Schweini, an 18 year-old female and daughter to Sparrow, gave birth to a girl on October 16th, 2008. We were lucky to know the time of birth within hours! Schweini was seen without the baby the evening of October 15th and then with the newborn infant at 11:00 the next morning. In the days following the delivery, Schweini stayed on the periphery of the group and held her infant close, but there was still a little hostility towards her from the members of the Kasekela community.�

The infant has been named "Safi," which in Swahili means clean or fresh, but is also a slang word for "cool!". This is Schweini's first surviving infant; she had an infant that survived for only a month in 2007.

Photo: Schweini and baby Safi, by Carson Murray

An earlier photo of young Titan, who is struggling to find a place among the dominant adult males. (Photo: JGI)

The big group of chimpanzees convened in Linda valley to start their day, so that is where I started mine. It was hard to get and keep a target with the movements of the group. My frustrations only got worse when the huge group encountered a troop of red colobus. Chaos erupted around us as the chimps scaled trees in pursuit of prey and several males caught monkeys. The typical frenzy of screaming, chasing, begging, and fighting ensued, making data collection even more difficult. I was happy to see that Freud was getting some meat to eat for himself. It's hard to know how well he's been eating lately and he's becoming thinner.

It was a while before things calmed down enough for me to finally collect data, but eventually I began observing Sampson. Sampson kept off to the side, eating leaves and insects, keeping a quiet and safe distance from the rest of the frenzied chimps.

Sampson eventually meandered over (I guess the meat was too tempting to ignore), and he scored some meat for himself. Within a short time of being close to the males Sampson was displayed at by Frodo and had Faustino bristle and take a swipe at him.

As the group went on the move towards Rutanga, Titan faced similar struggles to Sampson. Apollo chased him away from his feeding spot, and Frodo bristled and chased him.

Titan's abuse continued as the group continued moving north. Apollo took a swipe at Titan and Titan pant-grunted and bobbed his head in submission. Sheldon displayed at Titan and chased the screaming, fear-grinning young male up a tree. It must not be easy to be a young male, trying to find a place amongst the bigger and stronger adult males. Their future reproductive success depends on establishing a high rank so they get prime mating access. Alpha and high ranking males sire a large proportion of the offspring born, but they have to challenge and bypass the other males to get there. Do fathers help their sons in this process? Do they protect, assist and/or show less aggression towards their sons as they join the adult male social group? The data I am collecting will help to answer my questions.

Unfortunately I cannot say if Titan's day got any better, because late in the afternoon the whole group crossed into Mitumba. I had to say goodbye as the B Record assistants went on.

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Mitumba - When the chimps cross into Mitumba, B record researchers must take over. (Photo: JGI)

Since I needed a target to follow, we hiked to Rutanga where the rest of the group had moved on from Linda. When we finally got there, I found that the chimps had dispersed about the river valley to feed. I located the adolescent Zeus traveling with his mother Trezia, younger siblings Zella and Zinda, and the G family � Gremlin, Gaia, Glitter, Golden, and Gimli. The two families lounged and groomed for over half an hour until the rest of the chimps arrived. The males Tubi, Gimble, Pax, Apollo, and Kris arrived with Flirt, Schweini, Hope, Eliza, Candy and her infant Cocoa. Zeus had a play session with Flirt, which was an unusual match-up. They do not have a noteworthy relationship, but for some reason they took great amusement in each other today.

I had just squeaked in my last observation of Zeus for the hour when the chimps did the inevitable � they crossed the Njia ya Watu boundary. My assistant and I sat on the trail and waited as the B record researchers followed the group into Mitumba. It was only about 2:30 p.m., so we knew there was a chance for the group to come back before the end of the day.

The gamble paid off. After over two and a half hours of waiting, the group came back. Since my only possible target was Zeus, I followed him again. The female Nasa had joined the group, and Gimble and Candy seemed to have dropped out, but otherwise, the group was the same. Shortly after the group crossed back, they started eyeing the colobus in the trees and attempted to hunt for about 45 minutes. Tubi, at some point, caught himself a little one, but otherwise, I didn't see much success for the effort. As the hour grew late the group disintegrated a bit as they all sought out their nesting spots for the night.

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Fudge - when he was young. (Photo: JGI)

We started out with the group in Kasekela this morning. It took me a while to track down a target, because the chimps kept climbing higher and higher.� Finally I started following Fudge, who played with Titan, Tarzan, and his uncle Ferdinand while Gimble, Apollo, Titan, and Zeus, hung around in the trees.�

At one point the chimps pursued some colobus. The hunters quickly became the hunted when some fierce red colobus males chased the chimpanzees away!

Kris and Tubi then joined the party with Fudge briefly before charging down the hill into Linda valley. Fudge chose to stay behind with his mom, Fanni, and little siblings, along with Malaika, Tarzan, and others. He seemed happy to stay behind and groom Sheldon and play with Tarzan. The youngsters were having a good time until a fight broke out and the female Malaika beat on Fudge. Maybe their fighting annoyed her. Malaika's attack on Fudge was too much for Fanni. She quickly came to the aid of her son and chased off Malaika.

After Fudge, I rotated to follow Titan. He and his little brother Tarzan chose to follow Sheldon and Ferdinand south towards Kakombe. They met up with Frodo and Wilkie there. Later, the old, struggling male Freud arrived for a grooming session.

Just after I began to follow Tarzan, the brothers met up with the female Dilly and her infant, Diaz. Tarzan played with Diaz, and even Dilly joined in. Titan disappeared into the machaka, appearing to leave his little brother on his own with Dilly, but Tarzan didn't appear to care. I thought Titan was gone for good, but 20-25 minutes later he� popped back up. Tarzan scampered to join his brother as they both raced off into the machaka.�

We quickly lost the brothers; despite searching extensively and waiting to see if they would show up, they never did.

When the colobus carcass went up for grabs, Fanni was able to snag it. (Photo: JGI)

This morning the chimps went on the hunt early, and quickly captured several colobus monkeys. I was having a hard time finding and keeping a target to follow. They were widely dispersed in the machaka, and there was a lot of chaos and running about in difficult terrain. Sometimes it is more frustrating to be with the chimpanzees but not be able to make quality observations than to search for chimpanzees.

Finally, I managed to locate Titan, who had snuck down into the valley to feed on his bit of carcass. At first he was alone with females � I think it was in order to avoid the harassment of the bigger, stronger males. But his hiding spot was found by the males Wilkie, Tubi, Sheldon, Kris, and Ferdinand, who came crashing in. Titan took out his frustrations on poor Gaia, displaying at her several times, and even striking her, while Gaia screamed, fear-grinned, trying to evade the abuse.

After Titan, I followed his younger brother, Tarzan, who was orphaned after the death of his mother Pattim but is doing well. Tarzan had a much quieter day, relaxing in the tree and then huddling under the leafy branches during a rain. But once the rain was over, he was more than happy to play with one-year-old Zinda.

Soon enough the search was on for another target to follow. This was no easy task, as the chimps had dispersed again into different spots about the valley to consume their monkeys. By this point, many had climbed up tall leafy trees to relax and eat. I finally located Fudge, who was with his mother and Apollo, consuming the last bits of a colobus carcass. Apollo� was on the ground while Fudge, his mother, and some other females were in the tree with the meat. Suddenly, the carcass plummeted to the ground � it had been dropped and was up for grabs! Fudge seized his chance and raced down the tree to scoop it up and run off. Fudge approached Apollo, screaming and carrying the carcass, but Apollo did nothing, and then Fudge scurried off into the machaka, where I could hear lots of commotion. When he emerged, Fudge no longer had the carcass, and his mother Fanni did. I guess she felt that raising him entitled her to the carcass!

First, Clair Kirchhoff, a Ph.D. student in anthropology at the University of Minnesota described her work on chimpanzee skeletons. Her goal is to compare the skeleton to the animal's life history. For example, how well does tooth wear reflect the age of an individual? How do injuries and diseases affect the skeleton? Gombe is a special place for this study because we know so much about each individual, and the skeletons are well-preserved. Once her work is done, other scientists will have a baseline to work from when they study the fossils or skeletons of animals with unknown life histories.

Next, Dr. Michael Wilson from the Anthropology and Ecology, Evolution and Behavior departments at the University of Minnesota spoke about his research on inter-group aggression and competition in chimpanzees. Because Gombe has three neighboring chimpanzee communities, it is one of the few places in the world where this type of work can be done. It is primarily the adult males who attack and sometimes kill males from other communities. Scientists interested in inter-group aggression are trying to understand what the males are competing for: more land, more females, or both.

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Claire Kirchhoff demonstrating the digital scanner, which she uses to create detailed 3D images of the bones. These images can be used later to take precise measurements and provide a record for use when she is no longer at Gombe. (Photo: JGI/ A. Mosser)

Mike Wilson discussing his research on inter-group competition. (Photo: JGI/ A. Mosser)

At 6:20 this morning, we headed out to Kasekela valley, where the "G" family was nested near the stream. Even with the dawn light only just starting to grow, the chimpanzees were awake and on the move. We followed them up the steep slope. I discovered a new challenge: climbing uphill through vines, in the dark, while trying to hold a flashlight. Why did I not take my headlamp today? But eventually the chimps made their way to a well-worn path. Nearly all the animals in the forest make use of the paths and it's not hard to understand why.

As we followed it didn't take long before we picked up on the bad smell of the dead baby's body.

In the next valley the chimps scattered and headed off the path into the thick vegetation, and we lost track of Gaia. After some searching, one of the field assistants found her feeding in a palm tree. When she clambered down to the ground to climb a different tree, I had my first horrifying look at Gaia carrying the small dead body. Mostly she carried it slung over her back. This is a fairly normal thing for a chimpanzee mother to do for a while after her infant dies, but it is truly a hard thing to see and understand. We followed after Gaia as she moved on, making our way around some commotion nearby, where Ferdinand (current alpha male) was chasing after Gremlin.�

Gremlin had stopped carrying the body of Gaia's baby, but obviously Gaia picked it up. She may have wanted her baby back after all but was not willing to challenge her own mother for it, though we can only speculate.

After some time I had to head back to camp for some office work and packing for my upcoming trip. I certainly felt for the field assistants who have been enduring the dramatic situation involving Gaia, Gremlin, and Gaia's twins for two weeks now.

Some days in the forest at Gombe are difficult -- not just because of the tough hiking up and down the hills.

Editor's Note: Please check back tomorrow, when Anna will tell us about organizing her first research seminar at the Gombe Stream Research Centre. We will continue to provide updates on Gaia and her mother Gremlin, who is pregnant, as events progress.

Gremlin and baby. (Photo: Becky Koomen/JGI)

Yesterday, the little infant looked decently healthy, able to cling on while Gremlin moved around. We had some hope that he might survive. But, around 10am this morning he died. Gremlin is continuing to carry the body.

This is such a sad series of events for those who� care so much about Gombe and devastating for this chimpanzee population, which has an uncertain future.

As hard as we work to protect the chimpanzee population and its habitat, we cannot control the unexpected behaviors of such a complex species.

(Photo: B. Koomen/JGI)

Learn about JGI's efforts to preserve the chimpanzees of Gombe.

(Editor's note: such a procedure helps Gombe scientists learn about the health of Gombe's chimpanzees and monitor the chimps for signs of disease, parasites, etc., on an ongoing basis.)

Postmortem. (Photo: A. Mosser/JGI)

With DNA analysis (thanks to the Hahn lab and Emily Wroblewski), we'll eventually know the identity of this infant's father.

Burial. (Photo: A. Mosser/JGI)

Interested in wild animal veterinary medicine? Read about a different kind of wild chimpanzee medical procedure here.

Gaia (back to camera) sits with Gremlin, the infant twins and Gremlin's son Gimili. (Photo: A. Mosser/JGI)

And to add a new wrinkle to the situation, the field assistants believe and the records suggest that Gremlin is pregnant. She probably conceived in early January, and thus will be giving birth sometime around late August. We are all wondering what on earth she will do if she is still caring for Gaia's twins at that time.

Yesterday Gabo, Kadaha, and I were following the "G" family on the steep slopes rising from the south side of Kakombe. Gremlin was carrying Gaia's twins, traveling mostly tripedally, with some frightful ascents and descents from the trees. When she swung between branches, she seemed to be holding one infant up by keeping one leg close to her body. Gimli, Gremlin's 4-year-old boy, tagged along, while Gaia trailed behind the group. For a short time, Gremlin's 10-year old twins, Golden and Glitta, were also present while the family ate in a tall tree. One of the infants was crying frequently.

Gimli repeatedly tried to get a chance to suckle and screamed loudly when he couldn't. Gaia spent some time grooming Gremlin but made no attempt to take her infants.

Sad days at Gombe.

Gremlin with the twins. In 2006, Gremlin took Gaia's first baby, Godot, who later died, perhaps of malnutrition. (Photo: Anna Mosser)

Gaia made a great fuss, screaming and such, but was unable to get her babies back from her mother. Gaia spent the rest of the day following her mother around, grooming her, watching her, but didn't make any other attempts to get her baby back. Gremlin's other kids (Golden, Glitta,� Gimli) watched the new babies with great interest. And for Gimli, I'm sure there was great dismay as well, as now both of Gremlin's nipples are occupied!

I arrived just as Fanni arrived. Fanni didn't bother Gremlin and didn't try to take the babies. Gremlin seems to be doing a better job as mother than Gaia. She is holding both babies head-up, and seems to be nursing them both. Gimli cried now and then, presumably wanting milk, but he is over 4 years old now, the same age as Familia, who already has a little sibling.

There was vigorous discussion at the night meeting this evening about what was going to happen.

On 7/20/08 M. Wilson wrote:�

It looks as if twinning runs in the "G" family, from Grandma Melissa (Gyre and Gimble), through Mom Gremlin (Golden and Glitta), and now Gaia herself!�

Selemani, who did B-record yesterday morning, says Titan tried to hit Gaia, but Freud defended her. Also, Fanni came in sniffing around and showed lots of interest in the babies, but the males were around and she didn't try to get Gaia's babies. Gaia did seem to be afraid of Fanni, though. [Editor's note: Female chimpanzees at Gombe have at times had their babies taken and killed shortly after birth. A newborn's introduction into the community is fraught with tension. [See "Narrow Escape" here.]

One of the twins, shortly after birth. (Photo: M. Wilson)

Selemani noticed that one of the babies appears not to be healthy, and can't hold up his head very well.�

Gaia nested near an Mgwiza tree, very conveniently, as she was able to simply climb out of her nest and start feeding (though the fruits on the tree seemed mainly unripe). I had trouble seeing her while she was feeding, but I could hear one of her babies crying out repeatedly.�

After feeding, Gaia climbed down and sat in the fork of the tree, listening to the pant-hoots and other calls of chimps scattered throughout Kakombe valley. She groomed the babies and held them close. At one point, she repeatedly wiped her perineum and licked her fingers clean. One of the babies, on Gaia's left, clearly is a boy. He seems to be healthy, but Gaia is holding him upside down! He must have been the one crying while Gaia was feeding. While she sat in the fork of the tree, the boy cried over and over again. Gaia's simply pressed him closer to her belly when he cried. He doesn't seem to be getting any milk.

The other baby, on Gaia's right side, is being held head-up, but doesn't seem to be thriving. I didn't hear the infant make any sounds, and he wasn't nursing, didn't cling vigorously to Gaia's hair, and for much of the time his head lolled back away from Gaia's chest. This one reminded me very much of Gaia's first baby, Godot. When Gaia finally descended to the ground, she walked bipedally along a tree limb, holding both babies close, then walked tripedally a bit before I lost sight of her.�

Hello, I am a fresh arrival here in Gombe Stream National Park and new to the Gombe Chimpanzee Blog, so I'd like to introduce myself. The Jane Goodall Institute recently brought me on board as the Director of Research for the Gombe Stream Research Centre. I arrived last month, and am busy getting to know the research staff, the park, and the chimpanzees.

The boat leaves me to begin my new adventure at Gombe. (Photo: A. Mosser/JGI) �

There is a lot to learn, but all of it enjoyable! It's an exciting time here, with new developments on the horizon and lots of important visitors. My role is to oversee the chimpanzee data collection, coordinate research projects with local and international collaborators, support cooperation with Tanzanian National Parks staff, and, last but not least, conduct research of my own. More on all of that to come...

I've been out into the forest many times with the field assistants. One afternoon we met up with the infamous Frodo, who was once the top-ranking male in the Kasekela community and was known for his aggressive behavior. He has mellowed out in his old age.

Frodo, looking thoughtful. (Photo: A. Mosser/JGI)

The chimps now are dispersed in small groups, because the food they eat at this time of year also is spread out -- not found in rich patches that a large group can feed on. So, they are hard to find, and the field work is tough. The physicality of tracking chimpanzees requires some adjustment. Crawling uphill under a mess of vines or a thicket (machaka) uses a whole new set of muscles! But it's all worth it when you're with the chimpanzees and you can take a cool swim in Lake Tanganyika at the end of the day.

My first Gombe sunset! (Photo: A. Mosser/JGI)

Perhaps the chimps did not attack the Mitumba group because they already had a prime feeding spot for mabungo makubwa fruits. (Photo: JGI)

We rejoined the chimps this morning in Rutanga, where they were relaxing in the trees and feeding on the pith of grasses.�

The large group, which included all the Ksaekela males except Freud, Gimble, and Faustino, crossed into the area where the Kasekela and Mitumba community ranges overlap. Normally, I have to stay behind and allow the 'B' record researchers to go into this sensitive area, but 'B' record researchers were in Kakombe, so I was able to follow the group!

Titan plays in the dirt. He is known for his antics, including throwing rocks at Emily, with very good aim. (Photo: E. Wroblewski)

The morning would have been uneventful, but for the little rascal Titan, who I both love and hate for his attitude. He decided to chuck a large rock at me, and hit me in the ribs! I wouldn't mind his penchant for throwing rocks if he didn't have such good aim! On the lighter side, I was amused to see Flirt abscond with Dilly's infant Diaz. Dilly chased after them, probably not completely trusting the young juvenile female to carry her infant safely.

The group was moving about feeding on the huge mabungo makubwa vine fruits growing in Kabusinde valley, when we (and our chimps!) heard the calls of the Mitumba chimps. The response was swift. The males screamed and charged towards the source. I thought for sure there would be a fight. The Mitumba chimps did not sound far off, and I thought our males would be bold enough to take them on, since Mitumba has only two young adult males. Calls were exchanged back and forth for about 20 minutes, but the Kasekela males turned back from their charge.�

Were they unsure of their ability to take on competitors? Fighting is risky, and not likely to be undertaken unless there is a clear advantage for one side. Maybe they could not confidently assess how many chimps were in the Mitumba group, or maybe they already had their prize: the prime feeding location. Nonetheless, it was an exciting moment, and one I don't often get to observe since I do not frequent this part of the park with the chimps.

