The Leakey Foundation

We’re approaching the end of the year and the conclusion of our Fall 2011 Granting Session. Our Scientific Executive Committee (SEC) and outside peers have reviewed all applications, and have make their recommendations for funding distribution. This fall, we received 74 applications for grants in Behavioral and Paleoanthropology categories, of which the reviewers have recommended 20 grants for funding, totaling $254,287. The chart above shows the breakdown of recommended funding by subcategory of all the applications. Here are some quick facts about this fall’s session:

• There were 35 applications in Paleoanthropology, and 39 in Behavioral
• 8 applications were recommended in Behavioral for a total of $125,553.00
• 12 applications were recommended in Paleoanthropology for a total of $128,734.00
• 3 additional applications were funded by trustees of the Foundation for a total of $32,000.

This photo, taken by Kambiz Kamrani, is not of Pistache and his mother. Once researchers are able to get snapshot of the newest Fongoli chimp, we will post it.

During The Leakey Foundation 2011 Annual Auction and Dinner, Foundation Trustee Mrs. Carolyn Farris bid on and won the “naming rights” for the next chimpanzee born at the Fongoli site in Senegal. Fongoli, which is run by Leakey Grantee Jill Pruetz, is home to a unique group of chimpanzees that have adapted to living in a savanna environment, often seen by Pruetz and her team hunting bush babies with “spears”. Mrs. Farris chose the name “Pistache” for the newest male chimp at Fongoli, born to Natasha sometime in April of this year.

In a letter sent to the Foundation, Mrs. Farris remarked:

“I would like to name Natasha’s baby “Pistache” (French for pistachio nut), after my long hair Chihuahua. I adopted her from the Helen Woodward Animal Center and she was named after a character in a book. The chain of events that led to her adoption started on Bastille Day, so I thought a French name would be appropriate for her. The name is pronounced Pee-stash. My little dog is popular with everyone she meets, as she is loving, cuddly and playful. She is also tall for a Chihuahua, just as Natasha and her son are tall.”

You can read more about Natasha and Pistache in Dr. Pruetz’s newest post on the Fongoli Chimps Blog. Once there are photos taken of Pistache, we will be sure to post them!

Above photo courtesy of Kambiz Kamrani, editor of primatology.net and anthropology.net

Bilbo, Tia and little Aimee last July, moving across a newly-cut field at Fongoli, when Aimee was just a month old. Photo: Julie Lesnik

July 2011 at Fongoli: Predators and Prey

by Jill Pruetz, Leakey Grantee

Some exciting events have occurred this month, including quite a bit of predation attempts by the Fongoli chimps as well as an encounter with a potential predator.

So far this year, we’ve recorded 37 tool-assisted hunting attempts on galago (or bushbaby) prey. This behavior peaks at the beginning of the rainy season at Fongoli, and this year is no exception. Newly-transferred adolescent female Lily is one of the top hunters, along with juvenile female Fanta. In all, most of the hunts have been by females, but a few young males and even one adult male have been observed hunting this year as well. I’m still hoping we surpass our record of 45 hunts seen in 2010!

In terms of the encounter with the potential predator, this was a very exciting end to a day. The chimpanzees had recently arrived at a small stream bed we call ‘Tukantaba’. I was following alpha male Lupin as my focal subject when I heard a younger chimp (probably adolescent male Luthor) give a warning vocalization that I didn’t recognize. All the chimps were instantly alert and looking across a grassland area to the woodland beyond. Suddenly, from the woodland, a female bushbuck came speeding past, continuing into the ravine area, crossing the stream bed and out of sight. The chimps were very agitated and they stood (some bipedal!) with their hair on end, still looking out over the grassland. I thought it odd that they were so upset by a bushbuck, and they normally give a different type of alarm call for this antelope and usually when they are surprised by one. However, within a few seconds, a spotted hyena appears from the woodland, chasing the bushbuck! The chimps immediately started warning calling at the hyena, and it turned tail and ran back where it came from! This was surprising to say the least, but then most of the chimps followed the hyena into the woodland, though they did not actually give chase.

