health of all species. Itchallenges practitioners and studentsin the health sciences and the naturalsciences to think about new, collabo-rative ways to address ecologicalhealth concerns.

Conservation Medicine contains 29chapters written by 65 authors, who

are pioneers of this new discipline. Italso comprises a chapter on gorillas:"The mountain gorilla and conserva-tion medicine" by M. Cranfield, L.Gaffikin, J. Sleeman and M. Rooney.The 15 pages of this chapter are di-vided into the following subchapters:historical background, clinical medi-cine, preventive medicine, surveillanceand monitoring, serology, bacteriol-ogy, parasitology, pathology, vaccina-tions, zoonoses and research agendaof the MGVP (Mountain Gorilla Veteri-nary Project).

I can wholeheartedly recommendthis book to everyone. The loss ofbiodiversity affects the well-being ofboth animals and people. This booktakes a look the state of our planet’secosystems and their inhabitants andat the same time offers solutions andhope for their survival.

K. Alexandra Dörnath

Bernard Chapais and Carol M.Berman (eds.)Kinship and Behavior in Primates.Oxford (Oxford University Press)2004. XII, 507 pages. Hardcover, £ 55.ISBN 0-19-514889-4.

Most primates are social animalswith complex individualized long-last-ing social structures, from which itcan be assumed that related individu-als play a special role in those pri-mates’ social behaviour and life his-tory. We have learned a lot about thisimportant factor during the last dec-ades, and this book summarizes thenew knowledge and understanding. Itincludes various aspects of kinshipresearch, from genetic analyses of re-lationships and ecological aspects tothe evolution of humans; the main fo-cus, however, is the influence of kin-ship on behaviour in nonhuman pri-mates. The authors do not deal withsingle species but give comprehen-sive overviews.

Part I introduces the methods ofgenetic analysis and a comparison ofthese methods for testing differentquestions. In part II, socio-ecologicaltheories are discussed with respect tokin groups and the development ofkinship ties in immatures. In somecontributions, theories are reviewedcritically; in others the results of fieldstudies are summarized.

In part III, the authors discuss thepresent state of knowledge of the influ-ence of matrilineal and patrilineal kin-ship on behaviour. Most research hasbeen done on female philopatric cer-copithecines; therefore these speciesdominate the reviews, but other taxaincluding the great apes are also dis-cussed. Part IV explains the proc-esses involved in the development andmechanisms of kin recognition andkin-biased behaviours.

Finally, part V, called “The evolu-tionary origins of human kinship”, con-tains contributions that include sub-jects like the history of kinship studies

in cultural anthropology and the impor-tance of various kin relationships in allkinds of human societies – some-times also compared to chimpanzeesocieties.

The book is a valuable source ofinformation and references – a greatnumber of important references is pro-vided by most authors. It certainly isvery useful for anybody studying pri-mate behaviour if they also deal withkinship.

Angela Meder

Barbara J. KingThe Dynamic Dance: NonvocalCommunication in African GreatApes. Cambridge, MA (Harvard Uni-versity Press) 2004. 304 pages, 7 half-tones. Hardcover, US$ 29.95, £ 19.95,Euro 27.70. ISBN 0-674-01515-0

Carel van Schaik and Perry vanDuijnhovenAmong Orangutans: Red Apes andthe Rise of Human Culture. BelknapPress 2004. 272 pages, 148 colorillustrations, 8 maps, 5 hafltones,10 charts. Hardcover, US$ 29.95/£ 19.95/Euro 27.70. ISBN 0-674-01577-0

James MollisonJames and Other Apes. London(Chris Boot). 112 pages, 50 colourphotos. Hardcover, US$ 39.95. ISBN0954689402

William H. CalvinA Brief History of the Mind: FromApes to Intellect and Beyond. NewYork (Oxford University Press) 2004.240 pages, 34 halftones, 4 line illus-trations. Hardcover, US$ 26.00. ISBN0-19-515907-1

Juan Carlos GomezApes, Monkeys, Children, and theGrowth of Mind (The DevelopingChild). Cambridge, MA (Harvard Uni-versity Press) 2004. 352 pages, 17

line illustrations. Hardcover, US$39.95, £ 25.95, Euro 36.90. ISBN0-674-01145-7

Chris Beard and Mark KlinglerThe Hunt for the Dawn Monkey:Unearthing the Origins of Monkeys,Apes, and Humans. Berkeley (Univer-sity of California Press) 2004. 363pages, 14 color illustrations, 26 b/wphotographs, 21 line illustrations.Hardcover, US$ 27.50, £ 17.95. ISBN0-520-23369-7