Once the excitement died down, the group spread out to feed, relax, and groom in the trees. I observed an interesting interaction: Sheldon approached Titan and Titan started to leave. But Sheldon bobbed his head and raised his arm aggressively towards Titan. Titan opened his mouth, but no pant-grunt of submission actually came out, and then he started to leave again. Sheldon waited a moment and followed, passing him and arm-raising again. Then Sheldon picked up a stick and shook it several times at Titan. The normally dramatic Titan did not respond, but after a moment, he left for good. I wish I knew what brought on such a show from Sheldon � this interesting behavior seemed totally unprovoked!

The group moved off again to feed on more mabungo fruit. Frodo chose to stay on the ground and lounge, but it was funny, because when a mabungo fruit fell from the tree, he happily reached over and ate the fallen fruit. He wanted food, but not badly enough to climb up and get it himself!

I retired a little early today � leaving them well in the Mitumba range, where I suspect they nested.

An earlier photo of Gimble, who got a chunk of the colobus monkey carcass. (Photo: JGI)

This morning the group quickly made its way from Mselasi, where they had nested, and into Kakombe. As Sampson made his way with the group, he became separated from his mother, Sandi. Sampson is 10 years old and still pretty attached to Sandi, and he became distressed when he did not know where she was. Sampson stands in clear contrast to Fudge, who is 6 months younger, but has been happily leaving his mother for some time now. I often wonder how their respective bonds with their mothers will affect their eventual dominance rank and reproductive success. Is it a positive or a negative thing to stay with one's mother longer, or doesn't it matter? Sampson seems to be no more afraid of other males than Fudge is, and interacts with them just as readily, and they don't seem they behave more aggressively to him. Sampson just seems to prefer being around his mother.�

Tarzan spent the morning being his usual playful self. He played with Pax, who is� a willing playmate. He also played with Apollo and Sindbad, Sparrow's son. At one point Apollo bristled and charged at Tarzan in a display, but they happily resumed their play moments later. Even the alpha, Kris, joined them, but that was too much for Tarzan, and he left. Apollo and Kris continued playing with each otherm and Tarzan rejoined them a while later, but the two big males ignored him. At one point, we researchers had to laugh at Apollo -- he rolled into a headstand against a tree and just stayed that way for several moments.�

Frodo was not playful this morning � he chased off Tarzan as Tarzan climbed into a tree. Presumably, Frodo wanted his choice of spots in the tree for feeding.

The group moved north towards Kasekela, where they stopped to rest, groom and play. All of the kids played and even some of the adult males were drawn into the fun. As usual, some of the play sessions turned sour. Tarzan, Fudge, and Pax were playing when screams of protest emitted. Titan came running to the group to see what was going on � almost as if he were checking on his younger brother, Tarzan, and ready to defend him if need be.

It was frustratingly difficult to keep up with the chimps as they made their way from Kasekela to Linda. They moved quickly through the machaka, and with our rain ponchos on, we were at a severe disadvantage. We fell further behind when we passed through a bed of siafu and had to pluck the many biting army ants off our bodies. But finally we caught up to the chimps in Linda, where they had encountered a colobus troop and were hunting. There were several failed attempts, but then the chimps scattered into smaller parties and various individuals caught monkeys.

We were surprised to see Gimble, Apollo, Zeus, Gremlin, Sparrow, Trezia and some kids surrounding what seemed like a healthy colobus male. They were not trying to eat it, and were just sitting there, encircling the monkey and watching it as it watched them. I was surprised to see such apathy towards capturing and eating a monkey � I couldn't figure out what the chimps were waiting for. At first I thought maybe they were afraid to go in for the kill on this trapped adult, who was large enough to inflict some damage of his own, but then when he moved, I saw that his leg was wounded. Nevertheless, he looked strong, and that may have caused the chimps' reluctance.

Finally, the chimps went in for the kill, and the monkey met his end. Once he was dead, the normal fighting and begging ensued. When Apollo assumed control of the carcass, Zeus approached him for some meat, but Gimble slapped Zeus, and Zeus screamed and fear-grinned. When Apollo jumped on Zeus, he left, crying in protest and angrily making himself a ground nest. But Apollo eventually left with a hunk of meat, and Zeus had a minor victory, retrieving the carcass left behind.�

Feeding on colobus kept the chimps in Linda until well into the evening, when they finally crossed into Rutanga to nest.

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Apollo was one of the chimps who snagged a colobus monkey. (Photo: JGI)

We caught up with the chimps this morning in Kakombe, where they were scattered about on the north and south sides, and up towards Jane's Peak. I found Titan hanging out with Frodo, Pax, Kris, Titan and Faustino near the feeding station along the swelling female, Eliza. Titan seemed to stick close to Kris for a while, but after Kris arm-raised to him, Titan gave way a little to the dominant male and hung off to the side. Later, some males came down from the Peak to join the group, and they all headed south to join the rest of the chimps in the valley.

When the groups merged, all the males were present except Freud, and many females were present � Fanni, Tanga, Gremlin, Sparrow, Sandi, Trezia and Bahati with their children. It was an impressive gathering. As I switched to follow Zeus for a while, he stayed true to his usual ways and remained on the edges of the group as it made its way south. Most of the males continued on, but Zeus stayed back to lounge and groom with his mother and the rest of the females.

The calls of the group ahead must have been enticing, because the females eventually rejoined the males and continued south. I'm sure they were glad that they did so, because the group encountered a colobus monkey troop and quickly started hunting for a meal. Wilkie, Tubi, Apollo and Frodo each had one.

Once the monkey prizes were caught, the usual begging and fighting chaos ensued. Kipara found herself on Titan's bad side in the melee and endured a beating from him, as did many other poor souls. One thing that is consistent -- once meat is caught, the chimps stay put for a while. Today they feasted on their catches into the evening.

An earlier photo of Jiffy, the large female who chased Zeus off. (Photo: JGI)

I started my day following the young adult Sampson, who was with the large group as it returned to Kakombe valley. He was harassing Imani, displaying at her and beating her. Although Imani screamed and ran away in fear, Sampson's bullying only went so far. He shook branches several times to indicate he wanted to mate with Sifa, who was swelling, but she paid no attention.

A little luckier than Sampson, Zeus got Sifa to copulate with him, but not without displaying at her first. Then Zeus and Fudge got into a little dominance struggle with each other. They displayed at each other, shaking branches and stamping on tree limbs. It was a standoff! They did it a second time, but there was no obvious winner. Then Zeus pant-hooted and leapt at Fudge, slapping him on the back and running away. Score one for Zeus! Then Zeus displayed at Fudge and Jiffy both, which was a mistake. Jiffy is a big female, and she chased Zeus away.

The group dispersed to feed, and then reunited to rest and groom in a big tree. Fudge showed a softer side with Zella, who was crying because her mom, Trezia, wouldn't make room for her to feed in the tree. He reached out his hand to Zella to comfort her. It was a nice gesture, but Zella kept crying in frustration. Little Gimli, 3 years old this month, was happy as a clam, and even got a little ride on the Tarzan's back.

The group made its way further up the southern side of Kakombe and into Chihaga. Titan and Tarzan stayed with the big, chaotic group of males for a little while, but then the brothers set off into the valley while the group continued south.

They took us through some horrific machaka and then stopped to feed on leaves and pith. Finally they made their way to Mselasi valley for the day's final meal of mselasi fruits, peacefully eaten alone. Just before nesting, Gremlin joined them with Gaia, Gimli, and the twins, along with Dilly and her infant Diaz. The rest of the group made its way back to the valley.

Red colobus monkeys, with their characteristic red foreheads, scramble in the trees in Rutanga valley after some of the members of their troop became chimpanzee meals. (Photo: E. Wroblewski)�

We located a large group in Linda valley this morning, feeding on the sizable mabungo makubwa fruits along the river. Despite the abundance of fruit, Tarzan chose to fish for insects � not termites, but siafu � nasty, biting army ants. Luckily we managed to see the huge gathering of ants so we could avoid their wrath, but Tarzan had no fear� he used a stick to probe a tree trunk and pulled out visible clumps of biting, angry soldiers, which he happily consumed.

The scattered chimps gathered to travel towards Rutanga, and stopped to rest at the crest between the valleys. I followed Fudge, who chose to stick close to his mom, Fanni, and groom with her. Flirt, who is 2 years younger than Fudge, also was traveling with Fanni, her big sister. Fudge was definitely not pleased. He attacked Flirt a few times and chased her away, as Flirt screamed and fear-grinned. Flirt kept her distance for a while after those attacks, but the two made peace later and Fudge groomed her.

After Fudge, I followed Tarzan for an hour, as the group moved towards Rutanga. Tarzan had fun playing with the other kids -- Familia, Flirt, Gimli, the twins. But he had some tense moments with the adult males � Gimble bristled and charged at him while Wilkie arm-raised a few times.

Titan was my next target to follow. As the group descended into Rutanga they spread out to feed in the mselasi trees. Titan had a tree to himself for a while, although the alpha, Kris, was in another tree nearby.

When he'd had his fill, Titan climbed down and rejoined the group, which traveled deeper into the valley. They encountered a group of colobus, and in a matter of minutes, I saw Apollo catch one. After the dust settled, the amount of meat being consumed made it clear that Apollo wasn't the only one who had been successful.

I resumed observing Tarzan, who was� intent on getting meat. His older brother Titan somehow ended up with a carcass. While Titan attacked Fudge when he tried to eat off the carcass, Titan was sweetly tolerant of his little, orphaned brother, and eventually shared the carcass. Fudge was not deterred by his first beating, and made two more attempts, with the same result. At one point, he even appealed to his mother, Fanni, for help, but she left Fudge to deal with Titan on his own. Finally he gave up.

As I observed Tarzan, I saw some interesting behavior involving Fanni's infant daughter, Familia. Never fearful of an adventure, Familia struck out on her own, and ended up quite far from Fanni (probably over 30 meters!). Fanni and Familia are both comfortable being some distance apart � but this was farther than I'd ever seen any mother let a 2-year-old go. I was a bit worried, but neither of them showed any concern. Familia was content on her own, and when her uncle Faustino approached, she happily ran and climbed into his lap. Faustino let Familia eat off the carcass he had acquired, played with her, and even let her ride on his back twice. Finally, over 15 minutes later, Fanni came and got her daughter.

I followed� the rest of the group as they continued north into the border area with the Mitumba community. When they crossed the Njia ya Watu trail between Rutanga and the next valley, I had to drop out for the evening and let the B record researchers continue on with the group.

Sifa joined the group briefly, probably in hopes of mating. (Photo: JGI)

We found the S family in Mselasi valley this morning � Sandi, Sampson, Samwise, Sparrow, Sindbad, and Sheldon. Also with the S's was a frequent companion of Sandi and Sparrow, Bahati, with her infant son Baroza. The small group fed on mselasi fruits, the pith of grasses, and also fished for termites a little. The female Sifa joined them briefly, probably because she was swollen and interested in mating with the males.�

Baroza was his usual playful self. At one point he climbed onto Sheldon's lap, then ran to play with the rest of the kids, then climbed again between Sheldon and Sparrow, who were grooming. Baroza seems intrigued by the adults as well as other kids. Sheldon was tolerant of Baroza's antics but did not go so far as to play. Later Samwise also gave him a try, but Sheldon could not be enticed into play today.

The little group made its way to Kakombe, where almost all of them climbed up the same palm tree to feed on the nuts at the top. I wondered how they were all going to fit up there. Clearly Sheldon had the same concern, because when his nephew Sampson climbed near him to feed, Sheldon raised his arm a few times in a threatening gesture. Sampson took the hint and climbed around to the other side. Family ties go only so far when food is involved!

After feeding on palm nuts and vine pith, resting, playing and grooming, the group resumed its trek north to Kasekela, where they encountered a troop of red colobus monkeys. The chimps wanted to hunt. They stared up at the monkeys in the trees and even started to climb up a few times, but I think they realized they did not stand much chance of catching one when their own numbers were so small.

Later, as we moved along one of the human trails towards Kasekela, the chimps suddenly veered off the path and then curved back. As I wondered what caused them to diverge from the path, I saw Samwise, only 5 years old, take on a monitor lizard that had been sunning itself on the trail. While the others had wisely given a wide clearance to this big reptile, Samwise tried to chase it off, standing bipedally and waving her arms. The lizard hissed at her loudly. But the annoyed creature did move off into the machaka, and then Samwise ran to catch up with the others.

They continued northwards through Kasekela and into Eslom and Hilali valleys, never joining any others and without any calls from other parties around the valleys. Sandi, true to her reputation as a "machaka mama," dragged us through some of the worst, dense, viney undergrowth I've been in yet. As I contorted my body in unimaginable ways to follow Sampson as he followed his mother, grandmother and uncle, I thought the only thing that could make it worse would be to have thorns as well � thankfully, we did not. We valiantly kept up for a while, really with all the credit going to my field assistant, who did a fantastic job of staying with the chimps while I inched along barely keeping them in sight. But in the end, the machaka won, and we lost the group as they quietly traveled north for the evening.

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The males sit in a grooming line with (l-r) Zeus grooming Kris and Kris grooming Freud, who is grooming himself. (Photo: E. Wroblewski)

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Zeus eventually tired of grooming and lay close by to relax but still watch Kris, the current alpha, groom Freud, the former alpha and oldest male of the community. While Freud is obviously slowing in his old age, it was nice to see him gets lots of grooming attention from Kris, who was very considerate of the "old man," not only grooming him but also taking a leisurely travel pace with frequent rest stops so Freud could keep up. (Photo: E. Wroblewski)

Tarzan, Wilkie, Faustino, and Ferdinand fed on mselasi fruits in a small valley north of Mselasi this morning. Jiffy also was there with her buddy Sifa -- they are never apart for too long. Tarzan tried to take a feeding position in the tree, but he was quickly displaced by Wilkie, who sent Tarzan screaming in search of another place to eat.

When Tarzan finished eating, he laid on a little ground nest next to Ferdinand. It appeared that Wilkie might repeat his earlier performance and displace Tarzan from his sleeping spot. But this time Tarzan moved on his own and Wilkie took his place, so the displacement was peaceful. Tarzan then sat behind Wilkie and groomed him, which was probably Wilkie's entire purpose in sitting near Tarzan. After grooming Wilkie, Tarzan enjoyed a short play session that Faustino initiated by grabbing his legs.

The small party continued down the valley, feeding on the pith of the tall grasses and other plants, more mselasi, and mabungo makubwa fruit, until Jiffy and Sifa went off on their own towards Mselasi valley.

Tarzan chose to continue northbound with the males Wilkie, Faustino, and Ferdinand, and they were joined by Gaia when they got to Kakombe. We lost the group when they climbed up Kakombe through the machaka, so we headed back south to find a target in the group there.

We found Fudge traveling alone with Tubi. He kept a cautious distance from Tubi as they rested on the ground. Suddenly he rose from his ground nest to pant-grunt to some arriving chimpanzees � Kris, Gimble, Titan, Tanga, Tom and baby Tabora. Despite the submission, Kris and Gimble displayed and sent Fudge fleeing up a tree.

After the dust settled, Fudge played with Titan, chasing him in a circle. Even the adults were feeling playful; Gimble played with Kris's feet and legs, grabbing and biting them as both chimps lay on the ground, and then Kris actually played with Fudge. Fudge also tried to entice Tubi into playing by grabbing Tubi's leg as he walked by, but Tubi was not interested and kicked his leg out of Fudge's grasp.

Next I followed Titan as the group moved on to feed on more pith and mselasi fruit. He traveled on his own for a while, feeding, and then rejoined� Malaika and the group as they reached Kakombe and descended into the valley to feed on mabungo makubwa fruit. Titan termite-fished for a little while until the quiet group was interrupted by the noisy arrival of Freud, Tubi, Gimble, Kris, Zeus, and Fudge.

As the group moved into the valley, I� followed Zeus, who stuck close to Freud and Kris, and they headed up the hill. I was happy to see Freud with other chimps for a second day, but he seemed thinner than I remembered, and he definitely was not in a hurry to get anywhere. It seemed Freud's pace suited the mellow Zeus just fine, and Kris seemed happy to take things easily, too. They paused several times as they climbed the hill to the Sleeping Buffalo trail, where they stopped for a long grooming session. (See photos above.) While they could hear the calls of the others in the valley, the trio seemed quite content to hang out alone well into the evening.

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Kris, the current alpha male. (Photo: JGI)

Now that my follows of Gaia are finished, this morning I went looking for my young male targets today � Titan, Tarzan, Sampson, Zeus, and Fudge. I was lucky enough to find all five of them in Mselasi valley� feeding on mselasi fruits. They were there with the older males Ferdinand, Gimble, Kris, and to my surprise � Freud! I have not seen Freud for a few weeks now, and I suspect he has been lying low and traveling alone. It was nice to see him a part of the group again.�

I first followed Sampson, who was in the group with his mother Sandi and little sister Samwise. Sampson spent his morning quietly feeding on fruit and napping in a day-nest in a tree. As he fed, he got too close to Gimble for the older male's liking, and Gimble shook a branch at him to let him know who gets first choice at the feeding spots. But Sampson didn't seem too fazed by Gimble's display.

Freud eventually slipped away from the group, probably having had enough of the chaos that a group brings, and Kris also left briefly, only to return with Fudge trailing behind. Sampson and the rest of the group pant-hooted as they arrived. Then Ferdinand came charging down the tree towards Kris. I did not see all that ensued because I was focused on Sampson, but the B record researcher said Kris seemed afraid of Ferdinand. I don't think that Kris is in danger of losing his alpha status anytime soon, but I do think he has reason to be intimidated by Ferdinand. Ferdinand is a strong and imposing male, especially when he bristles to full size during his displays. He seems fearless, and I rarely see Ferdinand at the receiving end of other males' aggression. I think he is a contender to take over when Kris's reign is finished.

The group stayed in Mselasi valley all morning as I followed Fudge, then Zeus, and then Titan. Zeus is different then the rest of the adolescents. He will join the group, even when he is away from his mother, Trezia, but he likes to remain on the fringes. I have not quite figured out whether this is a sign of fear or part of a smarter strategy to remain out of the way of the adults' aggression, only coming into the center when it gives him some advantage. I think it's the latter � that Zeus is a quiet, mellow male who observes things from afar and chooses his interactions carefully.

As the group moved into Chihaga valley, I followed Tarzan for a while. I think the young and playful Tarzan likes to hang around with Pax because Pax likes to play. Pax plays more than most adult males, but he probably never developed as a proper adult male should because he is lacking his testicles, which were lost because of an injury.

