Gorilla Journal · Gorilla to the Kahuzi-Biega Forest 3 Visit to Kahuzi-Biega 4 The Situation in...

Journal of Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe

Attack on aKahuzi-BiegaNational ParkMeeting

A Visit to theMountain Gorillasin Rwanda

What, if Anything,is Taxonomy?

GorillaJournal

No. 21, December 2000

The Situation inMaiko NationalPark

BERGGORILLA & REGENWALD DIREKTHILFE

2 Gorilla Journal 21, December 2000

CONTENTSDemocratic Republic of Congo 3News from Kahuzi-Biega 3Attack on a Kahuzi-Biega Meeting 3Attempt to Re-introduce a YoungGorilla to the Kahuzi-Biega Forest 3Visit to Kahuzi-Biega 4The Situation in Maiko 4Mt. Tshiaberimu News 6Attack on Vital Katembo 7Sarambwe Protection 7Uganda 8Our Assistant 8Scabies again 8Sewing and Knitting forConservation 8Rwanda 9Conservation NGOs unite for"Peace" 9Mountain Gorilla Veterinarians 10Journey to Uganda and Rwanda 10Visit to the Gorillas in Rwanda 10Gorillas 12What, if Anything, Is Taxonomy? 12An Overview of Apes in Africa 15Cross River Gorillas 18Bushmeat Action 19The Great Ape Event 20Reading 21Berggorilla & RegenwaldDirekthilfe 22News from the Internet 22Jobs and Opportunities forVolunteers 22Activities 22

ciety) and of the Steering Committeeof the IUCN Primate Specialist Group.He has been studying the ecology oftropical forest primates since 1964.

Jean-François Segers is an eco-nomist who manages several com-panies in Kivu and travels to Bukavuevery month. He is the president ofNouvelles Approches, a Belgian NGOthat supports the protection of the en-vironment and has several projects inthe Democratic Republic of Congo.

Claude Sikubwabo Kiyengo hasconducted a gorilla survey in theMaiko Park from 1989 to 1992, and in1994 he took part in the gorilla censusin Kahuzi-Biega. Since 1995, he hasbeen working for the ICCN (InstitutCongolais pour la Conservation de laNature) in Goma.

Dr. Juliana Ströbele-Gregorstudied Ethnology and Cultural An-thropology of the Americas. Sheworks as a free-lance consultant inGerman developmental aid.

Dr. Jo Thompson has been study-ing wild bonobos at the Lukuru Wild-life Research Project since 1992.She conducts survey and educationalcampaign expeditions. Since 1997she has incorporated research, con-servation and education efforts withinthe South Block, Salonga Park.

Iris Weiche started her work withprimates, in the wild and in zoos, in1990. At the moment she is finishingher doctoral dissertation on femalegorillas in zoos. Since 1994 she hasbeen active for the Berggorilla & Re-genwald Direkthilfe, and in May 1997she joined the Board of Directors.

Dr. Liz Williamson began to studygorillas in Gabon from 1984 to 1990.She was involved in gorilla surveys inCongo/Zaire and Cameroon in 1994and 1995. Currently she is the Direc-tor of the Karisoke Research Centre.

Sylvia Wladarz is a zoo animalkeeper. She has been a member ofthe Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkt-hilfe for one year.

Authors of this Issue

Dr. Thomas Butynski has con-ducted wildlife research in Africa since1971. From 1978 to 1993 he studiedprimates and worked on rain forestconservation in Uganda. Now heworks for Zoo Atlanta. Since 1995 hehas made surveys in endangeredmontane forests in the eastern Demo-cratic Republic of Congo.

Klaus Griegel is a geologist andworked in Mozambique for 3 years.He has a special interest in environ-mental and nature conservation.

Dr. Colin Groves wrote his PhDthesis on gorilla osteology and tax-onomy, and in 1971 he visited themountain gorillas at Karisoke. Afterworking at American and British uni-versities, he emigrated to Australia in1974. Now he is teaching primatologyand human evolution at the AustralianNational University, and he is doingresearch on various animals.

Vital Katembo Mushengezi atfirst worked in the Ituri Forest for WCS(Wildlife Conservation Society) andhas been active in the Virunga Na-tional Park since 1994. Now he isproject leader for Mt. Tshiaberimu andfield assistant for DFGF (Dian FosseyGorilla Fund) Europe in North Kivu.