I was yet again stunned when I heard a warning call from the chimps here, but this one sounded more like the call they give when they are surprised by something. Indeed, out of a thicket came a female patas monkey carrying her infant and running as fast as she could away from the chimps! Adolescent Lily gave chase, but there was no hope of catching the fastest primate, of course (although we have recorded adult male Siberut acquiring a young patas monkey by catching it in a tree). Finally, as I arrived back at the stream bed to search for Lupin, I found adult female Tia feeding on a bushbaby! Although I didn’t get to see Tia acquire it, adult female Nickel came along later and fashioned a tool to hunt in the tree cavity I assume Tia had found the bushbaby in (I had actually seen Luthor investigating the cavity when I followed most of the chimps out into the woodland after the hyena incident). Nickel did not get another bushbaby, although there are cases where there have been as many as three of these prosimians in one cavity. It wasn’t too long after that that the chimps began nesting, and I headed home after they were all settled down. It was one of the most exciting days I’ve ever had with the Fongoli chimps – and there have been many!

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Dr. Toshisada Nishida, with Toshibo the chimp in the Mahale Mountains, 1994.

Along with scores of others in the primatology field, The Leakey Foundation mourns the passing of Dr. Toshisada Nishida. Dr. Nishida was a pioneer in the study of chimpanzees in the Mahale Mountains of Tanzania. He first began his field work in 1965; his research, mentoring and encouragement of other primatologists continued until his passing in June of this year. His contributions to the field were innumerable.

Drs. Goodall and Nishida at the 2008 Leakey Prize Gala.

Leakey Foundation Grantee Sarah Mathew was published in today’s PNAS Early Edition.

She was awarded a research grant by The Leakey Foundation in 2009.

Her dissertation research examines how the Turkana, an acephalous pastoral society in East Africa, solve the collective action problem in warfare. She also examines the scale of cooperation and norms in Turkana warfare, to evaluate the role of cultural evolutionary processes in shaping the scale of human cooperation. The following is an abstract of and link to the article in PNAS.

Punishment sustains large-scale cooperation in prestate warfare

by Sarah Mathew, UCLA

Abstract:
Understanding cooperation and punishment in small-scale societies is crucial for explaining the origins of human cooperation. We studied warfare among the Turkana, a politically uncentralized, egalitarian, nomadic pastoral society in East Africa. Based on a representative sample of 88 recent raids, we show that the Turkana sustain costly cooperation in combat at a remarkably large scale, at least in part, through punishment of free-riders. Raiding parties comprised several hundred warriors and participants are not kin or day-to-day interactants. Warriors incur substantial risk of death and produce collective benefits. Cowardice and desertions occur, and are punished by community-imposed sanctions, including collective corporal punishment and fines. Furthermore, Turkana norms governing warfare benefit the ethnolinguistic group, a population of a half-million people, at the expense of smaller social groupings. These results challenge current views that punishment is unimportant in small-scale societies and that human cooperation evolved in small groups of kin and familiar individuals. Instead, these results suggest that cooperation at the larger scale of ethnolinguistic units enforced by third-party sanctions could have a deep evolutionary history in the human species.

Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1105604108

Several articles were written on this paper, follow links below:

It is human nature to cooperate with strangers – NewScientist

Band of brothers at war – Discover Magazine

Study of East African group suggests punishment could sustain large-scale cooperation among strangers – physorg.com

Helping out strangers is hard-wired into human nature – i09.com

This is the fourth in a series of posts about Sosthene Habumuremyi’s dissertation research on the hormonal correlations of socio-sexual behaviors in female mountain gorillas. Please see part one here, part two here, and part three here.

Sosthene’s research project combines behavioral data collected in the field with hormonal data analyzed in the lab. The results of this study will characterize the specific behavioral patterns around the time of ovulation in Mountain Gorillas; specifically mating behavior, patterns of mating solicitations, and any evidence of coercion (aggression) by the silverbacks directed towards the females.

We asked Sosthene a series of questions about his work and here are some of his responses.

Sosthene, observing a gorilla in the field.

Q. Do you prefer working in the field or the lab? Please explain.

A. I prefer to work in the field because each day is different! I experience difficult and easy times which are both useful and part of the job! Mountain gorillas are exceptional primates which show many varieties in their way of living. When I am with them, I see more than I’m expecting to see. So, it is important for me to appreciate how our field protocol is still working and progressing; being in the field helps a lot with monitoring the project and profiling (in my mind) the potential findings. Besides, the field work is for me an opportunity to get an exact image of the work done in biodiversity conservation. As a researcher, it is an excellent occasion to bring a personal perspective.

I can not say that I do not like the lab, as our field data will be deciphered with the lab results! This combination of field work and lab analysis is the strength of this project.

Q. Is there one question from your list of research questions that you are most excited to find the answer? Can answering that question tell humans something about themselves?