After I finished following Tarzan, I went to join the southern party near the Njia ya Watu trail between Mkenke and Busambo valleys to follow Sampson again. When I reached him, he was engaged in a long grooming bout with the alpha male, Kris, while Tubi and Pax, who had also come back south, lingered about with the females Gremlin, Tanga, Sandi, Sparrow, Trezia, Bahati, and their kids.

Sandi, Sparrow, and their kids went off to feed on their own for a while in an mselasi tree before following the group as it made its way back north to Mselasi valley. Back in Mselasi valley, the group came together again, with Kris, Ferdinand, and Tubi, and Freud also had come back to the valley to join the group for the evening.

The group made its way uphill in Mselasi, and Jiffy and Sampson managed to catch themselves a small monkey. Sampson attracted the notorious beggar, Gaia, who is right behind any chimp that has meat. Sampson's own mother Sandi begged from him, but Sampson� refused her.

The group made its way north to nest in Kakombe, and along the way, I saw Bahati play with Baroza by spinning in circles as she walked, and Baroza clung to her back. Tabora, Tanga's new baby, is getting older, riding on her mother's back instead of her stomach. Tabora did well for a minute or two, but she's not quite ready to ride there full time and started to slide off. Tanga had to catch her and return Tabora to her stomach, where she can support Tabora with a hand.

Gremlin and her family are frequent termite fishers. They went from mound to mound until they got to one at this spot, near Kakombe, where they spent a long time probing the mound with their modified stems and sticks, stripped of leaves. Everyone spent some time on the mound, even Gimble, although he quickly lost interest and moved off to relax in the shade. Little Gimli also made his own attempts to fish. (Photo: E. Wroblewski)

After many days of searching, I finally tracked Gaia down this morning in Mselasi valley. She was there with the rest of the G family � her mother, Gremlin, twin sisters Glitter and Golden, and little brother Gimli, who will be 3 years old next month. Even Gaia's uncle Gimble was there. The rest of the party consisted of other females with their kids � Dilly and Diaz, Kipara and Keaton, Bahati and Baroza, Sandi and Samwise, and Trezia with Zella and Zinda. The group also included adolescent males Zeus and Sampson, traveling with their mothers Trezia and Sandi, and the single females Jiffy and Sifa.

Jiffy and Sifa are an interesting pair because they have such a special relationship: a friendship. I rarely see one without the other; they travel together most of the time. Today, they teamed up against Gimble. I didn't see what started the commotion, but I saw Jiffy chase Gimble from one tree to another with her partner in crime, Sifa, right behind her. Gimble scrambled up the next tree screaming and fear-grinning, and he appealed to Sandi for help. Sandi did not offer any support. She just sat quietly as he reached out to her. Gremlin was not far behind Jiffy and Sifa in the chase. I think Gremlin was trying to chase the females who were chasing her older brother, but it's difficult to say for sure.�

Moments later, a screaming Gimble ran back the other way, Jiffy and Sifa still hot after him, with Gremlin right behind. This second attack on Gimble caused the whole group to start screaming and run about, and it became a tangled mess of bodies scrambling about. It was hard to track who exactly was doing what. Finally, the group settled down again and went about their morning feeding, grooming, and resting. Poor Gimble, even though he is a male and should be dominant over the females, he was outnumbered today!

After all the searching of the last few days, it was a relief to have the group stay in one place for a while. In fact, the G's stayed so long (5 hours!) in Mselasi before moving on that Bahati, Trezia, Dilly and Kipara left for other pursuits. Tanga, Tom, Tabora, Sparrow, and Sindbad came to join them. Zella obviously did not learn her lesson after getting separated from Trezia the other day, and she ended up left behind again and ran off crying to find her mom. Gaia moved off nearby on her own to feed in another mselasi tree, but she eventually came back to the group with her mom. Gaia appears to be finished with her peak swelling as she only mated a few times with her uncle, Gimble, and the younger males Zeus and Sampson.

Eventually, the party fissioned. The S family headed off south with Jiffy and Sifa while the G's and Tanga headed off northwards to fish at some termite mounds. Tanga then split away from the G's as they continued slowly north in pursuit of termite mounds, mabungo makubwa fruits, and other foods such as leaves and pith. After they were finished on the mound, the G's made their way into Kakombe for more mabungo makubwa fruits, leaves, pith, and some palm nuts, and Gimble parted ways with the rest of his family.

The G's continued to make their way north into the evening, apparently heading to nest in Kasekela or Eslom valleys, but they dragged us through some awful machaka, and we lost them along the way. I did not feel so bad about losing Gaia at this point, because I knew she was no longer of interest to the males, and I did not need to follow her anymore. After 10 days straight in the forest, I am ready for a break, and then I will return to following my other targets � infants and adolescent males.

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Sparrow was one of the few chimps spotted today. (Photo: JGI)

We returned to Mselasi in the morning, hoping to see the individuals from the third party the day before and that Gaia would be one of them, but we only found a mix of the two groups from the previous evening. Jiffy, Sifa, and Tanga with Tom and Tabora were feeding on mselasi fruit. Sandi, Bahati, their kids, and Imani were nowhere to be seen, and the valleys around them were quiet. The composition of yesterday's third party will remain a mystery.

Since I had heard the calls of the third group in Chihaga the previous evening, we searched Chihaga and Mkenke despite the lack of calling today. The chimps could be around, but dispersed or quiet. Sadly, the search came up empty. I had a brief moment of hope when I saw chimps in an mselasi tree just south of the Njia ya Watu path splitting Mkenke and Busambo valleys, but it was just Sparrow and Sindbad. I headed back northbound to Kakombe to search there, but that too was fruitless.

After a little rest, we headed out in the late afternoon to search the northern valleys and listen for evening calling � could Gaia have been taken north by some males?? We actually heard two parties calling from the ridge between Linda and Rutanga valleys � a female scream came from the north either from Rutanga or Businde, and another party was on the southern ridge of Linda valley. While in pursuit of the northern calls, Kadaha saw Faustino, alone, heading towards Mitumba. Meanwhile, I tried to track the group in Linda, but their calls faded before I could get to them. I am motivated to come back and get them tomorrow � I have a hunch that Gaia is there.

An earlier photo of Tanga, Tabora, and Tom. (Photo: JGI)

We continued to search for Gaia today. We started in the north, climbed the ridge between Rutanga and Linda valleys, and went down into Linda valley. We were really looking and listening for the sight or sound of any chimp, anywhere. We made our way south through the small valleys of Hilali and Eslom, which sit low between Linda and Kasekela, but those valleys were just as quiet and empty of chimpanzees. Then we dipped into Kasekela valley, where it was more of the same, and on to Kakombe, where the pattern repeated itself. There are over 60 chimpanzees in this community, and I couldn't find a single one, let alone Gaia!

We continued the search into the evening, hoping to hear the pant-hoots and calls that chimps make during their last meal the day and right before nesting. We searched Mselasi, Chihaga, and Mkenke, and finally located some chimpanzees. I found Jiffy, Sifa, and Sandi with Sampson and Samwise feeding on mselasi fruits in the valley. Meanwhile, Kadaha, my field assistant, located another small party of females � Imani, Bahati, and Tanga with Baroza, Tom, and Tabora just south of Mkenke. I hoped that athird party I heard calling low in Chihaga valley would come, but� they fell quiet and nested for the night, and we did not get to see who was in the other group.

An earlier photo of Gimble. (Photo: JGI)

We climbed the path between Linda and Rutanga valleys again early this morning to listen for calls, and hopefully catch the group I heard in Linda valley yesterday. Sure enough, after a short wait, we heard the group � but it was on the opposite side of the valley. B record researchers were closer to the group and got to it before we did, and they told us that Kipara and her infant daughter, Keaton, were there with Gremlin and her kids � including Gaia! My hunch about the calls was right! Kadaha and I took off to race to the other side of the valley, but our excitement was quickly deflated when we arrived only to find out that Gremlin and Gaia had headed south towards Kasekela � SO CLOSE!!

We went off in search of the G's, but couldn't find them. We sat at Jane's Peak hoping to hear them call from either Kasekela or Kakombe, but the silence was deafening. As we contemplated what to do next, Gimble quietly moseyed up the path and climbed into a tree to rest. I hopedl that he might exchange calls with the rest of the G family, or lead us to them, so we stayed with him for a while, but it became clear he was traveling alone and silently, so we let him move off north without us.

I became hopeful again when I heard the brief screams of chimps from another ridge, but our search of the area did not uncover any chimpanzees. Finally, we headed into the valley to search Kakombe, but we didn'tt find any chimpanzees there either. In the evening, we checked Mselasi valley, and I saw the females Sifa, Dilly, Kipara, and Trezia with their kids. While Gaia was not around, I felt hopeful that she was in the area, because the G's were seen with Kipara early this morning. I plan to try Mselasi again in the morning.

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Gombe landscape (photo: JGI)

We searched for Gaia in Kakombe in the morning, and then climbed Jane's Peak to listen for chimpanzees between Kakombe and Kasekela valleys. But all was quiet.�

We headed back down into Kakombe and south to Mselasi valley to search further, but all was quiet there too. Communication with B record researchers over the radios told us that they, too, were not having any luck in either the north or the south. As a last-ditch effort, we headed back into Kakombe to search again. But we ended the day chimp-less, as did the other researchers.

We lost Gaia as she was traveling with Wilkie, Tubi, and Zeus down into the valley, and despite our searching, we couldn't find her. We stumbled on Wilkie feeding in a palm tree in Kakombe, but he was alone, and the valley was quiet. Any sounds that might have been useful to locate her were drowned in the noise of the rain, and the morning's group appeared to have dispersed.
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Tubi

I rose early to get back to Gaia before she came out of her nest. Thankfully we only had about a 20-minute walk to reach her. Gimli stirred first and climbed out of the nest he shared overnight with Gremlin. He moved down the tree limb a bit, and then displayed a little, shaking branches. When that did not get much response, he made his own little nest and climbed in to go back to sleep.

When Gaia left her nest at 6:30 a.m., she quickly went on the move towards Mselasi valley. There she joined Sandi, Sparrow, Tanga, Bahati and their kids feeding on mselasi fruits. Eventually Gremlin, the twins, and Gimli caught up and joined the group. Tubi, who was briefly in the group with Kris, chased Gaia up a tree, his hair bristled, and copulated with her. Meanwhile Kris displayed nearby but made no attempt to mate with her. After the commotion, the pair of males quickly moved off northwards, and Gaia was without suitors for a short while.

The relative peace was shattered when Kris and Tubi came thundering into the group with a large party of males � Frodo, Wilkie, Pax, Apollo, Ferdinand, and Titan.� Only Freud, Faustino, Sheldon, and Zeus were missing. The suddenly large, noisy group was a nice change from recent days of small, scattered groups or single chimps traveling quietly. But maybe not for Gaia. She quickly went on the defensive, screaming and running away from Titan until she eventually gave in on the second chase and copulated with him. Wilkie had inspected her swelling in between, but left Gaia, apparently uninterested. Frodo, however, later took the opportunity to mate with her.

Faustino made his way into the group a short while later along with Fanni and her kids, including the young male Fudge, and a group of females.

As the group made its way south and stopped to rest and groom, Gaia continued to mate with Frodo, Titan, and Apollo. She still seemed unsure of Titan, but seemed to like the little male, Fudge, sometimes appearing to go out of her way to copulate with him.

After lingering for a while, the large group dispersed into smaller, scattered parties about the valley and the group compositions changed many times as they slowly made their way back north to nest just south of Kakombe.
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The females Tanga, Gremlin, Gaia, and Bahati traveled together into Kakombe while Sandi and Trezia stayed behind. As they relaxed in Kakombe, resting, feeding, and grooming, Tubi announced his arrival by crashing into the group as he displayed. Tubi seemed curious about Gaia, but did not make any attempts to copulate with her.

The small party went about the valley feeding on palm nuts and mabungo makubwa fruits. Tubi left the group of females, perhaps in search of more food. The kids chased each other and wrestled in the tree. Trezia joined the group and her daughter Zella started to play with Glitter. All was fine for a while, but things eventually became tense, and the older and bigger Glitter caused Zella to go running and screaming back to Trezia. But Zella is an independent little girl and was enjoying herself in the group so much that she failed to see her mother start back towards the south. Finally she did notice her mother gone, and despite her independence began frantically screaming. She ran off in search of Trezia, and I assume they were reunited, because eventually the crying in the distance stopped.

The G family eventually moved off on their own in Kakombe and ended up near the old feeding station where bananas used to be given as part of the habituation process. They took a perch on a tree where they spent an hour and a half resting and grooming.

Well-rested, the G's moved on to feed about Kakombe and a tiny little valley simply called SF before they nested for the evening. But along the way, the twins and Gimli stopped to amuse themselves by rolling on rocks and splashing and playing in the pools of a small stream.

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Mmanda Tree Fruit � As I searched for Gaia in Kasekela valley, I came across this mmanda tree that was fruiting. This tree is like something from another world. Unlike most plants and trees that grow their fruits at the end of their branches, the mmanda tree has little stems all over its trunk and limbs that the fruits grow from in clusters. It looks like something from a story! (Photo: E. Wroblewski)

Mkenke Waterfall: As I searched Mkenke valley for Gaia, I passed by the waterfall, where the sound of the water was deafening after an intense afternoon rain. The valleys were difficult to search, as trails had become small streams, and once-dry streambeds had become swollen rivers. (Photo: E. Wroblewski)

I went searching for Gaia today. I started in Mselasi valley, hoping that Gaia might return there to feed on the mselasi fruits that are abundant on the trees there. But unlike yesterday, only Sparrow and Sindbad were there. I headed north into Kakombe and Kasekela and searched intensely, but all was quiet. In the afternoon we headed back to Mkenke and Chihaga to search there and in Mselasi again, but the day passed without finding Gaia.

An earlier photo of Gaia's uncle, Gimble. (Photo: JGI)

I found Gaia this morning in Msalasi valley, just in time to catch her copulating with the young male, Zeus. There were several females present, including Gaia's mother, Gremlin and her other kids, and Tanga, Sparrow, Trezia (Zeus's mother), Bahati (with her kids), Sifa, Jiffy, and Imani. Zeus was one of few males present besides the young adult male Ferdinand and Gaia's uncle, Gimble. While Gimble is Gaia's uncle (Gremlin's older brother), he still took the opportunity to copulate with her. Gaia did not seem to resist him, but they only copulated once that I observed.

Baroza, Bahati's first offspring who just turned a year old, was quite playful today. I was shocked when he leapt into Gimble's lap while playing, but Gimble took it all in stride and embraced Baroza briefly before the little infant leapt away to continue playing. Baroza is a cute chimp, both in terms of his appearance and because of his playful, energetic personality. I always recognize him because of his ears, which are large and stick out noticeably.

I followed the group south through the Mkenke waterfalls, and was surprised to see them eat mgwiza fruit there, because I thought it was long finished. They did not stay long and continued south, where they took a long rest in the trees to groom, play, and sleep. Gaia copulated with Ferdinand and then began a long grooming session with him. When the female Imani came over to the pair Gaia hit her and chased her away. Imani ran off, and Gaia returned to groom Ferdinand, but Imani returned to groom Ferdinand on his other side. Gaia tolerated this for a moment, but then started slapping at Imani and chased her off again. All this female commotion was too much for Ferdinand and he displayed at them both.

Sparrow decided she'd had enough of being with the group and headed south with her son, Sindbad. Bahati, another female who likes the south and often travels with the S's, started to follow, but then she stopped on the trail and was torn between following Sparrow and staying with the group. In the end, the group won, and while Sparrow and Sindbad continued on, Bahati returned to the group. An intense thunderstorm came through, and chimps and humans alike sat it out looking miserable.

After the rain, the group headed back north, but they went over the Mkenke waterfalls, where we were not able to pass, and we got separated. We tried to catch up, but the group broke up and the calling stopped, and we could not track them or my target, Gaia, the rest of the afternoon.

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Just a few months old, Tanga's new daughter, Tabora, watches the world from the safety of her mom's lap.� (

We returned to Mselasi valley this morning to search again. Despite a quiet first hour of listening and searching, we eventually heard the lovely sounds of chimpanzee pant-hoots as a group of females came into the valley. It was Gaia, Sifa, Jiffy, Bahati, Baroza, and Tanga with Tom and her infant, Tabora. Tabora is named after a city not far from Gombe, just like Tanga is named after a coastal Tanzanian city. I stayed with the group for a little while because I wanted to observe Gaia since she seemed to be about half swollen.

The small group of females headed south into Chihaga valley where Gaia split off from the group and climbed high to feed on mabungo makubwa fruit. Gaia next took off northbound to Kakombe, and we went on the run to keep up with her. We stayed with her until she ducked into a dense tangle of vines where we simply could not keep up, and we lost her.

Feeling dejected and tired from the chase, I sat down to catch my breath, think about our next move, and listen for calls in Kakombe. Imagine my surprise when a short while later, Gaia came running down the path right towards us and climbed a tree to eat mbula leaves!

I followed Gaia into Kakombe valley where she fed on palm nuts for a short bit, but then she went across the stream towards Kasekela. Once again, I lost her in the machaka, and this time I was not as lucky to have her cross my path again. I wondered if she was running about today because she was in search of her mother Gremlin?�

We decided to go back into Kakombe to look for another target, and while we heard a lonely call in the late evening, we were unable to locate its source. I left the forest after another frustrating day.

Chimpanzees are easier to find when traveling in groups. (Photo: JGI)

It has been hard to find chimpanzees the last few days. With no distinct patches of food, they are traveling solitarily or in small groups. It is difficult to find them because they do not call a lot, and there aren't distinct food patches to check. All we can do is hike, keep our eyes and ears open, and hope to get lucky.

We started in Msalasi valley where we heard the glorious sounds of pant-hoots nearby. We raced up the hill as they called, but when we got to where we thought they were calling from, there was nothing. We looked around the area and waited for more calling, but there was still nothing. So close!

Just when we were ready to move on again, I heard a rustling sound nearby, and turned to see a chimpanzee scurrying across the ground � finally a chimpanzee! I raced to follow who I thought might be Sampson, the young son of Sandi. He climbed into a tree and then I saw Sandi and Samwise follow. It was Sampson � a young male target for me to follow. Unfortunately, the rest of the group� appeared to have moved on. I was not going to be able to observe Sampson interacting with adult males, but at this point, I was not going to complain.

I stayed with Sampson for about an hour as he and his family fed on mselasi fruits and ngoyi pith and headed south into Chihaga valley. Sandi is known for loving the machaka, and she stayed true to form today. When she headed into the thick undergrowth, I lost the quietly moving family.