Prof. John F. Oates is a memberof the Conservation Committee of theISP (International Primatological So-

Organization Address:Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfec/o Rolf BrunnerLerchenstr. 545473 Muelheim, GermanyFax +49-208-7671605E-Mail [email protected] Site:http://www.kilimanjaro.com/gorilla/brdBank Account:Account number 353 344 315Stadtsparkasse MuelheimBank code number 362 500 00

Gorilla Journal 21,December 2000Editor: Angela MederAugustenstr. 122, D-70197 StuttgartFax +49-711-6159919E-mail [email protected]: Ann DeVoy, Bettina andAndrew Grieser Johns, Jennifer ScottDesign: Edwin Artho, Angela MederProduction: Gentner-Verlag, StuttgartCover: Sylvia Wladarz and WilliamMugisha with Mgahinga rangersPhoto: Klaus Griegel

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News from Kahuzi-Biega

On 19 May 2000, the Kahuzi-Biegarangers were returned their arms andresumed patrolling. The ranger postsMugaba and Tshibati were re-mannedafter this. Unfortunately, the Tshivan-ga post was attacked by armed rebelson the night of 17 June. One rangerwas injured. In spite of this, park staffcontinued to control this part of thepark. However, they have stoppedspending the night at the post.

Thanks to the work of the rangers,no more gorillas were killed by poach-ers in June. The team working on theillegal live animal trade succeededin confiscating one gorilla baby, onebaboon and one red-tailed monkeyin Bukavu. Unfortunately, the gorilla

baby Bitorwa has since died, probablydue to an infection.

In June, a survey was begun of go-rillas and elephants in the mountainpart of the park, as it was not clearhow many animals had survived thewars. The survey team was headedby the Congolese biologist OmariIlambu and accompanied by morethan 50 soldiers. They found 130 go-rillas (a few months ago, only 70 sur-viving gorillas had been estimated),but not one elephant was left.

Park staff started to act againstillegal land utilisation in the corridorconnecting the two parts of the Kahu-zi-Biega National Park after the Gover-nor had annulled the 11 certificates ofoccupation in May. They expelled allillegal occupants, burned charcoal ov-ens and confiscated cattle grazing inthe park. Unfortunately, certain crimi-nal government employees tried to in-timidate and menace the park staff.

Meanwhile, approximately 10% ofthe park's area is under the control ofthe guards again.

Attempt to Re-introducea Young Gorilla to theKahuzi-Biega Forest

Since 1996, the Kahuzi-Biega Na-tional Park has been under severe hu-man pressure because of the troublesthat shook the region. Networks ofpoachers developed; they support thetrade in gorilla babies and other pri-mates as well as various trophies oflarge mammals. Elephants and goril-las are the targets most sought after.

In May 2000, a team of the Kahuzi-Biega Park that was in charge of de-stroying poachers' networks in thearea confiscated a young gorilla frompoachers. According to the poachers,an expatriate, an agent of an interna-tional organisation in Bukavu, hadgiven the order to capture the gorilla.However, the people who were in-

volved in the Bitorwa case never be-trayed their sources, not even to thenational police. This shows that theyhad some sort of safeguard.

The gorilla, a male, was captured inthe montane forest after his family hadbeen killed. He was about 2 years oldand had been fed fruit (mainly ba-nanas) during his captivity.

About 10 days after his capture, theinfant still knew the taste of leaves andfruit that he had eaten in the forest(Myrianthus, Urera, Pennisetum ...)and the park decided to try and re-introduce him to the forest to give hima chance to survive in his natural envi-ronment. It was attempted to intro-duce him to the group led by thesilverback Mugaruka that consists of6 individuals. However, the re-intro-duction was difficult because of thesilverback's behaviour; he reacted ag-gressively to the young gorilla threetimes. The infant panicked and rush-ed back to the team that had takenhim to the group. A few days later, thesolitary youngster died in the forest.

