Wildlife Conservation Senegal Project #60051

Fongoli Savanna Chimpanzee Project

by Neighbor Ape

Project Report | Jan 29, 2025
Fongoli chimps respond to human pressures

By Jill Pruetz | Director, Fongoli Savanna Chimpanzee Project

Fongoli chimpanzees drink at a gold mining pit.

On a trip to the Fongoli Savanna Chimpanzee Project (FSCP) field site in Senegal, we were able to witness the Fongoli community of chimpanzees expanding their home range in what appears to be a response to human pressure from the opposite side of the range.

Since the gold mining boom really took off in 2009, the Fongoli chimpanzee community has lost access to some of their eastern home range, where artisinal gold mines as well as the expansion of the town of Kedougou puts these chimps in close contact to more and more people. The Fongoli chimps have used what we call the Potchokon area less and less and in December 2024, we recorded them moving into the neighboring chimpanzee community's home range - the Bantan chimp group - where they stayed for about 3 weeks.

Lead FSCP researcher, Michel Sadiakho, was with a large subgroup of the Fongoli chimps when they snuck up on the Bantan group and had a physical battle with them. After that, the Fongoli chimps pushed farther and farther into Bantan's home range, traplining baobab trees for fruit, which is their main food resource during the early dry season. While I always anticipated this, I didn't expect it to happen so soon. We believe the Bantan chimp group is smaller and will likely continue to be displaced. A question is, where will they go? We plan on continuing to monitor the Bantan group via nest surveys and genetic sampling from droppings in order to try and understand how the pressure from the Fongoli chimps as well as the existence of a very large gold mine at the other side of their range will ultimately effect them.

One development we also saw in late 2024, was the activity of eco-ranger patrols. Eco-rangers come from each village in the Tomboronkoto District, and they patrol the area looking for illegal activities, such as charcoal making and tree cutting. They have made significant strides in helping to preserve the natural resources in this area, which benefits local people as well as chimps and other wildlife.

Thank you for all your support of our varied projects devoted to conserving chimpanzees in southeastern Senegal and providing for the wellbeing of the people that live alongside them. We truly could not do it without you!

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Jun 28, 2024
Fongoli news - rainy season arriving!

By Dr. Jill Pruetz | Director and Project Leader

Fongoli chimpanzee Lucille and infant son Khalifou

June is when the rainy season at Fongoli usually starts - this is also when the Fongoli chimps focus their hunting behavior on bushbabies or galagos. The whole Fongoli community can be found together, and there are 34 chimpanzees in the group right now.

One of Neighbor Ape's current projects is to help build a bridge over Fongoli stream so that people of surrounding villages can still travel during the rainy season. The village of Petit Oubadji approached us to ask for matching funds to build this bridge, and total costs will be just under US $2,000. We hope that this bridge will literally ensure that our project on the chimpanzees and community members become even closer in our interactions!

In other news, the gold rush continues, and illegal logging continues as well. But, on a positive note, female chimpanzee Lucille recently had the newest infant in the group. He is called Khalifou by our research team, after the head researcher's recently deceased father, Khalifou Sadiakho. Lucille has had 7 infants - the most that we have recorded for any female in the Fongoli group so far! Texas State University doctoral student, Katie Gerstner, is at Fongoli collecting data for her research project on chimpanzee health and microbiomes, and she sent this photo of Lucille climbing a tree, with young Khalifou hanging on tight. Katie also sent photos of elderly female Farafa soaking in Sakoto pool, which is a favorite activing during the very hot and humid early rainy season (with a heat index of over 120 degrees Fahrenheit!).

Thank you for your ongoing support for the Fongoli project - we literally could not do it without you! Also, please keep an eye out for a new fundraising project that we will release, which focuses on exchange between primatology projects in Senegal and in Costa Rica.

Pant hoots!

Elderly Fongoli female Farafa rests in Sakoto pool

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Feb 26, 2024
News from Fongoli!

By Dr. Jill Pruetz | Director and Project Leader

Fongoli researchers Nazaire (l) and Michel

We have had great chimpanzee news over the past several months, and our projects that benefit the people that live alongside the Fongoli chimpanzees are doing well also!

Neighbor Ape continues to fund costs associated with schools for children in the area where the Fongoli chimpanzees live. We provide a year's worth of school supplies to the village of Djendji, annually. Djendji is the biggest village in the area, with several hundred people. Children from surrounding villages, such as Petit Oubadji, also attend school in Djendji. We also help students that live in villages around the Kedougou area attend school in the city. The dormitory that Neighbor Ape helped fund is still running and is almost 10 years old! Numerous students have lived at the dormitory and attended school in Kedougou. Some have even then gone on to attend university in Dakar!

We also continue to provide grants to help with health care costs to people living in the area. While health care is relatively inexpensive in southeastern Senegal, it is still prohibitively expensive for most people living in the rural areas. Malaria is endemic and a leading cause of mortality. We are able to provide malaria curatives for most people in the area and have also provided mosquito nets as well.

In chimpanzee news, adult female Lucille has had her seventh infant! It is a male, and we have provided a list of 24 names to the Fongoli field team to choose from! Donors to specific fundraising events are asked to provide a name of their choice, and we incude these names on our master list. Even if a name isn't chosen immediately, it may be chosen at a later date. The next female we think that will give birth is young Eva. She has had two infants already, and her youngest - Ella - is four years old. The Fongoli chimpanzees give birth about every four years.

Without the generous support of donors like yourself, we would not be able to conserve chimpanzees and provide for the wellbeing of the people that live alongside them.

Pant hoots of thanks!

Links:

Fongoli Savanna Chimpanzee Project website

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