After losing the S family, I had to begin my search all over again. We worked our way back through Chihaga and Mselasi valleys to search Kakombe. I heard the sound of a young chimpanzee crying and found Golden. She had gotten a little too far from her mom, Gremlin, and was crying in distress. She took off in search of Gremlin, and after she cried out again, I heard a pant-hoot nearby. Golden raced towards it and was reunited with Gremlin, her twin sister Glitter and little brother Gimli. Gremlin�s oldest daughter, Gaia, however, was not traveling with the family.

Moving on, we found the female Imani traveling alone between Kakombe and Kasekela, but still no target for me. We headed back to Mselasi and Chihaga valleys later in the early evening hoping to hear some chimpanzees calling as nesting time approached, but all was silent.

View of Kakombe (Photo: JGI)

We did not search long this morning before we got a call� from 'B' record researchers that Gaia was in Msalasi valley with some other females and kids (but not Gremlin). Unfortunately, she left the party before we got there, but the other researchers told me that Gaia was barely starting to swell. Since she had just a little swelling, there was no need for me to continue searching for her. We continued our search of Kakombe, Kasekela, Eslom, Hilali, and Linda valleys, looking for other targets, but our bad luck continued, and I went home empty-handed in terms of data.

KIGALYE VILLAGE

Today we met a natural film star.� It is difficult to find people who are good 'On Camera'.�� Most of us find it hard to be natural in front of a camera.� In Tanzania, where there is no history of film and video, and a propensity to modesty in front of a camera, drawing people out can be a real challenge.� However, when you find someone with the charisma of a man like Mr. Kassim Omary, documentary film-making becomes pure joy.� I think the magic of filming someone like Mr. Omary is that he is genuinely excited and enthusiastic about conservation and the sustainable use of land around his village.

Kassim Omary, a born TV presenter and protector of land around Kigalye village, tells of his vision of a forest growing again on the nearby slopes

The day started in Kigoma where we set out by boat to a small village called Kigalye.� During the trip, we saw the affect of a growing population on a steep landscape.� Deforestation on most of the steep slopes with signs of channel erosion.

Kigalye Village is a small fishing village about five miles south of Gombe National Park

Firewood is a major issue for people along the lakeshore.� To collect firewood, women walk for up to two hours to even find suitable trees to cut.� Over time, if forests aren't protected, the slopes become bare.

Over the past six years, I have photographed the landscape up and down the lake between Kigoma and Gombe NP.� Many areas have nearly been cleared of all trees.� To my delight, when I looked at photos I have taken of Kigalye over the years I found the opposite.

Kigalye Village in 2001, several months after a mudslide destroyed several homes

Kigalaye today.� TACARE became active here in late 2000 and encouraged local people to protect themselves by protecting themselves

I was just blown away when I looked back at the photos over the years.� This is what can happen in just five or six years.� Imagine what this hillside will look like in 20 years!

Priar to the year 2000, very little thought was put in to land management around Kigalye.� After a mudslide due to deforestation destroyed several homes, TACARE introduced their community conservation program to landowners. � Mr. Omary is now� one of the leading forces behind the conservation of this land.� Decisions are made by committee and it is now illegal just walk up the hill and cut firewood.� Wood and timber harvesting on these hillsides is monitored closely, and cutting is very selective, one tree at a time rather than clear cutting.

Kassim Omary tells me how the forest near Kigalye is strictly managed
He was nearly jumping up and down he was so happy to show us the progress that has been made over the past few years

One of the programs you will find throughout TACARE village forest projects is a proliferation of bee hives.� We encourage these hives for two reasons.� First, honey is a valuable cash crop which is sustainable.� People are able to make money without detriment to the environment.� Second, bee hives encourage people to protect nearby forests.� The bees need the forests to survive.� Once people learn that honey can supplement their income they protect the forest from fire and wood poachers.

Another cool thing about the bee hives in Kigalye were that they were made out of 100% recycled wood.� Over years, the fishing boats used by fisherman get old and are 'retired'.� TACARE uses these old boats to make beehives rather than using new lumber.

100% recycled bee hive made of boards from an old fishing boat

Mr. Omary is a wonderful ambassador for good management and sustainable living.� He is another perfect example of how the TACARE Project is helping to change the attitudes and behavior of the people around Gombe National Parks.

Mkenke (Photo: JGI)

We started this morning in Kasekela, where we thought the G family might be hanging out because I was still looking for Gaia. We were encouraged when we heard the calls of a small group high in Kasekela, so we climbed up to find the group. After a long climb and chasing the calls, we located a small group sitting in an mbula tree between Kasekela and Linda valleys � it was the males Frodo, Tubi, Apollo, Fanni and her kids. We waited and searched about a bit, hoping that maybe some other chimpanzees might be lingering, but Sheldon was the only one to join the party.

I still wanted to find Gaia, so we left the little group and headed back south. We heard some more calls between Linda and Kasekela as we headed back, but it was just a cruel tease because we were not able to track them to their source. Was one of them Gaia?? I will never know. Sucking up my disappointment, I continued on to Kakombe and all the way down through Mkenke, but Gaia was elusive still, and we never found her.

An earlier photo of Sandi. (Photo: JGI)

With lots of rest and vitamins, my cold disappeared quickly and I got back in the forest today. I headed south because I heard from B record yesterday that Gaia was swelling and traveling there with a big group, but was not mating with the males yet. We started in Kahama and worked our way back north through Mkenke and Chihaga valleys without a hint of a chimpanzee. When we got to the small valley called Mselasi, we came upon the brothers Titan and Tarzan, Tubi, Sheldon, and Ferdinand. They each made nests and settled in for a nap but since Gaia was not with them, I moved on.

We heard calls in the valley nearby, so we went to check them out in hopes of finding Gaia, but found Sandi, Bahati, Kipara, and Sparrow, who were there with their kids, and the single female Sifa. While most of these individuals in between the two parties were with Gaia yesterday, Gaia was nowhere near them today. I continued the search into Kakombe and Kasekela, thinking that Gaia may have gone looking for her mother Gremlin, but I found neither Gaia nor Gremlin.

Chimpanzees and humans are so similar, they can contract the same illnesses. (Photo: JGI)

I have a cold, so I am staying out of the forest until I get better. In most other jobs, I would work through a cold, but working with chimpanzees is different and requires special precautions. Because we are so genetically similar, chimpanzees and humans can contract the same illnesses. If I went into the forest with a cold, I could pass it to the chimpanzees. While it is just a little cold to me, and I will easily recover, it could present itself differently in the chimpanzees, and they could get seriously ill. So with the health of the chimpanzees being a first and foremost priority, I will sit out until I am well again.

An earlier photo of Gremlin with the twins, Golden and Glitter. (Photo: JGI)

I found Gaia feeding on leaves in a mbula tree with her mother, Gremlin, and little brother, Gimli. Gaia's little sister, Golden, was there, but Golden's twin, Glitter, was nowhere that we could see. I was not surprised by this because the twins have very distinct personalities. Golden is sassy, strong, and bold with people, often charging at the researchers and displaying at them. Glitter tends to just ignore us completely and often seems lost in her own thoughts. Golden tends to stay pretty close to Gremlin, while Glitter is a curious explorer. She often goes far off from her family to do her own thing, and lags behind when the group is traveling to stop and take in her surroundings. I was not surprised that Glitter was not in sight when we arrived, but I was surprised that she did not show up later. Was Glitter just following behind where I could not see her, or did she go off by herself? I cannot say for sure.

I was relieved to find Gaia, though, so I could see if she was swelling. While I thought she should be well on her way to a full swelling (which we score as a 1), Gaia was still flat � a zero on the charts.

Since Gaia was not swollen, I looked for other targets to follow. Luckily, the G family brought me to a small group feeding on mgege fruit between Kasekela and Linda valleys � Apollo, Sheldon and Titan.The males were with the female Yolanda, her daughter Yamaha, Fanni and her kids Fudge, Fundi, and Familia. The swollen females Nuru and Eliza were also there. I followed Titan for a while as he hung out on the edges of the group eating fruit. Eventually Sheldon and Apollo left, and Titan decided to leave and head back south towards Kakombe on his own.

When Sheldon and Apollo left, Fudge chose to stay behind with his mom and the other females, who were joined by Dilly and her baby girl, Diaz. The shy female Yolanda quietly disappeared with her daughter Yamaha.

Gaia is expected to start swelling soon. (Photo: JGI)

I expect Gaia to start swelling again soon, so I went searching for her to check on her status. We hiked through Kasekela and Kakombe, but there was no sign of Gaia or the rest of her family � Gremlin, the twins, and Gimli. We sat on top of Jane's Peak to listen for calls, but started losing hope when it began to rain. We began descending when we saw lightening, and heard chimpanzees calls in Kakombe valley, near the old feeding station where the chimpanzees were given bananas as part of the habituation process (getting them used to people). We quickly dropped back down into the valley and went to that spot, but there was no sign of chimpanzees anywhere. We waited for the rain to stop in hopes that they would call again, but the valley was silent after the drops stopped falling and our search of the area came up empty. Hopefully there will be better luck tomorrow!

An earlier photo of Sandi. (photo: JGI)

We searched Kakombe and Kasekela this morning and found Sandi and her kids, Sampson and Samwise, feeding on mabungo makubwa fruits in Chihaga valley. Sampson was enjoying the large vine fruits so much that he chased away a baboon that tried to get some for himself. Eventually the family was joined by the females Jiffy and Sifa, and then Sandi's mother, Sparrow, arrived with her infant, Sindbad. Jiffy and Sifa normally do not normally interact with kids, but they played a bit with Samwise and Sindbad. Disappointingly for me, no males joined the group for me to observe their interactions with the adolescent Sampson.

Freud was the alpha male at Gombe until his younger brother Frodo challenged him. (Photo: JGI)

In a last ditch effort to find Schweini, we went searching from Kakombe to Rutanga, but the only sign of a chimpanzee was Freud traveling alone between Kakombe and Kasekela. It is amazing to see this once strong (and former alpha) male seem so on the fringes of the rest of the community. Even just earlier this year Freud was behaving like a typical male, coming in and out of the group and interacting with other chimpanzees. Now Freud seems unable or unwilling to handle social life among the rest of the males, and prefers to be alone.

I went searching in Linda and Rutanga again to attempt to find Schweini again, but the only sign of life besides baboons and red colobus monkeys was this little snake trying to get as much warmth as it could on the open trail despite the ever-present cloudy skies.�

Trezia's adolescent son Zeus joined the group a little later, and I started to follow Fudge, who was traveling with the males away from his mother Fanni. Fudge seemed to be sticking close to his uncle, Frodo, as they fed on mgege fruits. As the young often do, Fudge tried to interfere with Frodo when he copulated with the swollen female, Vanilla. Frodo tried to shoo Fudge away, and Fudge cried a little, but he did not leave.�

If I didn't know any better, I would have said Frodo was being aggressive towards Fudge as they traveled to their next spot. But he actually was playing with his nephew. How did I know? Frodo's hair was not bristled when he charged towards Fudge, and Fudge showed no sign of fear of his big uncle barreling towards him. Fudge merely stepped aside, and then chased after Frodo.

When an intense thunderstorm began, both Wilkie and Kris started to display, and Fudge had to flee out of their way several times.

From Kakombe hilltop, the group started to make its way towards Chihaga to feed on mabungo makubwa fruits, but they split up about the valley. The swollen female Vanilla actually seemed to solicit Zeus despite the other two adult males hanging around as she stayed close to him. She passed by Zeus several times as if trying to catch his eye. But Zeus had no interest in Vanilla.

Zeus, in an earlier image, showed no interest in Vanilla today. (Photo: E. Wroblewski)

Candy and Cocoa (Photo: E. Wroblewski)

The search was on for Schweini again, and we headed back north to search the mabungo makubwa fruiting areas of Linda and Rutanga valleys. But again, we had no sign of her � in fact, the only chimps we saw were Candy and her infant Cocoa, heading from Linda to Rutanga. Communication with the other researchers told us that the males were all down in the center of the community range, and Schweini was not there either. After three days of searching, the frustration is intense.

Freud was born in 1971. (Photo: JGI)

I searched for Schweini in the north again, but only found Candy, her infant Cocoa, and Titania waiting out the rain in Rutanga valley. We made our way south into Kakombe valley where most of the males were, but Schweini was not there. Since it was already late afternoon, with no sign of Schweini, I decided to follow the adolescent male Fudge for an hour while he was with the adult males. For a while Fudge stuck close to Tubi; they fed on palm nuts, moved on to fish for termites, then climbed a tree to feed on msalasi fruits with the female Jiffy. After a while, the quiet trio was joined by the males Wilkie, Pax, and Sheldon, and females Eliza and Imani.

Fudge's relative peace with Tubi was shaken upon the arrival of this group because the competition for the fruit became more intense. When Fudge tried to approach Wilkie, Sheldon chased him away, probably because he was getting too close to Sheldon's feeding spot. As an intense downpour of rain started, Wilkie began to display, and Fudge had to flee again or else endure Wilkie's wrath.

As we searched for Schweini we were in frequent radio contact with the other researchers in the forest to see if they spotted her. The more eyes looking and the more ground covered, the better our chances of finding our targets, so radios are an essential tool in the forest. But today, the B record researchers were observing Freud, who stayed by himself in a nest in Kakombe until almost 1 pm! That is very unusual, so much so that we were worried he might be ill. But he eventually rose and joined the group, and appeared normal. He may have been feeling less than 100%. (Animals are often good at concealing their illnesses until things get very bad.) Most likely Freud, at 35 years old, is just feeling the effects of his age and slowing down.

An earlier image of Schweini.

Imani (left), Ferdinand (center), and Gaia (lower right) all termite fishing for their last meal before nesting for the evening.

With Gaia's swelling finished, I resumed my follow of adolescent males and infants. As I searched for targets, I spotted Gaia termite fishing alone at the mouth of Kasakela valley. But she was not my target today, so I moved on and found a small group in Kakombe. The orphaned juveniles Tarzan and Flirt were traveling with Sheldon, Wilkie, and the females Nasa and Imani. Nasa was swelling, and she was being followed by the males, while the rest tagged along. While they took a break to feed on mtabungwa fruit, Flirt tempted Tarzan into playing by swinging on a branch in front of him. But the initially friendly play quickly turned sour, and both ended up in a screaming fight � which none of the adults paid any attention to.

Trezia and her kids Zeus, Zella and Zinda joined the group later in the morning, probably because they heard their pant-hoots and were drawn in.

The smaller group merged with another party that came down from higher in Kakombe, so we also had Fanni and her kids, Frodo, Apollo, Faustino and Ferdinand. The more peripheral female Yolanda and her very social daughter also joined in.Yolanda was swelling, which probably was what caused her to join the group, since she is normally quite shy and stays alone with Yamaha. But whatever the reason for joining, Yamaha, who has nothing of her mother's shyness, was thrilled to be in the group, especially with other kids, and she played vigorously with Tarzan and Familia. As social as she is, I imagine Yamaha must get lonely with just her mother for company. But the kids were not the only ones playing � Frodo and his niece Familia had a long play session wrestling and play-biting each other.While some played, others groomed, and some fed on nearby mtabungwa.

Gaia actually made her way into the group. Even though Gaia was no longer at her swelling peak, she clearly had a problem with Sheldon and the swollen female Nasa copulating, because she interrupted the pair by chasing after Nasa! Nasa was not the only one to get in trouble over a copulation. Later when Titan mated with Nasa, the young male Fudge came over to interfere, as chimpanzees will sometimes do. Titan did not immediately respond to Fudge's interference, but once he was through with Nasa, he attacked Fudge by stomping on him, and they got into a rolling, wrestling tangle. After they broke apart, Fudge was still screaming and fear-grinning, and he appealed to his uncle Ferdinand. When Ferdinand did not respond, Fudge approached reached to him in further appeal, but Ferdinand still did not come to his aid. Fudge's mother Fanni also approached and reached out to Ferdinand in an appeal for her son, but even she could not get Ferdinand to respond. Finally Fudge left Ferdinand, still screaming. Eventually he calmed down, and even played with Tarzan.

The group ate and termite fished their way into Kasakela valley for the night.

Faustino, who today charged down Gremlin.

Gaia and the rest of the group spent the morning in Kasekela, termite fishing. The onset of the rainy season is peak fishing time, and the chimpanzees are doing a lot of it! Gremlin and her kids sometimes even come to check the mound behind our house. Even the monitor lizards get in on the action by leaping and chasing after the winged, flying termites in the grasses in front of our house.

Such delectable food, just like meat, can cause strife as individuals jockey for position on the mounds. Today, the juvenile Zella had a place at the mound and adolescent Titan did not. He did not tolerate that long, however, and chased Zella off the mound, leading Trezia, Zella's mother, to cry and reach out to Titan in appeal.

Yesterday, Gremlin interfered with Faustino and Gaia (her daughter) as they copulated. Today these negative interactions escalated. The group moved off the mound to climb a tree for a meal of leaves, but as they did, Faustino displayed down the tree at Gremlin. He stomped on her forcefully, which sent Gremlin screaming down the tree, and Gaia, already up the tree, backed away.

Gaia seemed to be reaching the end of her peak swelling, and mostly it was the younger adolescents and juveniles who showed interest in her. However, Sheldon and Faustino still traveled with her, following her from termite mound to termite mound. Although they sometimes acted possessive of her with other males, they rarely copulated with her.

At one point, as Gaia was copulating with Faustino, it was not an adult male who interfered, but Gaia's mother Gremlin. It was not clear why she was bothered enough by them copulating to approach them and try to get in their way, but she certainly suffered the consequences of her decision when Faustino displayed at her. (But maybe she achieved her goal?)

The group moved north into Linda valley and immediately went on the hunt. Both Apollo and Frodo got themselves red colobus monkeys, and I think some other males were successful too, but it was hard to tell in all the scrambling � especially when the rain started.�

Eventually Gaia moved off to join the males, and the group moved on into Rutanga stream to feed a bit on mgwiza before climbing up the northern wall of the valley to feed on mtabungwa and then nest for the night.

Having come back with the group to Kakombe, Sampson ended his foray off on his own when the group met up with his mother, Sandi and his sister Samwise, in Chihaga valley. Then they returned back north for the evening. Three days is not a bad excursion for his first time truly away from mom!

From Kakombe hilltop looking north, the hills of Tanzania's neighbor, Burundi, can be seen wrapping around Lake Tanganyika. The cloudy, grey skies are a daily occurrence now that the rainy season has set in. (Photo: Emily Wroblewski)

Gaia lounges in a tree, seemingly oblivious to the gaggle of males (out of sight) waiting and watching below her perch.� (Photo: Emily Wroblewski)

The group finally made its way into Kakombe where they hunted colobus monkeys. Frodo, and possibly Faustino, came up big with catches. Gaia, the ever persistent beggar, alternated between the two of them, begging for meat and sometimes copulating with them. Once the meat was finished the group moved off into the next patch of trees to feed on the mabungo makubwa fruits that were just starting to ripen. Then they headed off to nest for the night.