It seems that the confiscation andre-introduction of wild animals to theirnatural habitat does not solve theproblem that threatens the large ani-mals of the Kahuzi-Biega NationalPark. The ICCN (Institut Congolaispour la Conservation de la Nature) andthe park management are fightingagainst the transport of animals fromthe park into town (gorilla babies,

Photo: Carlos SchulerThe orphan Bitorwa

Attack on a Kahuzi-Biega MeetingDuring an Interahamwe attackon a meeting on 5 September2000, 10 people died and manypeople were injured, some ofthem seriously. Contrary to firstmedia reports, no members ofthe park staff were among thedead. The rebels took five hos-tages whom they set free nearKalonge. The hostages reportedthat the attackers belonged tothe "Army for the Liberation ofRwanda".

The attack took place on thelast day of a meeting betweenpark staff, government repre-sentatives, traditional chiefs andrepresentatives of the localpopulation. The aim of the nego-tiations was to develop solutionsfor the conservation of the se-verely threatened corridor be-tween the mountain and the low-land sector of the Kahuzi-BiegaNational Park.

D. R. CONGO


guenons, leopard cubs, ...) and tro-phies (ivory, gorilla skulls, ...) in orderto destroy the poachers' networks thatare systematically looting animal andplant products. Fortunately there are� besides the faithful partner, GTZ(Gesellschaft für technische Zusam-menarbeit: German governmental de-velopment organisation) � UNESCO,Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe,Born Free Foundation, WCS, Nou-velles Approches and other organisa-tions that support local efforts to savethe gorillas in their natural habitat.

The support of the conservationists'world is extremely necessary as itcan condemn the acts of destructionand support the respect for nature.This is especially important becauseofficial and international organisationsare funding the ecocide. For example,zoos, animal centers, rich people whodecorate their property with wild ani-mals, and others could help to slowdown these activities that are disturb-ing the balance of the forest ecosys-tems which include man too.

Chantal Shalukoma

Visit to Kahuzi-BiegaDuring my last visit to the Kahuzi-Biega National Park in October, I sawMugaruka and his family again. Therainy season has just started in Kivuand the gorillas were feeding mainlyon young bamboo shoots.

After I had the pleasure of beingclose to a family of gorillas, I alwaystake away a feeling of humility andrespect for the quiet strength and theharmonic relationship with nature thatthese primates have been able to pre-serve. Close to them, one can almostforget that peace is far from being re-installed in the country and that inse-curity reigns the region.

After a period of reorganisation, thepark guards, partly armed at the mo-ment, have re-started patrols in thesmaller part of the park and in the

corridor. One cannot but pay tributeto their ardent wish to preserve what isleft of the park�s biodiversity, and totheir enormous courage. We also rec-ognise the tremendous support theyreceive from the GTZ against all odds.

At the moment, the authorities�support seems to be much more de-termined. It is because of this thatpoachers who are arrested by theguards are actually kept in prison forseveral months, instead of being freedimmediately as it has happened be-fore. The farmers who had illegallycultivated fields in the corridor havebeen forced to leave.

A new census has determined thatthe park�s gorilla population is in bet-ter shape than previously thought. Nonew cases of gorilla poaching havebeen reported. On the other hand, thepoaching of small animals is worrying.This seems to be partly due to theimpoverishment of the human popula-tion and the resulting shortage ofmeat.

The situation of the lowland part ofthe park is even much more worrying.There are indications that currentlythousands of miners are mining there

for columbite (niobite � (Fe, Mn)Nb2O

6

� and tantalite � (Fe, Mn)Ta2O

6), an

ore that represents an important re-source of the region. Most of thecollected mineral is taken out by aero-planes. Naturally, this illegal exploita-tion means that every animal speciesthat moves in the lowland part of thepark is killed in order to feed the min-ers. Another factor is the ivory trade.To date, there is no material proof ofthis illegal activity, but, according toinformation from the ICCN, there is nodoubt that it takes place. Currently,the ICCN has no means to put a stopto the ongoing slaughter. The supportof the authorities is needed to deter-mine the source of the collected min-eral in numerous airports and locali-ties surrounding the park, such asPunia, Walikale, Nzovu, Isangi andLulingu. To put an end to this trade isan important financial sacrifice, butwithout it the lowland part of the parkcannot survive.