A. It’s difficult for me to choose one question that I’ll be excited to answer! I’m really interested to find answers for all of our research questions. Those findings will raise certainly some curiosities in human reproduction biology. For example humans should be interested in knowing: what hormonal profiles exist during the conception in young and adult women; how this evolved from the common ancestor of primates; and what are normal profiles corresponding to critical fertility periods.

Q. Tell us about some interesting behavior you have witnessed by the gorillas while in the field.

A. The most impressive moment of my field work was the last week of October 2010 when the three silverbacks from Kuryama’s group were competing rashly for access to the females. Kuryama is a dynamic group of 15 individuals: Kuryama (chief, 24 years old), Kirahure (19 years old) and Vuba (17 years old) are all very large silverbacks! (They were also all born in the month of August.) The 3 suffered serious injuries due to the intra-group fights. We were thinking that Kuryama was loosing the dominance in the group, as he was aggressed by Kirahure, and even by the young Vuba. All of this behavior began when I was collecting behavioral data on a cycling female called Mahirwe.

She successfully solicited copulation to Kirahure, and after, Kirahure followed Mahirwe displaying incessantly. In one hour, I recorded 12 displays of Kirahure toward Mahirwe! At a certain time, Mahirwe climbed a tree, and Kirahure waited for her until she came down the tree! He went on following her, displaying and soliciting copulation…however, unsuccessfully!

From this day, me and other researchers recorded lots of aggressive behavior between those three males, and in addition when one silverback tried to solicit copulation to a favorite female of another male. In mountain gorilla groups, while females are rivaling for food and protection, males are actually challenging for access to the females!

Q. Are you noticing different results, trends or date between the nine social groups? Is one group of females more successful with producing offspring? Is one group less fertile?

A. There’s no clear difference in key-behavioral data from the target groups that we’re sampling. We will wait for statistical analysis to confirm or reveal what we can not be able to perceive now. However, we’re seeing that the small groups are growing and that one-male groups are well reproductively managed.

Q. Are there data, trends or conclusions you can share with the general audience?

A. Many conclusions will emerge after the lab analysis. But, we can say that reproductive behaviors are not restricted only in fertile window in mountain gorillas as it is the case in humans.

Help Sosthene Habumuremyi become the first Rwandan to receive a PhD in Primatology

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This is the third in a series of posts about Sosthene Habumuremyi’s dissertation research on the hormonal correlations of socio-sexual behaviors in female mountain gorillas. Please see part one here and part two here.

Sosthene’s research project combines behavioral data collected in the field with hormonal data analyzed in the lab. The results of this study will characterize the specific behavioral patterns around the time of ovulation in mountain gorillas; specifically mating behavior, patterns of mating solicitations, and any evidence of coercion (aggression) by the silverbacks directed towards the females.

Sosthene with field assistants at Karisoke.

We asked Sosthene a series of questions about his work and here are some of his responses. In a few days we will post another round of Q and A with Sosthene.

Q. How do you identify the gorillas in your group?

A. Some primates, like gorillas can be identified by their faces. In particular, mountain gorillas can be recognized and named individually by looking at their nose-prints! Each of the 480 mountain gorillas found in the Virungas has a different nose print, similar to human fingerprints!

In some cases, experienced trackers help with rapid identification because nose-prints are not always visible. We use additional tips like the gorillas’ group; the group/lone individuals’ home range; the body size; the status and darkness of hair; the other mountain gorilla individuals found often in proximity (for example: individuals from the same mother, infants or a favorite female around the dominant silverback).

Other ways for identification include abnormal gestures (for example: Gutangara, a female from Pablo’s group, is always nudging her left shoulder); and also malformations (for example: Umwana, a female from Inshuti’s group has a straightened finger).

Isabukuru copulating with Bukima. The nose-prints of Isabukuru form a “7”. Each of my field colleagues can recognize easily who those individuals are.

Q. Are there any former poachers working as Karisoke field assistants now? How does this transition work?

A. Recruiting former poachers was among the initial strategies to get effective information on illegal activities in the National Park of Volcanoes, Rwanda. By recruiting former poachers, they helped us gather a lot of information on the poachers’ networks; the types of snares; the other materials used and from where they got those materials; the target animals; the time of entering and getting out from the forest; the tracks used; the most frequented areas; and the time that they spend in the forest.

Karisoke and national authorities use the resulting information to reinforce the anti-poaching patrols and to efficiently sensitize local communities on biodiversity protection. Karisoke recruited one exceptional former poacher, who is now retired. We still have some former poachers working as trackers in with the gorillas’ groups monitored by the Rwanda government for tourism. The recruited former poachers are welcomed by gorilla trackers! They are still considered as an asset to their daily work of gorillas’ protection.