Sampson was still without his mom today, but was behaving as if everything was completely normal as he traveled with the males Frodo, Wilkie, Tubi, Pax, Apollo, Sheldon, Faustino, Ferdinand, and Titan (who were all following Gaia).

Sheldon (middle) takes a bite out of the adult colobus carcass he stole from Wilkie, as Apollo (left), Tubi (right) and Gaia (lower middle), with her sexual swelling, beg for a portion. (Photo: Emily Wroblewski)

After searching from Kakombe to Rutanga and back again, we finally found the chimps in Kakombe stream, above the waterfalls, where they were eating mgwiza fruits again. To my surprise, I saw the adolescent male Sampson. just over 10 years old, traveling on his own without his mother, Sandi. I had never seen him do this, even though other young males, like Fudge and Zeus, have been going off on their own for a while now. Sampson would often go far away from his mother, but until this day, she was always at least somewhere in the group with him. I was almost beginning to wonder if Sampson would ever really leave his mom! While he has been slow to take this last step towards independence, Sampson is now on his way to becoming an adult male in the group.

From the waterfalls, the group climbed high, well above Jane's Peak and Bald Soko, to feed on mhande hande fruit. One of the twins, Glitter, had to find another place to eat when Wilkie displaced her from her spot in the tree.� Meanwhile I was following Gaia again to observe her mating behavior with the males. She was copulating a little bit, and the males were interested, but she was definitely not at her peak.

The group stayed high but moved off towards Linda valley.� This has been their pattern of late � eat fruit lower in the valleys, but then climb up high to hunt. When they got to the southern face of Linda valley, the chimps encountered a red colobus troop � their favorite prey � and the hunt was on. Within minutes, Tubi had captured one, and about ten minutes later, Frodo had one as well.� Frodo was just about 10 meters in front of me when he descended from the tree with his prize, and it was pretty hard to watch the little legs of the young colobus monkey kicking their final kicks. Several others must have captured monkeys as well -- there was a lot of noise and I saw substantial portions of meat, but some of the chimipanzees may have begged for their pieces. Wilkie must have captured an adult colobus monkey, because he had a full-sized carcass and attracted a lot of attention. It must have been quite a hunt � adult colobus monkeys are quite large and formidable; it is truly an accomplishment for any chimp to capture one.

Gaia kicked it into high gear once the males had captured all this precious meat.� She begged from Frodo, and then Apollo, Ferdinand, Faustino, and Wilkie, and in between begging she was copulating with them too.�

But then Sheldon started displaying � after the dust cleared and I was sorting out who was who and who was where, I saw that Sheldon, not Wilkie, was now in possession of the adult carcass. What a prize! He not only stole himself a good meal, but he attracted the attention of Gaia, who came to beg for meat. Sheldon shared some meat with her and also took the opportunity to copulate with her. The meat feeding frenzy kept the chimps in the same spot until late in the day when they climbed the north face of Linda valley to cross into Rutanga to nest for the night.

Gaia is seen here grooming her mother, Gremlin.

After losing Gaia yesterday, it was my mission, again, to get her as soon as I could today. We were lucky to catch them fairly early in Kakombe � maybe they had climbed up high in Mkenke to hunt yesterday and were now returning north? Gaia was definitely mating, and Kris seemed to bepossessive of her when he displayed up the tree past Wilkie and Tubi to get to her. The two males fled down the tree, leaving Gaia as Kris charged up, but because of Kris's display, Gaia screamed and ran from Kris. So, Kris just sat bristled and holding a branch for a moment, and then he approached Gaia, still with his hair bristled, and Gaia presented to him and they copulated � but Gaia ran off as soon as it was over.

�

The following morning we arranged to meet Yakupita at her school to see her in action. I can't describe what a joy it was to see her at work in the classroom. She has a spark and charisma that was wonderful to witness. She deftly handled her 70-plus boisterous students with natural leadership and a sense of humor. Yakupita loves science, and today's lesson for her 9 and 10 year olds was about the qualities of a magnet.

Yakupita's story is a one of hardship and perseverance. She was very thankful to JGI and TACARE for their support and guidance.

This is the only way we could get Yakupita in the same shot with all of her students.

�

I love this shot of a mother baboon staring into the eyes of her tiny infant (Photo: Kristin Mosher)

As luck would have it, there were a few baboons on the beach as we headed south. We brought the boat to shore at a respectful distance and Gil was able to get a great shot of Kristin and a few baboons as she photographed them.

Gil and Kristen on the beach.

The boat ride back to Kigoma was beautiful. It was a windy afternoon and many fishing boats were sailing back to shore after a day's fishing. Sometimes dozens of boats travel together in regatta-like formation. This is one of the hand-crafted Arabic style dhows common in this part of the world. Note that the sail is made from nylon rice sacks sewn together.

Fishing dhow on Lake Tanganyika.

When we arrived in Kigoma at about 3:30pm I was surprised to find Jane still in town. She was very excited about her time with Rootsb& Shoots groups here in the Kigoma region. It is a huge boost for students when Jane comes to town to see their projects and progress.

I too got a chance to meet with the R&S students of the Kigoma Secondary School, and all-boys boarding school very close to the JGI/TACARE Center.� Gil filmed me giving a talk about chimp behavior and conservation. They were a great audience and had some really interesting questions. One young man commented, "I hear that in the US, conservation problems are even more serious than they are here in Tanzania because everyone has so much money. They can buy more things and have a worse impact on the planet." He then asked, "If that is the case, are many Roots & Shoots groups there working to stop this?" Wow, what a great point! I assured him that there are R&S groups in every state and complimented him for his insight. Indeed, the average American consumes more world resources in a few years than the average Tanzanian does in a lifetime. Certainly something to think about next time you go shopping.�

An other fantastic question was, "You say chimpanzees have emotions and are very smart. You know, when someone dies we humans feel very sad.� I am wondering if chimpanzees show sadness at the loss of a relative?" WOW again.� I was so impressed with this question. These kids were so smart and interested.� The answer is yes, chimps do appear to mourn the dead in a very emotional way. I told the students of Jane's famous story of Flint, and how he died of depression after the death of his mother.

This group very much wants to make more contact with R&S students in the US, to learn more about issues young people are faced with their and what groups are doing to make their world a better place.

After saying goodbye, Augustino, the JGI Kigoma R&S representative, took us to observe another school's initiative to educate local people about conservation and raise money. The school has dedicated a whole classroom to environmental education through art and exhibits. A local artist is teaching students to make wildlife figurines out of recycled materials. The base structure is made from used wire and cardboard and the exterior is made from a plaster mixture of sawdust, corn flour, and water.
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Augustino Lunyange shows the work being done at the Bangwe Primary School Exhibition Center

A very cool heron.

Jane visited this school the day before and was excited at the quality of the work and ingenuity being demonstrated. The program is just getting started. I look forward to seeing this center develop over the coming years.

Gil and Cindy boarded the plane back to Dar es Salaam and that was a wrap.� End of filming and some relief from having a camera follow me. As crews go, though, I couldn't have asked for better. Gil and Cindy were a pleasure to work with and I truly look forward to seeing the film in November.

Over the next few days my wife Kristin and I will be planning a shoot of our own. For the next three weeks, we will be documenting on stills and video the amazing work being done by JGI-Tanzania and the TACARE Program. This film will be used to show our donors how our programs are helping people in the villages around Gombe National Park and will also be used as an education tool as we start similar initiatives in other areas across Africa. This should be a lot of fun.� Many people's lives have been changed for the better over the 10-year history of the TACARE Program. No doubt, this will be an inspiring three weeks.

�

This large and comfortable looking nest was constructed about 30 feet off the ground, in 6-10 minutes. Chimpanzees build a new nest every evening.

Researchers quickly learn at Gombe that the one thing harder than following chimps in the forest is searching for them when you don't get to the nest site in time.

We got to the nest in plenty of time and listened as the forest came alive around us. For years, I've been recording the time and species of the first bird to call in the morning. This morning, we heard the distinctive call of the Blue-breasted Kingfisher, a beautiful forest bird which is quite common in Gombe. I did a few pieces to camera (which simply means I talked to the camera as Gil filmed) about the birds, unnesting the chimps, what nocturnal animals might be around, etc. It was tough because there were lots of distracting lights in my face just so Gil could get an exposure. Also, I have a hard time answering personal questions like 'What is it like for you to unnest the chimps?' I find it much easier to talk about chimps and chimp behavior.

Gaia grooming her mother, Gremlin.

Gaia is my favorite of all the females at Gombe, so it was terrible news for me last month to learn that she had again lost a baby. She gave birth prematurely, and though no one knows exactly what happened, she rejoined the group carrying the body of her dead infant. I was in the US at the time. I really wanted to spend some time with her and see how she was doing. I don't want to reveal too much about the film, so I will save the details of what happened for when it comes out.

Cameraman Gil Domb filming, alongside a Tanzanian National Parks warden.

Cindy interviewed me in several locations as we made our way through the forest. I answered questions about chimpanzee behavior, and told of things that had surprised and amazed me about chimps during my time in Gombe. I also spoke about the many threats to wild chimpanzees across Africa.

One of my goals these days is to use the films I am involved in to help Jane and JGI spread the message about the fact that chimpanzees are disappearing from equatorial Africa. Gombe is a relatively safe haven for chimps, but the vast majority of wild chimpanzees live in unprotected areas in the Congo basin where deforestation and the bushmeat trade are rampant.�

Chimps are already extinct in many countries where they were once plentiful. People have to get involved now. It is my hope that films like this will inspire people to take action.�

There are so many things you can do to help, no matter how old you are, and no matter where you are. First, learn more about the threats to chimps on our website. During one of the interviews, I talked about some of the things you can do, like never, ever, buy lumber taken from primary equatorial rain forests. Make sure any wood product you buy is responsibly and sustainably harvested. The worldwide demand for tropical hardwoods is the single biggest threat to chimpanzees (and thousands of other species) and one of the biggest threats to us as well.

Infant victims of the bushmeat trade are subjected to life a life in captivity.
This kind of image is tragic to me. Chimps belong in the wild, not behind bars.
The lucky ones may end up in a sanctuary like the JGI's Tchimpounga chimp sanctuary in Pointe Noire.

Cindy also gave me the chance to talk about the infant victims of the illegal bushmeat and live animal trades. Sadly there is a demand for infant chimps, who can be sold on the black market. In Africa, chimps are used as gimmicks to attract customers to businesses, bought and sold as pets, or exported to wealthier countries for private zoos or family pets. These chimps live in absolutely appalling conditions, in tiny cages or tied by a short chain around the waist. It is estimated that for each baby chimp that is rescued, 10 or more have died in the wild as a result of this trade.

Breakfast at Gombe!

Cindy also had Gil follow me around the forest to illustrate the challenges of following chimps through steep terrain and thick vegetation. All in all the Gombe shoot was a great success and a chance for me to give something back to the chimps who have been such an important part of my life. Hopefully films like this will educate the public about how amazing chimps are and encourage people to help Jane in her mission to protect them.

The crew:

Cindy Frei, producer

Gil Domb, camera

Kristen Mosher, audio

Me

� Jane and producer Cindy Frie and my wife Kristin

Even after decades of answering questions about chimps,
Jane has not lost a bit of her enthusiasm.

The day ended with a wonderful interview with Jane on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. She spoke of the plight of chimps today and the challenges they are facing with rapid deforestation and the bush-meat trade. She also told the success stories of the chimps at the JGI chimp sanctuary in Pointe Noire, Congo. The sun was setting as the camera rolled to a stop. Nearly 11 hours of shooting and still smiling as she watched the sun drop behind the mountains across the lake.

The film crew was of course fascinated by Jane's description of the waterfall display. Emotional behavior is nearly impossible to quantify and science tends to veer away from questions such as 'What motivates chimps to behave in this way?' Jane loves these kinds of questions, though, and is not afraid to speculate about the emotional capacity of chimpanzees.

Jane describes the chimpanzee waterfall display in front of Kakombe falls.

On cue, as we finished the sequence at the falls, we received a call on the radio from the Tanzanian field assistants that Gremlin and several other females were near by. After a short hike up the ridge, we found Fanny and followed her back down into Kakombe Valley. We watched as Fudge, Fanni's eldest son, stripped Ngoyi vines from a nearby tangle. He left a huge pile of ribbon like strips which Jane showed the camera after Fudge moved away. He clearly got every ounce of nutrients from the tattered and frayed vine.

A few minutes later we found Gremlin and the twins in a nearby Oil Palm tree. I don't want to divulge everything that happened (you'll have to wait for the film next November to find out), but it was a great day. A day in the forest with chimps, my wife, and Jane Goodall.� It doesn't get much better than that!

A moment of quiet reflection between takes.

There were fun stories too. Cindy asked if chimps had a sense of humor, and Jane told of a mother hiding high in a tree from her infant, laughing quietly to herself as her baby searched all around for her on the forest floor. Another story was that of the fantastic reaction of five adult males to a wild rainstorm as they took turns charging up and down a grassy slope almost in defiance of the wind and driving rain. It is always a wonderful experience to hear Jane's stories of her many years at Gombe.

This is what that area looks like now.

In contrast, this is an area near Gombe we help protect.

Upon our arrival in Gombe, the film crew came to our hut for a few shots as Kristin and I unpacked our bags. We have been in the states for months and there is always a level of uncertainty about what might have taken up residence in the hut while we were gone. Luckily, with the exception of a termite invasion, all seemed fine.

In all its glory, my home for most of the past 15 years.

Gil, Kristin and I had fun as Gil filmed us unpacking our fruits and veggies in our little kitchen. It is set up pretty well for being so remote. Both our family members have sent great care packages over the years and we cook great five-course meals when we take a day off.� Kristin even makes unbelievable bread and pizza.

�

�

My time in Georgetown was great fun. Lucy and I were looking for sequences within the hundreds of hours of the chimpanzee footage I have shot over the past 15 years that show emotional and behavioral traits that will surprise and amaze people. Compassion, curiosity, happiness, sadness, are all feeling humans share with chimps. I certainly experienced them all as we put the sequences together and I hope the audience will as well.� I love an excuse to look at footage from my first years in Gombe. It's like a living journal for me, I go right back to that day in my mind as I watch events unfold.

On June third it was off to Gombe for the shoot. We flew out of Dulles with a crew of only four, but between us we had 13 pieces of luggage plus eight carry-on bags. What a great bunch of people I got to work with. My wife Kristin is the sound recordist for the film and the producer is Cindy Frei. Gil Domb, who taught me a lot about filmmaking during the mid-1990s, rounded out the team. After a 9 or so hour flight to Amsterdam, we spent our layover time visiting the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank House. Both fascinating.

After another 9 hour and 45 minute leg, we arrived in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's largest city, set on the coast of the Indian Ocean. The following day we flew to the western Tanzanian town of� Kigoma, the closest town to Gombe.

The fun began with Jane's arrival at the Kigoma airport.� Jane was in great spirits even though she didn't know we would be there pointing cameras at her as she walked down the ramp. After a long greeting with all of her friends at the airport, we agreed to meet at the Jane Goodall Institute's education center the next morning.

The education center is in a beautiful location on the shore of Lake Tanganyika.� We loaded the boat as Jane met with the fantastic JGI Kigoma staff. Kristin and I also had a chance to speak with Emmanuel Mtiti about our upcoming project to document the work of JGI's TACARE program and Greater Gombe Ecosystem project. More to come on that next.

�

What an amazing past five weeks it has been! I have been working on the latest Discovery film about Jane and her mission to save and conserve chimps (and chimp habitat) throughout equatorial Africa. During most of the month of May, I sat in an editing suite in Georgetown going though my footage with the people at Creative Differences and my friend (and film editor) Lucy d'Auvergne. Then last week it was off to Gombe for a shoot with Jane. I entered this shoot with trepidation because I was not chosen to be the camera operator. That job went to Gil Domb, another longtime friend. Instead, I was asked to be on the other side of the camera (the front end), a position in which I have never liked to be.

Bill at Gombe. He was first hired by Jane to capture a chimpanzee birth on film. He succeeded with the birth of Gremlin's daughter Gaia in 1993.

We are trying to make a film which at first grabs the audience by using footage which demonstrates all of the ways we humans are similar to chimps. Then show the plight of chimps across Africa. They really are disappearing. At the rates forests are being felled and chimps are falling victim to the bushmeat trade, it is truly possible that chimpanzees could be extinct in the wild in my lifetime. What a sobering thought. Films like this one help Jane get that message out to the general public and encourage people to get involved and to take action.

Because the Gombe Chimpanzee Blog took time off during its upgrade, we are behind in our posts from Emily. When we left her she was eager to track Gaia, who was just starting to swell and attract the interest of males. Emily is recording behavior among paternal relatives, including mating behavior.

My mission this morning was clear � find Gaia as soon as possible.� I thought� somehow a smaller group with Gaia had split off yesterday morning from the one that crossed into Mitumba and had quietly returned south. So I gambled and started off the morning in Kakombe, thinking that if the group did not� get there by the end of the day yesterday, they surely would return in the morning. When I heard the calls of a group, I was hopeful, but it turned out that Gaia was not there � just Bahati, Fanni, Tanga, and their kids, along with the single females Sifa and Jiffyand males Wilkie and Kris.�

But I was patient, and thankfully, it paid off. Gaia came into the valley from the north at about 8:30 a.m. She climbed a tree and hung out there, while Wilkie waited below. Eventually he gave up and left her. She left the tree after Wilkie's depature and climbed a palm tree where Sheldon was feeding on nuts, and they mated. When Kris climbed up to join them, Sheldon pant-grunted to him submissively, and Kris proceeded to copulate with Gaia himself.


Gaia did not climb down the tree for Wilkie, but did mate with Sheldon, pictured here. Photo: Bill Wallauer

The group started to move off towards the south and came to a stop along the Sleeping Buffalo trail, where they rested and groomed for almost an hour.� Kris definitely showed his alpha prowess when he mated with Sifa and then Gaia almost immediately after. I've never seen a male mate with two females at least two females at once (preventing other males from mating with them) when he was alpha.

We followed the group as they continued on south to Chihaga and Mkenke � maybe to check on mabungo makubwa fruits ripening there, but Gaia was stealthy, and we lost her in the machaka.� The group, as a whole, went quiet, and gave just one call, which we tried to track but could not.

Dear Friends,
I am happy to introduce the new and improved Gombe Chimpanzee blog. Over the past two years the Gombe Chimpanzee blog has transformed the way we present the ongoing stories of the chimpanzees of Gombe National Park and the lives of the researchers who have made so many fascinating and groundbreaking discoveries.

We have integrated new feed formats including: Atom RSS, GeoRSS and an improved KML feed, so our readers can keep up to date with the blog in a variety of readers and formats.