Jean-Francois Segers

The Situation in MaikoNational Park

Maiko National Park was created No-vember 1970 to protect the criticalpopulations of Grauer�s gorilla, chim-panzee, okapi, bongo, forest elephantand Congo peacock sheltered withinits boundaries. Unlike Kahuzi-Biegaand Virunga, Maiko is not a WorldHeritage listed site and, therefore,does not benefit from similar interna-tional attention and support.

Based on forest reconnaissance,John Hart and Claude Sikubwabo(1994) consider Maiko may be therichest forest park in the DemocraticRepublic of Congo in terms of bio-diversity. As a result of their 1989 to1992 survey, they identified two dis-tinct populations of Grauer�s gorilla inMaiko National Park. In 1996 JohnHart and Jefferson Hall estimated

D. R. CONGO


those populations to be 826 (range444�1090) and 33 (range 18�45) in thenorth and south respectively, with thenorthern population remaining rela-tively stable and offering the best hopefor conservation. However, before thewar there was already some humanoccupation in Maiko and elephantpoachers worked from temporarycamps inside the park. Small scalecommercial ivory and live animal (in-cluding infant gorillas) trade had al-ready established routes throughButembo, Kisangani, Lubutu, Bafwa-sende and Walikale. The vast surfacearea of the park and inadequate infra-structure made surveillance, controland protection very difficult.

The current conflict erupted in June1998. Two years later, with war stillravaging the terrain, ConservateurMasasu (Maiko north) described thesituation (June 2000) from safe havenat Epulu. He reported that the Maikostaff salaries have not been paid forthe past three years. The staff feelseriously ignored and unappreciatedin comparison to the World HeritageSite parks. He is forced to reside inthe village of Butembo (nearly 100 kmfrom the park) because he is no longerable to pay rent for his house in Man-guredjipa. This indicates that there isno "protective" presence within thepark territory, the only effective de-terrent against illegal activity.

He further reported that the criticalwildlife of Maiko National Park are

facing complete disaster as a result ofthe current crisis. For example hecited events in February 1999 when anadult male gorilla was killed and re-lates that soldiers based in Man-guredjipa kill at least 2 elephants perweek to sell the meat.

The primary factors influencing thepoaching and exploitation of mineralsare the rebellion and the presenceof humans who suffer the resultingmiseries of war and economic de-privation. Mineral prospectors and theprocess of digging for gold (a lucrativeclandestine career) impact the watercourses and shorelines of the riversand scarring the landscape. Ru-dimentary mechanical traps, nets,snares, capture devices, etc. areemployed to hunt bushmeat andthreaten the lives and the well-being ofgorillas. A single trapper may main-tain as many as 500 traps.

Due to the armed conflict andinability of park personnel to staff theirposts, there is little direct news fromMaiko. However, the Okapi Faunal

Reserve (OFR) lies just to the north ofMaiko and the Epulu station (OFR)offers a relative perspective. John andTerese Hart generously provide in-formation from Epulu. They write thatthe northeastern Democratic Republicof Congo remains completely un-stable, and in August 2000 two new"rebel" movements emerged, includ-ing an offshoot group based in Baf-wasende. The Bafwasende groupinclude in their territorial claim theoccupation of half of northern Maiko.

We can reasonably assume thatthe situation at OFR is representativeof northern Maiko. In personal com-munications, the Harts relate thatthey are having to fight a continuousbattle against incursion, illicit mining,elephant poaching, military desertersturned bandits/poachers, etc. Most ofthese "elements" have some com-plicity with local people, local au-thorities and the occupying govern-ments. All are involved in chaoticextractive activities, including bush-meat, but mainly driven by the search

ButemboOpienge

DEMOCRATICREPUBLIC OF CONGO

Parc National de la Maiko

Walikale

Lubutu

Manguredjipa

Lubero

Goma

Punia

Lindi

Lubero

Maiko

Loya

Patch of land within the Maiko National Park after digging for goldPhoto: Claude Sikubwabo Kiyengo

D. R. CONGO


for minerals (gold, colombo-tantalite,diamonds). The Harts do not yet seean end to instability in the region.Meeting with Terese Hart, Con-servateur Masasu reported similarincursions into Maiko north, but withthe presence of more dangerousarmed rebel and military deserters aswell.

A Médecins sans Frontièresvolunteer from Kisangani who hadbeen in the Lubutu and Oso region(Maiko south) in the recent past didnot even know of the existence of thepark, but his description to John Hartof the meat trade in the region wasvery worrying.