Jean-Pierre Vande WegheForêts d’Afrique Centrale. La na-ture et l’homme. Tielt, Belgium(Lannoo Uitgeverij) 2004. 368 pages,Euro 44.95. ISBN 90-209-4783-4

Rebecca Kormos, ChristopheBoesch, Mohamed I. Bakarr andThomas M. Butynski (eds.)Chimpanzés d’Afrique de l’Ouest.Etat de conservation de l’espèce etplan d’action. Gland, Cambridge(UICN) 2004. 237 pages, many illus-trations. Paperback. ISBN 2-8317-0780-3.

Eldredge Bermingham,Christopher Dick, Craig MoritzTropical Rainforests: Past, Present,and Future. Chicago (Chicago Univer-sity Press) 2004. 672 pages, 8 colourplates, many line drawings and ta-bles. Hardcover US$ 110.00, ISBN 0-226-04466-1. Paperback US$ 45.00,ISBN 0-226-04468-8.

Elizabeth Losos and Egbert GilesLeigh, Jr.Tropical Forest Diversity and Dy-namism. Findings from a large-scaleplot network. Chicago (Chicago Uni-versity Press) 2004. 688 pages, manyline drawings and tables. Hardcover,US$ 95.00, ISBN 0-226-49345-8-1.Paperback US$ 38.00, ISBN 0-226-49346-6.


READING

Karen Hayes and Richard BurgeColtan Mining in the DemocraticRepublic of Congo: How tantalum-using industries can commit to thereconstruction of the DRC. London(Fauna & Flora International) 2003.Available from FFI (www.fauna-flora.org). £ 10.00, US$ 20.00, Euro17.00

New on the InternetAmnesty International published a re-port about the rape of women in theDemocratic Republic of Congo: Massrape – time for remedies. It can bedownloaded at http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engafr620182004

The International Rescue Commit-tee published an analysis called "Mor-tality in the Democratic Republic ofCongo: Results from a NationwideSurvey". The full report can be down-loaded at http://intranet.theirc.org/docs/DRC_MortalitySurvey2004_RB_8Dec04.pdf

The APPG (The All Party Parlia-mentary Group on the Great LakesRegion & Genocide Prevention) is theleading forum in the UK Parliament fordiscussion and critical analysis ofpolicy issues affecting the people ofthe Great Lakes region. It publishesreports on the situation in the GreatLakes region. On 23rd December, thereport "Arms Flows in Eastern Congo"was published; it is available for down-load at http://www.appggreatlakes.org/content/word/ArmsFlowsinEasternCongo.doc

In October 2004, the 13th meetingof the CITES Conference of the Par-ties was held in Bangkok. Theypassed a resolution on great apes(www.cites.org/eng/cop/13/com/E13-ComII-16.pdf), of which the finalversion is available at http://www.cites.org/eng/resols/13/13-04.shtmland a resolution on bushmeat, down-load at http://www.cites.org/eng/prog/bushmeat.shtml

BERGGORILLA & REGENWALD DIREKTHILFE


Michel HassonNouvelles Approches a.s.b.l.Rue E. Branly, 9 Boîte 351190 Bruxelles, BelgiumFax : (00322) 732 27 [email protected]://www.nouvellesapproches.orgN° identification nationale:10281/97

We are very grateful to Nouvelles Approches for thetranslation of the Gorilla Journal to French again!

Nouvelles Approches, a Belgian based NGO, works tosafeguard the national parks of the Democratic Repub-lic of Congo. We are the only NGO currently active inUpemba and Kundelungu National Parks of Katanga Prov-ince and we collaborate with the GTZ in Kahuzi-Biega National Park.

The fact that almost every memberof our Board of Trustees has lived or isstill resident in the D. R. Congo, is anasset that gives us good knowledge ofthe country. We maintain permanentcontacts in Bukavu, Lubumbashi, andKinshasa. We keep excellent relation-ships with the ICCN and all nationaland international organizations involv-ed in conservation in Central Africa.