Select a topic below:

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Today's post comes from our Gombe videographer, Bill Wallauer, who has been following the Gombe chimps for decades. We asked him about his favorite chimps, and this was his reply. Emily's posts will resume tomorrow.

Faustino had a rough start in life. His incredibly fertile mother, Fifi, became pregnant when he was not yet three. Most females have birth intervals of four and a half to six years. Fifi gave birth to Ferdinand only three and a half years after Faustino was born. This meant that Fifi started Faustino's weaning process years earlier than normal.

Faustino's weaning tantrums were legendary. Fifi was not especially patient with Faustino, and often ignored or even restrained him. I arrived in Gombe during this time, in May 1992. Fifi was pregnant with Ferdinand, and Jane was fascinated by Fifi's struggle to wean Faustino. Jane herself had recorded on video an incredible weaning tantrum in which Fifi finally resorted to dangling Faustino upside down from the branch she was sitting on. Sadly, the tape Jane recorded was lost with luggage during her travels.

When I arrived, Jane was happy to learn that I had brought my own video camera. She asked if I would spend some time with Fifi and Faustino and try to record some more footage of the weaning process.

I felt incredibly lucky to be assigned such a task and in the subsequent months I spent many hours with the two. I remember feeling very sorry for Faustino. He whimpered and cried constantly.

Faustino's life did improve slightly after the birth of Ferdinand. Remarkably, Fifi began to allow Faustino to suckle again. He was even allowed to ride on Fifi's back while Ferdinand rode underneath Fifi's stomach. It was these long follows of Fifi and Faustino that led to my position as research videographer at Gombe.

Then and now:

A sad little figure.

Faustino now has a respectable set of canines for his age

Faustino reminds me so much of his older brother Freud, one of my favorite chimps. They are both laid-back in demeanor, and have a 'cool' nature. They even look similar to one another. Spending time with Faustino is like going back in time to see what Freud may have been like as a youngster.

While my earliest memories of Faustino are of a sad little figure who had a rough road, it's been satisfying to see him grow up and mature into an adult male. Faustino rose in the ranks of the male hierarchy to the beta male, or number two. At the end of 2005, however, he was stricken by a disease which nearly caused his death. He has not yet fully recovered and is now low-ranking. We continue to watch his progress as he grows stronger.
--Bill Wallauer

I observed Sampson with Eliza, and this time he seemed to have the right idea. He shook a branch at Eliza to signal his desire to copulate, but when she approached, he did not run away and actually copulated!

I thought it was a fluke yesterday, or that I had missed Sandi somewhere in the machaka, but I saw Samwise today traveling without her mother again! I saw her yesterday afternoon with her big sister Sherehe and her own infant Shangaa, and this morning she was with Sherehe and Shangaa again. This surprised me about Samwise because at five years old, she's still quite attached to her mom. She is often carried by Sandi, and whimpers if she gets too far away. However, when Samwise chooses to go off on her own, she often will go quite far, so maybe Samwise decided it would be interesting to stay with her sister for a while. After all, she would have a playmate in Shangaa and have to deal less with her older brother Sampson.

Eventually, though, Samwise and Sherehe made their way to the larger group, where Sandi and Sampson were. The G family was also in the group. More importantly, Gaia was there and starting to swell again, so I immediately began to follow her to capture her mating behavior with the males. She actually had quite a busy day, mating with younger males like Ferdinand, Titan and Zeus, and older males like Frodo, Apollo and Kris. She even mated with Gimble once, which was a little troubling to my human-cultured brain since he is her uncle (brother of Gremlin). However, observing all this was incredible work because Gaia stuck almost exclusively in the machaka, and she would copulate with a male in the machaka and then run off when it was over, leaving us struggling to keep up in the tangled mess.

As if dragging us through the machaka was not enough, the group then climbed high into Rutanga where they hunted and then dropped down the steep valley into the stream to fight over and feed on the meat. It was there they stayed until the end of the day, which meant we would have to hike all the way back up the next morning.

Where could Sandi be?

Kakombe - Emily and the researchers are lead high into the hills Kakombe.

This small group was then joined by the other parties dispersed about Kakombe and they fed on mgwiza. But tensions seemed high and Maria observed Zeus, who is older, repeatedly going after Fudge. Fudge and Sampson were also having little skirmishes; they are very close in age, and I think they were testing each other. In one of Fudge and Sampsons fights, Sandi tried to intervene on behalf of her son, but the commotion was enough to draw the attention and aggression of Titan and Faustino, who displayed at them and sent Sandi screaming from the tree. Poor Sandi would not stop screaming, so Apollo displayed at her again.

Things eventually settled down though and the group moved down the stream closer towards the research camp. It was amusing to see Titan stop and play in a little patch of sand, shoveling it onto himself and rolling in it. Those brothers can be really amusing to watch. The group fanned out about the lower stream, and then targeted a bunch of colobus monkeys. Faustino was a lucky hunter today and caught a monkey for himself, causing chaos throughout the machaka as the other hungry chimpanzees begged and chased Faustino with his catch. After some skirmishes and displays, screaming and crying, the chimps spent the rest of the evening feeding off the carcass and mgwiza before moving into Kasekela to nest.

Glitter

The big group of chimpanzees, which included all the males, most of the females and their offspring, moved through Linda stream up into Rutanga where the big group stopped to rest, play and groom. Here Apollo played with Familia, Fundi and Titan. Later Apollo and Sheldon played with Familia alone. Fudge took advantage of the males' distractedness to copulate with the desirable Schweini. Unfortunately for me, the group crossed into Mitumba in the early afternoon after their rest, so we had to stay behind as the daily researchers followed the group into that sensitive area used by both communities. We waited on the Njia ya Watu boundary path (a boundary for us researchers), hoping that the group might return so we could resume following them. A few hours later, they did, but the group came back scattered, so it was difficult to get good data.

Sheldon, who was also aggressive towards Zeus today, shows his canines.

We could hear chimpanzee calls echoing all around Linda, and eventually our small party left their mgwiza tree to join the others and move on to Kasekela. Schweini was in the group and still had her sexual swelling. Wilkie was pursuing her quite strongly, just as with Gaia, but Schweini wanted nothing to do with him. When the group got into Kakombe valley, they broke up into little parties and I found myself with the F family. Fanni and her offspring Fudge, Fundi and Familia were hanging out with Fanni's brothers Frodo, Faustino and Ferdinand. While the adults rested and groomed, Familia flitted from lap to lap and climbed over her uncles Frodo and Ferdinand, who tolerated her youthful playfulness. Fudge was torn between staying with his family and joining the others, whose calls we could hear periodically. Fudge would look with interest towards the calls, and started to head off towards them as if to jump start his family to follow, but they did not follow him until they were ready to leave.

The parties merged in Kakombe in the early afternoon, and some fed on mgwiza while others rested and played. Sheldon, whose injured chin looks fully healed now, actually played briefly with the youngsters Familia, Sindbad (his brother) and Tom, while the two orphans, Flirt and Tarzan formed a bond and slept next to each other. Later Tarzan played in his characteristic way, which I think he learned from his older brother Titan, and shoveled dirt and leaves over himself and rolled around in it. Sheldon must have been in a playful mood today because he later played with Golden quite vigorously, but eventually the play turned sour and Sheldon aggressively beat on Golden so much so that Gremlin left her infant Gimli and rushed to her daughter's defense. Golden came out relatively unscathed, although she seemed to favor her arm a little for a while afterwards.

I think this day could have gone terribly but I would not have minded after getting the news that I had a Cocoa sample. But the day got even better in the evening when I was following Cocoa as the group moved towards Kasekela to nest, and I saw her leave a fecal sample! Thankfully, I had a collection tube with DNA preservative with me, and I quickly scooped up the precious sample. Now, I not only had one Cocoa sample, but I had two! I was elated because while one sample should be enough, occasionally a sample will have poor DNA, and so having two is added insurance that I will be able to determine who Cocoa's father is. It was a great end to the day!

Wilkie has been a main pursuer of Schweini.

With such big groups consisting of most or all of the adult males, it has been interesting to observe their behavior. Since my return, Freud seems to have slowed down compared to earlier in the year. While he appeared to be a strong presence before, now he sticks to the edges of the group, away from the fray. Freuds behavior stands in contrast to Wilkies, who is about a year and a half younger than Freud. Wilkie seems very energetic as he is often right in the middle of things, playing, displaying, and actively and aggressively pursuing females. At 35, is Freud finally showing the effects of his age or is this difference just simply attributable to personality?

While Frodo has to battle the males a bit, having lost his alpha status, he is interesting to watch, because he is the most massive of all the males. If he so decides, I think his size alone would allow Frodo to battle his way back into the alpha spot. Regardless, Frodo has been one of our most successful males in fathering offspring, particularly during his alpha tenure, and it will be interesting to see how many more he will father over the years. While Kris is clearly the alpha now, he often spends time away from the group, and particularly away from the cycling females how many offspring will Kris actually father with this type of leadership style? I cant wait to get fecal samples from the offspring conceived during his tenure to answer that question.

The group descended from the rift into Kakombe this morning and they hunted colobus monkeys. Tubi snagged a baby for his morning meal. Most of the others had to settle for mgwiza fruit, although some lucky beggars like Candy and Trezia got pieces from him. The young female Eliza tried to get close to Tubi for a piece too, but Candy and Trezia chased her off.

The group, which included every Kasekela community male, moved on towards Kasekela valley and stopped on the ridge between valleys to groom and rest for a while. After seeing both Wilkie and Frodo play just the other day, I was surprised to see another play session today. But this time it was the adolescent Titan playing with the adult male Apollo. They chased each other around in a little circle and wrestled a bit and it must have looked fun because it enticed Titans younger brother Tarzan to join in. But play sessions end one of two ways either someone gets tired and stops, or someone gets a little too rough and a squabble breaks out. Today things got a little too rough and the happy play session ended with the younger males screaming and Apollo displaying at his playmates.

The group continued on and tried to hunt again in Kasekela without success. They stopped to rest, play and fight for a while in the machaka before moving on to Linda valley. There they stopped again in the streambed to feed on mgwiza rest, and even drink a little water from the stream.

As the chimpanzees climbed north in Linda, they hunted again and Apollo successfully snagged a colobus monkey. A fight broke out as everyone scrambled to get a portion, and it was hard for us to observe because they were deep in the machaka. But when things settled a bit, they sat in a tree and fed on their meat, or looked longingly at those that were doing so.

When they started to climb again, we followed, but then, I heard the call every researcher here dreads Nyuki! the Swahili word for bees. Carson was leading us after the chimps when we disturbed a hive in the machaka, and the angry bees came pouring out looking to sting the offenders (us!). It only took the single cry of nyuki for us to turn and run down the hill to escape the punishing stings. While the machaka had seemed so tangled and difficult to navigate going up, it was amazing how quickly we scrambled through it while fleeing the bees. We eventually reached a trail and stopped to pull out stingers one each for me and Carson, and three for poor Kadaha. But just when we started to let our guard down, I heard the buzz of the angry bees and shouted to keep going they had been able to follow us all the way down to the trail! I got stung again in our second escape, until we finally got far enough away.

None of us were game to climb through the machaka again to follow the chimps back through the angry swarm, so we waited and listened for the chimps to emerge. They did about an hour later, heading north towards Rutanga. Kadaha and I went in pursuit of them only to stumble into another hive, this time near a termite mound! We went flying back down the trail. I managed to escape more stings, but poor Kadaha got two more for a grand total of five for the day. At this point, we called it a day and went back to camp. It was late enough that we knew they would nest in Rutanga, and we could come back for them, so enough was enough for that day.

As the rest of the group feeds on mgwiza fruits in the trees around him, Ferdinand yawns and rests on a rock in the middle of Linda stream and shows his big canines useful for eating meat and intimidating other males.

The group continued on up the southern hillside of Kakombe and climbed high into the hills. We tried to keep up with them, but between the machaka and the steep, rocky hillside, we lost them. We waited to see where they headed; we could hear the echos of their screams close to the rift, but there was no way to catch them. I was not sad to lose Titan, though, because he was giving us lots of trouble today. He has a penchant for throwing rocks, as the males sometimes do, but he does it much more frequently. He has -good aim and is sneaky about picking up a rock so that you do not notice until he is flinging it at you. I think Titan is universally disliked by researchers for that reason.

Titan has a penchant for throwing rocks.

We began the day in the north between Linda and Rutanga valleys where the larger group of males traveled to yesterday. I followed the adolescent female named Schweini. She is Sparrows daughter and she has a sexual swelling, so she is ready to conceive. I want to see who she chooses as a mate because Schweini is still in her birth community. Usually the transfer of females to different community prevents inbreeding since males stay in their birth communities, but at Gombe, not all females transfer permanently after they reach sexual maturity. The females that remain in their birth communities seem to avoid maternal relatives as mates, but I want to know whether they avoid inbreeding with their fathers and paternal brothers. Schweini previously tried to transfer to the Mitumba community, but she faced a lot of aggression and sustained injuries from the resident females there, so we suspect she has given up and will remain in the Kasekela community.

While Schweini is in the Kasekela community, she likes to hang out in the north near Mitumba. Over the course of my time in Gombe, I have not been able to observe her much, so it was interesting to observe her today. She had a nervous energy about her. The adult males were quite interested in her since she had a noticeable swelling, but she seemed to be afraid of them and avoided their advances. The only males she permitted to copulate with her were the younger juvenile and adolescent males. Schweini did seem to like hanging around with Faustino though. They had several grooming sessions together, but Faustino never made any advances towards her either.

The group was large (around 40 chimpanzees!) and it made its way into Kakombe by mid-day. While it is impressive to see the activities of such a large group, I actually prefer to follow smaller groups of 10-20. In big groups, you know your target is present, but it is difficult to keep one particular individual in sight and observe interactions because you often get blocked by the other members of the group. In the mid-size groups, it is much easier to keep your target in sight, but there are still enough chimpanzees to observe interesting interactions.

The time in Kakombe has also been frustrating of late, because the chimpanzees have been staying near the river and its tributary streams where there is still lots of tree cover, and I have been unable to get good communication with the satellites with my GPS unit to record their locations. It makes me envious of the studies of lions and such that use radio collars to track their movements in the open savannahs. It would be nice to collar our chimpanzees with radio or GPS collars, but with their tree climbing it would be dangerous. Also, GPS certainly does not work everywhere in the park. Our daily researchers actually mark locations on a map of the park.

MitumbaSchweini tried to transfer to the Mitumba community to avoid inbreeding, but she remains in Kasekela

They eventually made their way towards the Kakombe waterfalls, where they were briefly joined by the alpha Kris and Gimble. Unfortunately, the small group ascended some tall trees to go up and over the steep waterfall something we researchers are not nimble and strong enough to duplicate, so they were lost for the day.

We started the morning in Mkenke where the chimpanzees were feeding on mgwiza fruits. I was following the adolescent male Fudge when I saw Wilkie approach him and begin to play with him in an energetic game of chase and wrestling. Tanga's infant Tom also joined in and then later Titan and Tarzan joined in the wrestling match. It is amusing to watch this group of males of all ages play together, and from a research perspective I always get very excited to see these interactions. Any time I see such interactions between adult males and the infants and adolescents, it makes me wonder if the adult male could be the father of the infant or adolescent. Do fathers have more positive and/or less negative interactions with their offspring than with unrelated infants and adolescents? I will only be able to answer this question when my field season is over, and I can analyze the data. I do not know if Wilkie is the father of Fudge, or Titan, Tarzan or Tom. The paternity analyses have been completed, but I do not allow myself to know the identity of the fathers while I am here collecting my data because I do not want to risk any subconscious bias from knowing such information. This way, when I analyze my data, I can be confident that my observations are completely accurate.

Fanni and her kids Fudge, Fundi and Familia, traveled in a small group for a while with Titan, Tarzan and Frodo. They made their way from Mkenke to Chihaga and then Kakombe. While Frodo earned himself a reputation as a brute over the years, especially when he was alpha, he is remarkably less brutish since losing his alpha status. In fact, it was quite sweet to see how tolerant he was of his little niece, Familia, when she stuck her face right in his as he fed on a fruit, and later she was climbing on him as he slept. Later in the early afternoon, when the little group joined with another party, I was surprised to see Frodo initiate a play session with his nephew Fudge by grabbing Fudge's leg. The play session must have looked fun because all the young males joined in the wrestling and chasing at some point.

In contrast to Frodo, Faustino was being quite the brute today as he displayed often, and he frequently sent us researchers running for cover. Faustino is a tricky male, because he looks calm and innocent, kind of like his older brother Freud, but when he bristles his hair and comes charging at you, he is quite imposing. Both Faustino and his younger brother Ferdinand are becoming quite strong males. And while Frodo is even bigger than they are, and I think back to his original size before falling sick and losing his alpha status, he is socially not as strong. Despite his size, Frodo was chased by Sheldon and Wilkie today, and ran screaming to evade their attack.

Frodo was the bullying alpha male before he became sick, now he is increasingly submissive

The group made its way south from Kakombe to Kahama throughout the day, taking us high in the hills through Kisambalamba. As we crossed over Kisambalamba, the group took off into the machaka after a group of colobus monkeys they were intent on getting a meal of meat. Tubi caught one monkey, and one of the females did too, so the group spent some time in the machaka begging and scrapping over the precious morsels.

While most of the group eventually moved on into Kahama, Apollo, Gaia and Tarzan remained behind. Apollo had a good size piece of colobus, and Gaia was intent on getting as much as she could by begging from Apollo. Gaia stayed very close to Apollo, putting lots of pressure on him to give her pieces and when he did, Gaia would move away to eat her portion, only to return again and beg for more when she finished. At one point, Apollo even let Gaia feed off the colobus carcass at the same time as him. Tarzan, on the other hand, had a different strategy for getting little morsels. He stayed in the distance, but watched the activity closely, and any time a small little piece was dropped, he scrambled to get it. I am sure he realized that was a safer strategy than tangling with the much bigger adults, especially Apollo.

A lucky day for Gaia: Apollo shares a colobus with her.

The group was even bigger today literally all the adult males were present, including the male Faustino! He must have finished his consort with the female that he had taken into Mitumba for exclusive mating. He looked well, but I did not get too much chance to observe him because he did not spend any time in pursuit of my target Gaia. Gimli was being quite amusing (in a story related to me by Carson Murray). For just a little 2 year old, he surprisingly did not want anything to do with his mother, Gremlin. He would run away from Gremlin, and she would chase after him and grab him by the foot to rein him in. Then he would wriggle out of her grasp and run away again and leap onto his big sister Glitter, who seemed to just barely allow his antics. Most two year olds will go off and play, but if their mothers come to get them, the infants usually follow their lead. Finally, Carson said that Gremlin got quite sneaky in her tactics and nonchalantly walked close to Glitter, paying no attention to Gimli as if she did not care. But then when she was close enough, Gremlin reached out and snatched Gimli back, much to his dismay. I guess Gimli has gotten a taste of independence at a young age!