The Harts maintain that despitethese depredations, much of the valueremains in the region (including Ituriand Maiko) and the capacity forrenewal is still there � as there is noserious loss of forest cover or in-cursion by logging from timber com-panies, though these remain ultimaterisks. The Harts insist that there isstill much worth saving � and fightingfor. They identify success in OFR ascontinuous vigilance on the groundand support for whatever interventionscan be achieved. Sadly, Maiko lackssuch a constituency.

However, Conservateur Masasuasks us to pursue peace, sensiti-zation and education of the humanpopulation living close to the park,formation of personnel to control andorganize ecological activities at thelocal level, material (equipment) andfinancial support for the staff andproject assistance for the park.

The organisation of internationalsupport is absolutely necessary andindispensable to save the treasures ofthe Maiko National Park. It is myhope that this article will introduceMaiko to the broader public, en-courage support and potentially peakthe interest of an NGO to adoptMaiko.

Jo Thompson

ReferenceHart, J.A. and Sikubwabo, C. 1994. Explora-tion of the Maiko National Park of Zaire 1989-1992: History, environment and the dis-tribution and status of large mammals. Wild-life Conservation Society, New York.

In August, Jo Thompson and MichelHasson visited the national parksUpemba and Kundelungu in southernCongo. The situation there was des-perate, especially for elephants. How-ever, the rangers are doing their bestto protect the parks.

Mt. Tshiaberimu NewsIn February 2000, with funds from theBerggorilla & Regenwald Direkfhilfeand the DFGF (Dian Fossey GorillFund), Claude Sikubwabo and VitalKatembo conducted a training coursefor 21 rangers and other employees inthe Mt. Tshiaberimu area. The train-ing consisted of these courses: intro-duction to monitoring, importance ofthe park's conservation, conflicts be-tween conservation and communities,orientation with maps and GPS, habi-tats and animals of Mt. Tshiaberimu,ecology, biology and behaviour of go-rillas, conservation problems on Mt.Tshiaberimu and gorilla census tech-niques including transects. After the3-day training, activities in the fieldstarted. The participants conducted asurvey on the gorillas and other mam-mals of Mt. Tshiaberimu, registeredthe cultivated area on Mt. Tshiabe-rimu, practised orientation in the for-est and analyzed human activities.

From 7 to 11 February, the gorillaswere surveyed by the employees andfrom 12 to 22 February by the rangers.Their nests were registered and some-times a few individuals were seen.When the survey team approachedthe gorillas, the silverback chargedevery time. The survey revealed thatthere is only one gorilla family left inthe area. It was named Lusenge. Asthe group is only partly habituated, it

was not possible to determine thegender of all group members. Thereare definitely 9 gorillas; among themare one silverback male and two adultfemales with babies. Another silver-back lives in the vicinity of the family;his relationship with the Lusenge fam-ily is not clear. Three more males,two silverbacks and one blackback,range in the Kivya area. Recently, thegorillas have started to occasionallyvisit the fields.

The team also collected samples ofthe gorillas� feeding plants, listing atotal of 37 species. Compared to theresults from Kahuzi-Biega (about 140plant species) and Virunga (about 75),this might indicate that gorilla food onMt. Tshiaberimu is not sufficiently var-ied. Therefore further research on thenutrition of the Mt. Tshiaberimu goril-las is urgently required.

In addition to the gorillas, the follow-ing mammals were also observed onMt. Tshiaberimu: blue monkey, black-fronted duiker as well as unidentifiedspecies of genet, mongoose, galago,squirrels and bats. Baboons werenoticed near Kasimbi. The occurenceof the jackal, the owl-faced monkeyand the potto could not be confirmed.

Part of the training course was alsoto survey the area of the park utilizedby the local population since 1990. Inthat year, people started cultivatingfields, collecting firewood and plantsand setting traps for rodents. Therangers and the responsible personsin Kiavinyonge did not try to stopthese illegal activities. Currently, 6.4km2 are affected. Park staff are tryingto prevent the allocation of land fornew fields. The situation in the part ofthe park which is actually protectedhas improved considerably over thelast few years. Only a few, usuallyold, signs of human activity could befound here.