SupportWe thank everybody who supportedus during the period from May to Octo-ber 2004. We received large donationsfrom Horst Engel, Jörg and MarianneFamula, Sharon Farbiash Hirzen, Ste-fan Faust, Detlev Fricke, Monika Gail-Drouinaud, Peter Haug, HundelebenGmbH, Helga Innerhofer, Frank Jaco-bi, Hans H. Kreischer, Angela Meder,Brunhilde Präckel, Horst Richter, Er-win Rosenkranz and Kurt Walter.

We also received donations in kindfrom the SerCon company and by the"Neue Alte" organisation in Bünde andthe Druckhaus Kirchner in Kirchlen-gern printed stickers for distribution inthe Kahuzi-Biega National Park. Weare very grateful to these individualsand companies as well as to all ourother supporters too numerous toname here! Special thanks to VolkerJährling and Manfred Paul (Schenker)for their cooperation for many years!

Our New Account in SwitzerlandWe now have an account for our mem-bers and friends in Switzerland:

Postscheckkonto PostfinanceAccount number 40-461685-7

Mgahinga Safari Lodge is a luxury lodge, perched at the tip of a peninsula juttinginto the waters of Lake Mutanda, in southwestern Uganda. The lodge is the ideal settingfrom which to track the mountain gorilla in nearby Mgahinga Gorilla National Park orduring a day trip to Rwanda or Congo.All our visitors have seen the mountain gorillas!Africa Adventure Touristik will be pleased to design individual safari tours to themountain gorillas, all over Uganda and neighbouring countries. We offer our servicesall-in-one, design of tours and reservation/booking in Germany, transportation in Ugan-da and neighbouring countries, mainly with own guides/drivers and own cars, operatingMgahinga Safari Lodge, situated right in the middle of all national parks where moun-tain gorillas are living. We offer tours to the mountain gorillas and chimpanzees, alreadydesigned and often tested. Please have a look at our website and/or contact us.

For further information contact:

AFRICA ADVENTURE TOURISTIKKurt NiedermeierSeeshaupter Str. 17D-81476 Munich/GermanyPhone: +49-89 759 79 626Fax: +49-89-759-79-627E-mail: [email protected]

[email protected]://www.aat-gorilla.com

Africa Adventure TouristikKurt Niedermeier

InformationPerhaps you already are a regularuser of our site www.berggorilla.org for news about the situation ofgorillas – if you have not seen it yet,you may be interested to visit it. Weprovide latest information on our Newspage and all kinds of other informationon our Information page. There youwill find, among other things, our

"Who's Who?" list of acronymswhich is constantly updated.

Although we try our best to stay up-to-date, we may miss something im-portant, links/information may be out-dated, or a page may contain mis-takes. We would appreciate a hint ifyou find something that should be cor-rected (to [email protected]).Of course we are also grateful for anynews on the situation.

Subscription to the Gorilla JournalIf you become a member, you will receive the journal regularly. If you want to receive the printed journal withoutbecoming a member, we would be grateful if you could make a donation to cover our costs. The costs to send thejournal overseas are abut US$ 20. If you do not need the printed version, we can include your email address in ourmailing list and you will be informed as soon as the PDF files are available (contact: [email protected]).

Declaration of Membership

Starting with the following date I declare my membership in Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe

Name Affiliation

Address

Birth date male female

I want to receive a printed copy of the Gorilla JournalI want to be informed if the new issue can be downloaded from the internet. My e-mail:

Yearly subscription (please mark)

Date and signatureEurope Overseas

Student Euro 15 US$ 25General member Euro 40 US$ 75Family Euro 65 US$ 120Donor Euro 100 US$ 180

Bank account:Please send to: Berggorilla & Regenwald DirekthilfeRolf Brunner Account number 353 344 315Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe Stadtsparkasse Muelheim, GermanyLerchenstr. 5 Bank code number 362 500 0045473 Muelheim, Germany IBAN DE06 3625 0000 0353 3443 15Fax +49-208-7671605 SWIFT-BIC SPMHDE3E

Bank account in Switzerland:Postscheckkonto PostfinanceAccount number 40-461685-7

How to Download the PDF Version of the Gorilla JournalWe now provide PDF versions of all Gorilla Journal issues from No. 21 on our website.The file name always consists of "gj" + no. of issue + letter for language + ".pdf"Letters for language: d = German, e = English, f = French (French only from No. 22)This journal for example can be downloaded with the following address:

www.berggorilla.de/gj29e.pdf

gorilla journal - connecting repositories · – unidentified passers-by, – illegal farmers, –...

Documents