The group led us into Kakombe up towards the waterfalls. As we followed them along the trail, the chimps suddenly started running up the trail towards the falls. The way they moved, I thought they had heard something and were chasing after it, but I soon realized what had caused the chimps to run off so quickly I started to hear intense buzzing and then it became clear that the chimps had disrupted a nest of bees and were fleeing their stings. Because the chimps had fled, the bees were now coming after me! I tried to keep my calm and quickly turned back down the trail to get as far away as possible. I could feel a couple bees circling my head and one landed on my arm I didnt swat at them because I didnt want to cause them to sting, but the one on my arm did anyway, so I smacked it out of instinct and that movement caused the one on my jaw and the other on the back of my neck to sting. At this point I broke into a flat out run to escape from the swarm. When I thought I was far enough away, I stopped and pulled the stingers out of my throbbing skin do those stings hurt!! I had seen the chimpanzees get into bees nests before, but I had never myself gotten caught in the swarm and stung before.

As I recovered from my stings, the chimpanzees climbed up and around the Kakombe waterfalls needless to say, they can do this a lot quicker than we can. So we tried to figure out whether the group was going north, south, or straight up and then tried to catch up. They went a little bit south, but mostly they went straight up climbing so high we thought they were going straight to the peak. They stopped to feed on some mhande hande high on the hill for a bit, and but then they resumed their ascent. I started to follow the group as they climbed even higher, but then had to quickly retrace my steps. That high in the hills, the incline is incredibly steep and the soil is very loose and gravelly, with hardly any trees or stable rocks and roots to assist in climbing, and one of our researchers had a pretty bad slide down the hill. After such a scare, we left the forest for the rest of the afternoon to make sure everyone got safely down.

Faustino has returned from his consort in Mitumba.

This afternoon, as the group made its way into Mkenke, I saw Sheldon start to beat up Fanni. Unfortunately for Fanni, this kicked off a cascade of other males that joined in on the attack. Whenever I see a mother under attack, I always think about the little baby that is clinging to her stomach, and how stressful that must be for it not only just the fear but also the energetic costs it must suffer to cling so closely to its mother and the potential for getting injured. That is one reason why I think it would be advantageous for fathers to recognize their offspring and avoid directing aggression towards the infant that could negatively affect its survival. After the beatings, Fanni was screaming, fear-grinning and reaching out in an appeal for reconciliation with her male attackers. I also thought about how even though Fanni is such a high ranking female, that doesn't necessarily buffer her from the aggression of males. I wonder if it is harder for her now, and if she less of a force to be reckoned with, since her high ranking mother Fifi is not there for her as a powerful ally.

Fanni

High in Nyasanga, the group encountered some colobus monkeys and Tubi snagged one. But even luckier for him, he caught it and hurried off before most of the others noticed, so he didnt have to fend off too many beggars. Unfortunately for Tubi, the rest was unsuccessful, so they went on the move again, and he had to follow with the carcass or get left behind. Unfortunately for me, the group again crossed into Kalande, as we anticipated, and we had to turn back as the B record researchers pressed on with the group. We found out later that just like in Rutanga, there is an mvumvu patch that they are going to high in Kalande to feed. To add insult to the injury of having to leave the group, a torrential downpour set in as we hiked back towards camp and we got soaked. Just another sign that the rainy season is here!

Tubi

Gaia is getting much more popular with the males now that she is reaching the state of maximal swelling (the period of 5 or so days when she is most likely to conceive). Ferdinand, Titan, Sheldon and even Fudge and little Tom all mated with her today. The group repeated their trek up to the Mitumba border from the other day, stopping to rest and groom in the high open woodland, and we didnt hear any sounds of Mitumba chimps nearby. After their rest they turned back to the south to nest in Linda valley.

The group hovered on the edge of their community boundary for a moment and listened, and then some pant-hoots were heard in the distance. They did not go unnoticed by the Kasekela chimps, they took off down the hill in pursuit of what presumably were Mitumba chimp calls. We could not follow them because when they cross community borders only two researchers can follow and our B record assistants get the first priority. So we stayed behind with some females and their infants who clearly did not want to go charging off into what could be a dangerous inter-community encounter. Interestingly, Flirt seems to have rotated back to hanging out with Candy, because they sat in an msiloti tree together with Cocoa and fed on the leaves. After a short while, the Kasekela chimps came back over the ridge and they all headed back to the mvumvu patch for another round of feeding. While most fed on the sweet, fresh smelling mvumvu fruits, some actually climbed up an mvule tree to feed on the insect galls that are made on its leaves. We could tell what they were eating because the leaves would float down to the ground with several perfect little holes punched in them, where the chimps had popped out the galls. Hunger satiated, the group moved back into Linda valley for the night.

Freud sits atop a rock in the middle of Rutanga stream in the thinker pose that is distinctively his

Still no sign of Faustino though he is the last male I have yet to see since my return. He is rumored to have taken a female on a mating consort in and around Mitumba.

Tensions seemed to be running high with the return of Kris. Fanni and the S families were hanging around a termite mound, and Sandi briefly moved away from her fishing spot. Fudge quickly moved in to take a try at the mound big mistake! The normally calm and collected Sandi turned very aggressive and displayed at Fudge, chasing him away from her spot. Not much later Fanni and Sherehe also got into a tussle at the mound as they jostled for positions.

Kris led the group north from Mkenke into Kakombe, right through camp and right past my house. They turned upstream, caught a colobus group by surprise, and went on the hunt. The young male Sampson even caught his own baby colobus! He scrambled valiantly, evading the beggars to keep it mostly for himself. I was a little disappointed with the day, though.

With all the males present I expected Gaia to be there as well so I could observe her behavior with them now that she was swollen, but the whole G family was absent from this otherwise huge group. Maybe they needed some rest from all the excitement and tension the big group brought.

Faustino Kris has returned, now where is Faustino?

Since the group of males was going to cross into the southern part of the park and B record researchers were following them there, it was off-limits for us to follow the males there too. Instead, we headed back north to see if we could locate the other group that we left behind in Kidihi. We found the S family, all 4 generations, in Mkenke valley - matriarch Sparrow with her current infant Sindbad, Sparrow's daughter Sandi and her offspring Sampson and Samwise, and Sandi's oldest daughter Sherehe, with her infant son Shangaa (Sparrow's great-grandson). I followed the adolescent male and infant Shangaa for a while. This was actually my first chance since I've arrived to observe Sherehe and Shangaa - during the dry season, just before I left as well as now, she has been very elusive. It was also funny to watch Sampson because he was acting like the big man of the group, displaying at the females and trying to assert his dominance over them.

Soon after, Gaia showed up again - I guess she had the same idea we did. For the rest of the afternoon, we followed a nice group of mothers and their kids. Fanni, Gremlin, the S females, Trezia, Kipara and Bahati also joined the group. The males didn't return back from the south though. We'll see if their southern excursion lures the alpha male Kris, who is thought to be hanging out down there, back to the group.

After Apollo's entertaining display across Jane's front porch, the group reached the mouth of Kakombe stream in the middle of camp and found Ferdinand feeding on a colobus monkey. The prospect of getting some meat from him sent the group into chaos and they climbed up the tree to him, begged, displayed and fled for safety from the displays. I can only imagine how valuable meat is as a food source for the chimps given the lengths they will go to get it - not only facing the dangers of taking dangerous leaps from tree to tree to catch a fleeing monkey, but also facing the dangers from their own fellow community members wanting to get a piece. Even mother-son relationships can go sour when it comes to meat. The adolescent Fudge twice tried to get some meat from his mother Fanni, and Fanni attacked Fudge, viciously biting him for his attempts. Maybe Fanni thought Fudge was old enough to get his own piece because she did not seem to have a problem sharing with Fundi or Familia. Later that evening, the group hunted again and caught 2 colobus. I observed Fanni and Apollo in an all out wrestling match, rolling, tumbling and screaming in a tangle over a monkey carcass. Neither of them were willing to let go, and it seemed like they would fight to the death for it (with poor little Familia clinging to her mother's belly in the middle of it all!). But finally, the carcass itself gave way and each ran away with their own portion to eat for the rest of the evening.

I left Tanga and Tom and went to Kasekela valley to check for chimps there. Luckily, I found Maria Botero following Gremlin and her kids – adult daughter Gaia, adolescent twin daughters Glitter and Golden, and infant son, Gimli. The rest of the afternoon was quiet as the G family stuck to themselves. Gimli played with the twins while Gremlin and Gaia fed on mgwiza, and then the family moved off to feed on mvule flowers. Gaia and the twins left Gimli and Gremlin in the mvule tree to go off on their own, and they created a standoff. Maria was following Golden while I stayed with Gremlin and Gimli. Maria said the twins and Gaia sat on a tree limb waiting, and expecting, Gremlin and Gimli to join them and move on in the direction they wanted to go. I stayed with Gremlin, who sat in a tree with Gimli, waiting for her daughters to join her in the direction she wanted to go. Gremlin ultimately won the standoff, and the trio joined her and moved off in search of an evening meal before nesting. Gaia termite fished a little bit while the twins watched her intently, and after Gaia moved on to catch up with Gremlin, Glitter took her turn. Ultimately, the family ended up in an msiloti tree eating a final meal of young leaves before nesting for the night.

Tanga and Tom take a few moments rest on the trail in Kakombe valley.

Five year old Tom catches a ride on his mother Tangas back for a while.

As we ran for cover, we found Gaia at the top of a tree, giving small calls in the rain she presumably had lost Gremlin. And without Gremlin and her infant Gimli, I still didnt have a target to follow. Luckily the burst of rain wasnt too long (and I had a small, cheap poncho with me to stay somewhat dry), so we moved off to search Kasekela and Eslom valleys again. It was not to be, though we did not find any chimps the rest of the day and I returned home tired and without any data to show for my efforts.

At 7:30 a.m., I was in search of another target and without hide or hair of another chimpanzee around. Over the radios, we got word that Carson and Maria were with Candy, Cocoa and Flirt in Linda valley, so we trekked over there to get some data on Cocoa and Flirt. The relationship between Candy and Flirt is an interesting one to observe― while Flirt follows Candy, Candy really does not interact much with Flirt. This is very different from Flirts sister, Fanni, who was more maternal-like and groomed frequently with Flirt. Candys relationship with Flirt seems much more one of simple tolerance. Candys allowance of Flirt to tag along with her is possibly because Candy and Flirts mother, Fifi became acquainted when Fifi was traveling in the north near Candy before she died. It will be interesting to see if Flirt stays with Candy, returns to Fanni or her brothers, or possibly another male (who could be her father).

The trio was alone for a while, but then the low-ranking male, Pax showed up to join them. Pax and Candy eventually split directions and Flirt was torn about which one to follow. She followed Pax a little down the stream while Candy went up the northern side of the valley, but then Flirts indecision caused her to fall behind both adults. When she realized she did not have either around, Flirt climbed a tree and began to whimper softly. After a few minutes of looking Flirts whimpers grew in to full, desperate screams. Luckily for Flirt, her screams were answered by Pax and Candy, and she tore out of the tree and rejoined Candy. So even though Candy is not as outwardly maternal towards Flirt, she would not leave her behind. Next, they traveled together to feed in a tree with Pax.

Pant-hoots by Flirt, Pax and Candy alerted us to the arrival of Sheldon and Nuru to the tree. Did the arrival of the pair indicate that Sheldon had finally gotten Nuru away on a consort up to Linda valley? Nuru climbed up to feed in the tree, but Sheldon just sat in a low limb and did not eat a thing, as if he was standing watch over Nuru. While they were feeding, a downpour set in and we huddled under the tree. Luckily it only lasted a short time. When it stopped, Pax, Sheldon and Nuru headed toward the southern side of Linda while Candy, Cocoa, and Flirt stayed behind. We soon lost Candy in the machaka, but across the valley we could see 6-7 chimps sitting in a leafless tree, so we crossed the valley to see who was there.

When we got to the other group we found a bunch of males: Wilkie, Gimble, Freud, Sheldon and Pax, along with the young males Zeus and Tarzan and Nuru. All was peaceful until Sheldon decided Wilkie and Nuru were too close for comfort and he displayed at them. Nuru screamed and ran out of the way of Sheldons display, and Wilkie calmly sidestepped his way out of Sheldons path. But Nuru clearly got the message about who was boss. Yet, even though Nuru submitted to Sheldon, when she had the opportunity, she snuck off in another direction when Sheldon was ahead of her. Eventually, Sheldon noticed Nuru was missing and he turned back in search of her.

Meanwhile, I was observing the adolescent Zeus. While yesterday he was intent on sticking with Sheldon, today his leader was obviously Freud. Zeus mirrored Freuds behavior, and like with Sheldon yesterday, Zeus groomed Freud but didnt get groomed in return. The group high-tailed it back to the northern side of the valley, where they joined the males Apollo and Ferdinand. But while most of the group all climbed into an msiloti tree to feed on leaves, Freud chose a different tree to feed in, and Zeus chose to follow Freud up the same tree. Zeus eventually left the tree and passed out on the bare ground left black from the recent fires. Zeus awoke, though, when it was time to follow the group into Rutanga valley for the rest of the night.

While Tarzan is still a relatively small male, almost 7 years old and just barely independent, he was still brave enough to take on a much larger adult male baboon. The baboon came a little too close to the tree that Tarzan was feeding in and Tarzan boldly shook a branch at the baboon male to make it clear he did not want the baboon anywhere near his food, and the baboon actually gave way.

After feeding for a while on the mhande hande, the small group moved off into Kakombe to feed on muninga flowers. Ferdinand stretched out onto one branch to get some tender flowers, but he definitely misjudged its strength for the branch broke and both Ferdinand and the branch tumbled to the ground. It was hilarious to watch Ferdinand, not fazed at all by his plunge, just sit with the broken branch and eat the flowers he wanted all along.

Titan and Tarzan eventually split from Sheldon, Ferdinand, Zeus and Nuru to follow Tubi even higher into the hills to feed on mshindwe. While Tarzan was traveling with his older brother Titan, Tarzan was clearly following the adult male Tubi, whereas Titan seemed to lag behind the pair a bit. Tarzan was focused on Tubi, stopping where he stopped, grooming Tubi, but not getting groomed in return and moving when Tubi moved again. It was like follow the leader as they climbed higher and higher.

About this time, I left Titan and Tarzan to drop back down and follow the other adolescent, Zeus, for a little while. As Tarzan was taken by the adult male Tubi, so was Zeus with the adult male, Sheldon. Ferdinand and another male, Pax, were around for a while, but Zeus only had eyes for Sheldon. He followed him everywhere he went, even when Sheldon seemed to be trying to lead the sexually receptive Nuru away, maybe in an attempt to go on consort with her. Any solitude Sheldon may have been trying to get with Nuru was spoiled by Zeus tagging along, but Sheldon seemed to tolerate the presence of this younger adolescent male. Maybe this was because Zeus is not a threat to Sheldon or, as I always wonder: could Sheldon and Tubis tolerance of these younger males be because they are father and son? The data Im collecting on these male-adolescent interactions will hopefully allow me to answer the question of whether fathers have special relationships with their offspring. Like Tarzan and Tubi, Zeus groomed Sheldon quite a bit, but did not get much reciprocation from Sheldon.

While Sheldon was tolerant of Zeus tagging along with him and Nuru, Zeus was still quite submissive towards this bigger, more dominant male. A few times while they were feeding in the same tree, Zeus cried, fear-grinned, and reached out to Sheldon when Sheldon came towards his feeding spot. Interestingly, Sheldon didnt even actually displace Zeus from his spot or show overt aggression. The trio eventually moved on to an msiloti tree to feed on the young, sprouting leaves. It was my luck that they led us to the exact tree that the female Malaika and her infant Mambo were in! Malaika is a very elusive female, so any time I can get data on her and Mambo is precious and rare. Malaika and Mambo, thankfully, stayed put when Nuru, Sheldon and Zeus showed up to feed, and the foursome fed together for quite some time. Malaika even groomed with Sheldon for a bit, and then with Nuru and Mambo.

I felt lucky to stumble upon Malaika and Mambo, but when I saw a fecal sample drop from Mambo out of the tree, my heart sank. I desperately need samples from Mambo (and also Cocoa!) to determine who her father is, but I thought that having fallen so far from the tree and into a bush, there was no chance of actually recovering her little poop. But Matendo is my hero because he found the sample and got it into the collection tube with preservative - to get such an important sample in my first days out is a true success! And not only did I get a sample from Mambo, but we nested the mother-infant pair for the night, which means I can return to their nest in the morning to get some more, much-needed data on them.

Titan has the tree all to himself while he eats the little yellow muninga flowers found high in the Kakombe hills.

Zeus takes a break while waiting for Sheldon to move on and looks pensive.

Gimble (foreground) sits on the trail after his display while Sampson looks up from a distance.

Since the chimpanzees headed to the Chihaga - Mkenke area yesterday evening, we headed in that direction this morning to see who we could find. Having just arrived, I'm in quarantine for a week to make sure I didn't contract any illnesses during my travels that I could pass to the chimps. While I'm in quarantine, I can only observe the chimpanzees like a tourist can -- from at least 10 meters away and only for one hour. So I tagged along with Carson and Maria just for fun and to get reacquainted with the forest.
Luckily we did not have to hike very far before we heard our first chimpanzee scream. We split up to search, and Maria found Bahati and her infant, Baroza in Mkenke. Bahati appeared to be alone, so Carson and I moved on towards Chihaga in search of other chimpanzees for Maria and Carson to observe.

We heard several more screams, so we took off down the trail trying to track them. My very first sighting of chimpanzees after my return was Sandi, Sampson and Samwise! We knew that others were scattered about from all the vocalizations, so we stayed with Sandi and watched to see who might join her family. They climbed a tree and began feeding on the not-yet-ripe mgwiza fruits, and then Sampson looked up from his fruit and pant-grunted. I turned and looked, but saw nothing. I knew there must be another chimp that he was making that sound of submission to. Sampson climbed down the tree and moved in the direction that he had pant-grunted, and Gimble appeared. Sampson approached him submissively and then groomed him while Sandi and Samwise stayed in the tree.

Gimble eventually left Sampson and walked towards the tree containing Samwise and Sandi, and then he bristled, grabbed a branch, and tore off into the machaka. Carson and I had to laugh because Gimble's display seemed so pointless; with Sandi and Samwise so high in the tree, and Sampson so far up the trail, none of them even batted an eyelash at his efforts. Gimble eventually made his way back to the trail where he sat for a bit, and then moved off on his own. Sandi then climbed down and went traveling through the machaka in the opposite direction and found a mgwiza tree in the middle of the Mkenke stream to feed in. But at that point, I had to say goodbye and head back to camp -- my hour of chimp watching was up, but it was great to feel back in the groove again.