It is essential for the future of theMt. Tshiaberimu area and its gorillasto sensitize the local population; to

D. R. CONGO


conduct development projects aroundthe park and to involve the people liv-ing close to the park in conservationmeasures.

To improve the conservation of Mt.Tshiaberimu, we recommend the fol-lowing:� Continue the support of the projectfor the park.� Conduct a survey (at least for 3months) on the mammals.� Examine the health of the gorillas incooperation with the MGVC (MountainGorilla Veterinary Center).� Study the food plants of the gorillasin detail.� Develop a community action planthat coordinated the action of thepopulation concerned with the conser-vation of the site.� Establish development projects forthe surrounding population.� Keep the pistes for patrols. This isnecessary since the elephants havebeen exterminated.� Carry out large public awarenesscampaigns.

Claude Sikubwabo Kiyengoand Vital Katembo Mushengezi

Attack on Vital KatemboWorking for gorilla conservation in theeastern part of the Democratic Repub-lic of Congo is a dangerous task. In1999 Mbake Sivha was attacked androbbed in her house in Bukavu, andnow Vital Katembo became a victim ofsuch an aggression. On 23 October2000 he was attacked by 4 armedmilitary persons on the way to hishouse in Goma. They threatened himand stole his computer, video camera,mobile telephone, radio, some moneyand his identity papers. He feared forhis life. When the police arrived, thebandits fled. One of them was caughtbut set free very soon and the stolenbelongings of Vital Katembo were notfound. He suffered a great shock fromthis experience.

Pictures from the meeting onSarambwe conservation

Sarambwe Protection

With funding from the Berggorilla &Regenwald Direkthilfe, a meeting onthe conservation of the SarambweForest was held in June between allorganisations working in the area, gov-ernment representatives, representa-tives of the local population and thetraditional chiefs. The meeting wasorganized by the local NGO VONA(La voix de la nature) and the ICCN.Its goal was to identify the conserva-tion problems in the Sarambwe areaand to develop joint solutions.

Many organisations are concernedwith the protection of the SarambweForest, for example: The ICCN sentrangers to the protection of Sarambwein 1998. ICCN and IGCP (Internatio-nal Gorilla Conservation Programme)work together as partners to fund theconservation activities in Sarambwe:The costs of the office of the Domainede chasse de Rutshuru and the foodsupplies of the ranger patrols. Thispermits the rangers of Sarambwe toconduct patrols and meet with therangers of the Bwindi ImpenetrableNational Park accross the border toUganda. The organisation AJAKARworks for the reforestation of the dis-turbed parts of the Sarambwe area.The governmental authority EPF hasgiven permits for wood exploitation tothe population but stopped this in1996. Meanwhile, the Mwami (king) ofBwisha found an area where the peo-ple who had cultivated fields in theSarambwe area could settle.

In 1998, a Sarambwe working com-mittee was founded by those authori-ties and organisations. However, thiscommittee has not functioned cor-rectly so far as it did not have a pro-gram and support.

The local population considers thefollowing problems as the most impor-tant ones in Sarambwe:� The ICCN has no control of what ishappening in the forest.

� Deforestation.� The borders of the protected areaare not sufficiently known.� The local population is not involvedin the administration of the SarambweForest area.� The legislation concerning pro-tected zones is not written in a com-prehensible way.� Local groups do not receive anysupport for their conservation activi-ties.� General insecurity.Severe deforestation poses the great-est threat to the Sarambwe Forest. Inorder to improve the conservation ofthe Sarambwe Forest it was decidedto increase public awareness activi-ties, to involve the local population indecision-making and to support devel-opmental aid projects around the for-est. The forest boundaries are to bedemarcated as soon as possible andthe resettlement of families still livinginside the forest is to be supported.Moreover, adjacent villages will startreforestation measures shortly.

Claude Sikubwabo Kiyengo

UGANDA

Sewing and Knitting for Conservation

It has always been our goal that the people living in the vicinity of protected areas for gorillas should be involvedin our work and profit from it. Therefore we want to involve Ugandans in the manufacture of clothes for rangers.Waltraud Ndagijimana, who has lived in Kisoro for many years, wants to support us in this project. She hasgood contacts with local women�s groups who will sew clothes and knit sweaters for us.