In addition, they have excellent experience in the forest! Some days, the tracking of gorillas is too hard or even unsuccessful, but the former poachers are consulted to find easy and right tracks! On other side, the resulting collaboration ended the friendships of the former poachers with their former colleagues, as they no longer share trust.

Today, the number of poachers has decreased. Most of them have been integrated in local organizations like traditional dancing troupes, handcrafts small-enterprises, and farming associations. But, some persisting poaching activities are observed; in 2010, Karisoke reported 1,927 snares.

Help Sosthene Habumuremyi become the first Rwandan to receive a PhD in Primatology

» learn more

This is the second in a series of posts about Sosthene Habumuremyi’s dissertation research on the hormonal correlations of socio-sexual behaviors in female mountain gorillas. Please see part one here.

By Sosthene Habumuremyi

My study has gathered data on mating behavior, solicitations, and any displays/aggression from adult males towards the females. Sexual swellings, which are extremely small in gorillas, are also noted.

The plan is to monitor at least 6 nulliparous (never having given birth to offspring) females and 10 cycling parous (given birth to offspring at least once) females for 2 cycles each (2-4 months per female) as well as obtain weekly measures from pregnant females. To ensure that the time of ovulation is measured hormonally, urine and or fecal samples must be collected regularly, on a nearly daily basis without gaps of more than 2-3 days.

My research on nulliparous mountain gorillas may answer these questions:

1. Are cycles ovulatory?
2. How do hormonal profiles relate to sexual swelling patterns and mating activities?
3. How do hormonal profiles change with increasing age?
4. How do hormonal patterns differ in comparison to parous females?

My research on cycling (parous) mountain gorillas may answer these questions:

1. How does mating behavior relate to ovulation in parous females?
2. How does mating behavior differ between one-male and multimale groups?
3. How does mating behavior differ depending on whether the male is dominant or subordinate?
4. How do patterns of mating solicitations (by the male or female) and potentially coercive behavior (aggression and displays by the males) vary according to reproductive status of the females?
5. How do female hormone profiles vary in relation to the age of their dependent offspring, age of the female and proximity to conception?

Help Sosthene Habumuremyi become the first Rwandan to receive a PhD in Primatology

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189 gorilla pregnancy tests await inspection by researchers.

By Sosthene Habumuremyi

The overall goal of this study is to investigate the hormonal correlates of socio-sexual behaviors in female mountain gorillas. Specifically, we want to understand the variation observed in mating strategies and fertility parameters among female mountain gorillas. By using hormonal data, we want to know if this variation is governed by internal stimuli. For a detailed analysis, we formulated multiple research questions, centered around different reproductive status of females. We selected our target individuals from nine gorillas groups monitored by Karisoke Research Center. In the field, we have been simultaneously collecting behavioral data as well as urine and feces samples.

Following the end of the field work, we’ll carry out the endocrinological measurements in the laboratory at the Max Planck. The results of this study will characterize the specific behavioral patterns around the time of ovulation in mountain gorillas, specifically mating behavior, patterns of mating solicitations, and any evidence of coercion (aggression) by the silverbacks directed towards the females. Furthermore, we will search for evidence of pregnancy losses. Also, we will provide additional information on adolescent sterility and sexual swellings in female mountain gorillas. The results of this study contribute to our understanding of fertility in gorillas, which is useful information for understanding the potential for the population to increase. Moreover, we hope that this research will help to provide useful information on the evolutionary profile of reproductive behaviors in primates.

Help Sosthene Habumuremyi become the first Rwandan to receive a PhD in Primatology

» learn more

On October 15, 2010, The Leakey Foundation and California Academy of Sciences partnered to bring you Dr. Anne Pusey, in celebration of 50 years of continuous study and Gombe Stream Reserve in Tanzania. In this lecture, Pusey discusses her research conducted at Gombe and shares rarely seen archival photographs, video and recent stories of the Gombe chimpanzees.

The Gombe Stream Research Center was started by Jane Goodall, in 1960, when she was sent to Africa by Louis Leakey to study primates in their natural habitat. Over the past five decades, we have gained immense insight from the chimpanzee research pioneered by Goodall at Gombe, and we continue to do so today. Read more and hear audio archives about Louis Leakey, Jane Goodall and the Gombe Stream Research project here.