As I got ready to follow chimpanzees in the early morning, I stood on the porch of the house to see the moon's beautiful reflection on Lake Tanganyika -- a view of the lake from the house was not possible just a few months ago.

After that, it was time to check e-mail one last time. On my first trip last year, there was no e-mail in the park, only in town. On my last trip, the wireless e-mail was newly available and better in the park than in town. Its funny how you quickly get used to such luxuries, and now that the e-mail is having troubles, we all wonder how we got by without it before. It has been down for about a month now, but seems to be close to fixed. While we are focused on our work here, its nice to have e-mail for staying in contact with friends and family (and for this blog!), but also because we all are still working on other projects that require communications around the world. It is nice to be able to access e-mail without having to take a day out of the forest to go into town.

At about 5:30 pm that day, we all piled into the boat, the waves of Lake Tanganyika having calmed some, and set out on our two hour ride to Gombe. Despite all that had been described to me, it was still shocking to see the hills so different than Id seen them before. Instead of lush green, there are many bare trees, yellow grasses, and burnt, bare hilltops and sides. Even from the boat, I could see how visibility has increased, and I could see red-tail monkeys hopping around from limb to bare limb in the trees. Yet, despite this dramatic difference, the terrain was still just as beautiful, especially as the moon rose over the rift. We arrived at Gombe in the dark, which was fun trying to get my cumbersome luggage off the boat. Once again, I was shocked at how open Gombe had become. While in the wet times, the house is hidden from the lake by vegetation, I could see clear through to it from the beach! This is going to take some getting used to.

I am happy that Carson and Maria will be here with me until the end of November. Its always nice to have company, and the house will full of life with them, Dr. Mike Wilson and me all living and working together.

The moon makes a dramatic rise over the top of the rift during our evening ride to Gombe. (Photo courtesy of Maria Boteroi)

While there were no such celebrations this time, there was still a nice crowd of people at the airport open-air waiting room greeting passengers coming off the plane or saying goodbye to those that were boarding. I waited in a small room where the luggage was passed to us over a wooden drop-leaf table. I was planning on taking a taxi to the local motel, or gesti (Swahili for "guest house"), but to my surprise and luck, I saw Dr. Anton Collins, from the Jane Goodall Institute. He gave me a lift to the Aqua Lodge situated nicely along the shore of Lake Tanganyika, not far from the Jane Goodall Institute building and downtown Kigoma. After dropping my luggage, we headed to dinner at a place called Stanleys on the one and only main drag of Kigoma. Ahh, fresh lake fish with chipsi (local French fries), and it finally struck me that I am back in Tanzania. After I devoured my food, I faded quickly, so I was off to bed, and tomorrow off to Gombe!

The plane touched down at Kilimanjaro Airport, where most of the passengers got off. Most of them are either headed to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and/or go on safari in the Serengeti. Sadly thats where my friend got off too. But I plan to take a little vacation in November to go tour the Serengeti with her and see her field site. I cant wait to see lions, wildebeest, giraffe, elephants and other cool animals! Some new folks came on board (they will head back to Amsterdam after we stop in Dar es Salaam), and then we went on to Dar. We touched down in Dar at about 10 p.m. after 10 hours on the plane. After collecting my luggage (with all the plane changes, you always hold your breath until you see it, but luckily, all mine arrived safe and sound!), I was off to the hotel for a short night of sleep before heading to Kigoma. The familiar sights, sounds, and smells of Dar es Salaam greeted me as I rode to the hotel, and though I was so tired, I could feel my excitement grow now that I was so close to Gombe.

Emily plans to see wildebeest and other Serengeti wildlife in November. (Photo. L. Kosnik)

And so with those mixed emotions, I got on the plane from Chicago, and headed to Detroit and then to Amsterdam about eight hours. With such a long flight, you can bet I was excited to see that my plane had individual screens for each seat, so I could watch as many and whatever movies I wanted, and for the first time, the plane wasnt full, so I actually had two seats to myself to stretch out on! Of course, my excitement prevented me from really sleeping until about the last hour of the flight, when utter exhaustion set in!

Gremlin with the hijacked newborn. (Photo. M. Wilson)

Emily keeps herself "blind" to findings about which chimpanzees are the offspring of adult males such as Sheldon here. This helps assure unbiased data collection.

The next day

It is amazing how well everything has worked over the last day and a half. I have slept maybe seven hours total in the last two nights, working feverishly to finish what I can. I want to strike while the iron is hot (i.e. everything is working), because you never know when the next problem will arise.

I achieved my primary goal of genotyping two new infants, Gimli and Shangaa. All that is left is to use their genotypes to determine who their fathers are. I am going to wait to do this until I can have my colleague, Dr. Carson Murray, assist me with it. She will be with me for the first few months when I return to Tanzania. I want her to do the final determination of paternity, so I can be kept in the dark about it. Whenever I do new paternities, I actually want to be kept blind of that knowledge while I collect field data. If I know who the fathers are, I might unknowingly bias data collection. I might subconsciously be more or less likely to record data for a male based on my knowledge of whether or not hes the father of the infants and adolescents I am observing. By not knowing, I will treat all the offsprings interactions with males equally and have unbiased, accurate data that will answer my question of whether fathers distinguish and treat their own offspring differently than unrelated kids.

Brandon and I kept hitting our heads against the wall, trying to figure out what it could be. And then we hit on a new idea I realized that about the same time I started the new enzyme, I changed tubes of nucleotides, which are the building blocks of the DNA copies made by the enzyme. But the potentially significant part of that was that even though I changed to a new tube of the same concentration of (supposedly) the same stuff, it was from a different manufacturer. Could there be some subtle, yet significant difference between them that could be the problem?

To test my theory, I set up a simple head-to-head reaction of a PCR with the old (known-to-work) nucleotides and the new nucleotides. It is going to be hard to wait for the PCR reaction to run and then the gel to get the results. If this does not do the trick, I think both Brandon and I are at a loss for anything else to try.

I remember it was a long climb up what would become my dreaded nemesis: the horrendous hill known as Sleeping Buffalo. The sun was out in full force, and it was hot. Using radios to communicate with the field assistants out doing the daily follow, we were told the chimpanzees were KK ju (meaning Kakombe valley and high ju is the word for high in Swahili). They told us to climb high and listen for the chimpanzee calls. So climb we did.

Finally, after some stops for rest, a lot of sweating and heavy breathing, we reached the chimpanzees, happy feeding among the dense vines that produce the mabungo madogo fruits. Often you can only see the rustling of leaves when the chimpanzees are in dense foliage feeding. We knew they were there for that reason, but it took a few minutes to actually see a chimp. And the first wild chimpanzee I ever saw was the adult male Gimble, who will always be special to me for that reason. He emerged from the undergrowth and sat on the trail, and I remember staring at his face to try and memorize it. I remember feeling so excited, and realizing that I was experiencing something only a few people in the world are able to, and I felt incredibly lucky. The hour I was allowed to stay ended all too quickly, but I looked forward to many more hours in the future.

A view of Gimble that could be similar to her first sight of him. (Photo: copyright JGI)

Whats really cool is that each microsatellite reaction gets labeled with a fluorescent marker that shows up as blue, green or yellow when I run the PCR amplified DNA on a gel. When I run DNA on the gel, an electrical current creates a positive and negative end of the gel. DNA is negatively charged, so it runs downward through the gel towards the positive end. The gel has pores in its matrix, and the DNA separates out in bands of color according to its size because smaller fragments can move faster.

The red bands are DNA fragments of known size, and the computer measures my experimental blue, yellow, and green ones against the red to determine their sizes. If I see one single band for a particular microsatellite, it means the chimp has gotten the same allele from each parent. If I see two bands, it means it has gotten two different alleles.

After I run the gel, I note the sizes of the bands for each chimpanzee. Then I can use the sizes to compare the genotypes (genetic barcodes) of the mother and offspring with the genotypes of the males that are candidate fathers. The only male able to contribute the half of the offsprings genotype that is complementary to the mothers contribution is then deemed the father.

I am working intensely, but this is my third summer doing this, so I feel much more relaxed. I am confident in my experiments and have less of a workload since most of the chimpanzee genotypes are finished. Now I am genotyping the few remaining adults who are more difficult to get samples from (like the shy, peripheral females), and the young infants who are just now old enough to get samples for.

This is the machine and the computer that I run my microsatellite PCR gels with.

Soon the fire was beaten out in our area. It was night again, cool and dark. We walked south along the freshly burned slopes, glowing embers of grasses hot through the thin-soled shoes the rubber soccer cleats of the JGI employees, with lurid lime and yellow trim, and the black gumboots of the park rangers. Park and research staff worked side-by-side, intermingled, sharing the work to save the park, their home.

A stunning view rewarded those who reached the top of the rift. The lights of fishing boats spread out over the lake like fallen stars, or the lights of a city. Above the lake, the cool light of stars in Scorpio shone in the black sky. But above the ridge top, the sky glowed orange, and the hills were lit with a pale glow. A thin orange line stretched along the ridges, as if someone had lined the terrace walls of rice paddies with orange neon trim. The line of fire stretched far to the south, as far as could be seen, snaking along the ridges above Kahama and Nyasanga valleys. The hills looked impossibly steep, and the fire had already descended hundreds of yards down the slope into the park.

Reaching the fire, men set to work. One cut branches off trees with his machete and handed them out. Men called out to one another across the valleys. There was already at least one team further south. We set to work on the closest patch of fire, the northern limit of the line.

Final fire installment tomorrow.

Fire crews reach the northern edge of the fire, with more distant fire visible in a thin vertical line on the hills above and to the left. (Photo. M. Wilson)

People familiar with media images of forest fires might picture a blazing inferno. In fact, fire at Gombe usually involves a thin, slow line of flames snaking along the hills, burning mainly grasses. Some trees catch fire, and some burst into flames and die, but most trees survive with little damage. In tall grasses and when fanned by wind, flames can rise up high overhead, but in other places, the flames stand only a couple feet high, and one can easily hop across to the other side.

A Gombe firefighter stands before the flames. Photo: M. L. Wilson.

Putting out Gombe fires is hard work. Most fire fighting is done at night, when the winds are calm. Crossing steep, rocky slopes is hard enough by day but even more so at night, with only flashlights and fire lighting the way. Though the line of fire tends to move slowly, in a high wind it can sweep quickly through grasslands. Days after the main line of fire is put out, smoldering logs may reignite the fire.

The tools available are simple: machetes, tree branches, and bottles of water. Machetes are used to cut tree branches for beating out the fire, and for cutting off burning tree limbs, which are then extinguished by smothering the embers against the ground. Once the main line of fire has been extinguished, fire crews may carry up bottles of water to extinguish smoldering logs. But each person can only carry a small amount of water.

Like many seasonally dry landscapes, Gombe experiences fires in the dry season. Many of the plants in Gombe are adapted to survive fire, and some may even depend on fire for their reproduction and regeneration. Woodland trees have deep roots and thick bark, and the extensive root systems of grasses allow them to regenerate quickly after their dry leaves have burnt. Because fire is important to many ecological processes, conservation managers in many parts of the world conduct controlled burns of grasslands, woodlands and forests. However, fires that are too intense, too widespread, or too frequent can kill trees, destroy fruit crops, and slow the succession of disturbed areas into forest and woodland.

At Gombe, to reduce the risk of fires crossing into the park from village lands, park rangers conduct controlled burns around the park perimeter in the early dry season. Even with this precaution, fire sometimes enters the park. When this happens, park and research employees work together to extinguish fires.

During the big fire in 2004, fire fighters beat out flames with branches on the crest of the rift.

Check back tomorrow for Mike's vivid description of this year's fire-fighting efforts at Gombe.

Its the middle of the dry season here in Gombe. In most years, almost no rain falls from mid-May to mid-October. We had a fairly rainy May, and some unexpected showers in July, but this month has been a typical hot, dry August. The grasses on the hilltops are golden brown, and the woodland trees have dropped their leaves. The crunchy leaf litter makes for noisy walking, and its easy to hear an approaching person, chimpanzee, or bushpig. There is little fruit in the forest for chimpanzees now. As usual, they cope with the seasonal food shortage by spending most of their time alone or in small family groups, eating foods like oil palm nuts, the dry crunchy nuts of the Rukungu tree, and inner bark stripped from Mabungo Makubwa vines and Ngoyi shrubs.

Like humans, chimpanzees get half their DNA from mom and half from dad. Since we know the mother-infant relationships in the chimpanzees, I can look at the barcodes of the infant and mother and determine which male must have contributed the other half of the DNA to the infant.

Why do I do this work at UAB and not elsewhere? The Jane Goodall Institutes Center for Primate Studies at the University of Minnesota works collaboratively with Dr. Hahn as she studies the origin, distribution and genetic variability of the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) in wild chimpanzees. (This is the primate version of HIV.) Dr. Hahn does extensive fecal sampling of chimpanzees at multiple sites across Africa, including my study population at Gombe National Park, Tanzania. Samples are collected in the field and then stored in her laboratory. The scientists isolate DNA from these samples, and then use the DNA in microsatellite genotyping for the identification of individual chimpanzees, which is then matched with virology data (i.e. who is infected) within the population.

I use the same genetic information to determine paternity which Dr. Hahn uses for her research. So I come to Dr. Hahns lab, with all its resources, to create the genotypes for each individual chimpanzee. Dr. Hahn's team uses the genotypes to verify the identity of the samples that come in, and I use them to figure out who the dads are.

Prior to the noninvasive DNA collection techniques at Gombe, it was impossible to identify fathers, since several males will mate with a swollen female.

A view of the Nile River and one of the rapids I went through! The view was amazing as we paddled down the river.

The first rapids came quickly, and of course, we flipped. I managed to stay with the boat and even hang on to my paddle. We flipped two more times, and I lost my paddle because I had to focus all of my energy on holding the rope that ringed the boat. It is a surreal feeling to feel the boat tip, be tossed up and out, and plunge into the water. There was another raft going down the river, and we took turns going first through the rapids. I quickly realized that I much preferred going first, because I didnt want to know what was ahead! If I saw the other boat flip, I would get tense. But interestingly, sometimes we flipped and they didnt, or vice versa. We got the guide to admit that sometimes he flipped the boat on purpose to give us some excitement, and since our rafts were smaller, they flipped more easily. I ingested a substantial amount of the Nile River through my nose over the course of the day, but I didnt care because I was having a blast!!!

Toward the end of the trip, the rapids were more spaced apart and we left the raft to swim around in the river. It was amazing how strong the current was even in those seemingly calm stretches. Before we reached the last rapid, we had to get out and portage around an unnavigable area. When we put the boat back in the water, I became nervously excited. We were facing the most menacing rapids of the day I was very glad we were the first boat through this one! We almost tipped after going up a huge wave, but to my great relief we held on. Then we got to watch the second boat come down and they made it through as well. All in all, today was awesome!

Click here for a great "Vagabonding" travelogue about rafting the Nile. You will admire Emily for her courage!

I was pleased with the level of interest in my research and positive feedback, and I got lots of important and interesting insight into my analyses from other researchers. I have a lot of exciting new directions to go in!

After the morning introduction, it was an afternoon of scientific talks. With so many interesting talks available, it was hard to choose. But at the end of the day, we all gathered outside along Lake Victoria for drinks and dancing, and performances of beautiful traditional African dances to celebrate the opening of the conference.

Jane often begins her talks with a chimpanzee greeting. (Photo: David S. Holloway/Apix)

View from in front of my hotel (Photo: E Wroblewski)

On my last day in the forest for this field season, we headed back north again this morning to search for chimps, and I thought my legs were going to give out we were up and down so much in Rutanga valley. After a thorough search, we started to make our way south toward Linda valley and stumbled across Titan sitting on a trail! Of course he quickly moved off into the machaka where we couldnt see him, but then we realized he wasnt alone, because we could hear the lip-smacking chimpanzees do when they groom another chimpanzee. After a tough penetration into the tangles, we found that Titan had been grooming with the female Dilly and her infant Diaz. The pair moved further into the machaka, but it was hard to tell if they were intending to travel together or just tolerating each other in the food patch. After just a short while, though, we lost them, and had to resume searching all over again, and we spent a nice afternoon with Gremlin and her family.

As I headed back to camp, I felt sad knowing that I was going to be leaving the chimps tomorrow. Even though I am here at Gombe to do scientific research, no one can help but to become engrossed in the daily events and politics that surround these complex animals. But I will be back in two months, so its not Goodbye to Gombe, its See you later. And while its hard to leave, I am also excited for the events to come first the conference in Uganda, and then it will be off to Alabama to do more paternity testing on the Gombe infants.

After a rest on Janes Peak, we descended into Kakombe valley, where we again found Gremlin and her whole brood. We observed a nice long grooming and play session, before they moved off into the machaka. I attempted to follow, scooting along close to the ground, but then had a sudden feeling that something was different Much to my surprise, I had ripped open the rear of my pants on something, and that different feeling was a little extra ventilation! Oops

After returning back to camp to switch pants I headed south with Matendo to try and find Sherehe and Malaika again. In Mkenke, we heard a promising female scream from high in the Mkenke hills but after a brutal climb, all we found were baboons. Had the chimps moved off, or were they resting quietly? We waited to listen for more calls, but there were none that would have helped us find them. As dusk approached, we reluctantly called it a day and headed back to camp.

The view from Janes peak is radically different now that the dry season is upon Gombe and the hilltops are being burned.

The Mkenke hillside after a park burn.

(Photos: E. Wroblewski)

The "G" family (earlier photo). (Photo: E. Wroblewski)

Nonetheless, we searched the valley thoroughly, as the chimps can always be feeding on the leaves of various plant species, and you might get lucky and stumble upon them. Sadly, though, we did not, so we moved north through the smaller Fig Tree and Bare Tree valleys, and then through Mkenke, Chihaga, and Kakombe valleys without any luck. After making contact the B-record researchers over the radio, we found out that Gremlin was hanging out with her kids just north of Kakombe, so we went to her straight away to follow her with her oldest daughter Gaia and infant Gimli. The twins, Glitter and Golden, were there with their mother initially, but didnt follow when Gremlin moved south with Gaia and Gimli. Unfortunately for the twins, though, they missed out on Gremlins successful hunt of a baby bushbuck and the indulgent meal that followed.

A short while later, Candy split from the group and went off to feed on her own, so I followed Flirt as she traveled with her big brother Freud and the swollen female Hope. Freud called and displayed a few times, but no chimpanzees responded, so apparently they were on their own in Linda valley. I stayed with the siblings for a while, but in their quiet travel, they gave us the slip in the machaka, and we did not see chimpanzees for the rest of the day!