The first requests for clothes are already coming in. It can get very cold on the Virunga Volcanoes; therangers of the Mgahinga National Park need warm sweaters. At first we gave them clothes from the store, butnow we have run out. Therefore we are planning to have a large number of sweaters knitted and put into thestore, to be distributed when the rangers need them.

In addition to sweaters, the national parks� staffregularly need clothes that have to be produced ac-cording to their special requirements. We also wantto employ Ugandans for this. The first order hasalready been placed, but to have more clothes madewe need more funds. We have to buy wool and cloth(expensive, robust quality) in Uganda or Germany.

Not only the rangers will profit from this projectbut also Ugandans living in the parks� vicinity.

We are grateful for any donation that will help us tosupply our storage. Please send checks to:

Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe, c/o Rolf BrunnerLerchenstr. 5, 45473 Muelheim, Germany


Our Assistant

William Mugisha, our assistant inKisoro, is now able to communicatewith us regularly by e-mail and mobilephone. He even can send pictures

themselves more than usual. Threeyoung animals had an abnormal skincondition. One gorilla was anaesthe-tized, as it had lost about 60% of itshair and its skin was coming off inflakes. The MGVC took samples ofthe diseased skin and took biopsies.A microscopic examination indicatedskin mites. The animal was drip-fed,as it showed signs of being dehy-drated. Two other young animalswere treated with an ectoparasiticointment without being anaesthetized.

A week later, one of them wastreated again. After another week, allthree animals' condition had markedlyimproved. However, at the end of Au-gust, in one case another follow-uptreatment with the ectoparasitic medi-cine was necessary. In addition, anewly infected young gorilla had lost a

that he takes with his digital camera,and he has already done this suc-cessfully. It is extremely useful for usthat he can now keep us informed onhis activities and provide news fromthe gorilla conservation areas.

He has already taken part in severalinternational meetings. For example,he represented us in the latest IGCPmeeting at the end of September.There he reported on our past andfuture gorilla conservation activities.

Scabies againAt the end of July, the Ugandan parkauthorities asked the Mountain GorillaVeterinary Center (MGVC) to examinethe gorillas in the Nkuringo group thatis currently being habituated. The ani-mals had lost hair and scratched

S. Wladarz and W. Mugisha senda digital picture to Germany.

Photo: Klaus Griegel

Women in Kisoro who will knit ranger clothes forour storage

RWANDA


lot of hair on the chest and also had tobe treated. One young animal re-ceived its follow-up treatment from anAustralian colleague from Uganda, asthe silverback shielded it from the restof the group while the MGVC vet-erinarians were there.

At the moment, all animals are ingood condition. No additional individu-als fell ill. The samples were sent toparasitologists in the USA in order todetermine whether the mites were aspecies that normally infects humansor other mammals. To date, there isno final result. Scabies mites areconsidered very host specific. How-ever, the mite in question does notseem to be an autochthonous gorillaparasite, as the young animals show-ed a strong reaction.

In early August, the IGCP called ameeting with the Ugandan park au-thorities, the ITFC (Institute of Tropi-cal Forest Conservation) and the

MGVC. The local park authorities ex-pressed their concern about the dis-ease. Preventative measures are tobe taken. The MGVC was asked todevelop a questionnaire and give train-ing that would enable rangers andpossibly other people living close tothe park to recognize early signs ofgorilla diseases. This has since beendone. Park authorities, IGCP andITFC are planning additional meas-ures.The Nkuringo group was habituatedfor tourists but the start of gorilla tour-ism was postponed. According toIGCP Uganda, there is no infrastruc-ture in the area, the gorillas are spend-ing too much time outside the parkand a clear tourism development planhas not yet been finished. There is nodate for opening of tourism to thegroup but IGCP and UWA (UgandaWildlife Authority) are working on thisissue as a matter of priority.

Conservation NGOsunite for "Peace"

A 14-year-old young silverback in aKarisoke research gorilla group wasrecently very sick following a pro-longed respiratory infection. Amaho-ro, a name meaning "peace" in Kinya-rwanda, became lethargic, did not eatand was having difficulty keeping upwith his group. The group, however,adjusted their travel speed to avoidleaving him behind. There are fiveyoung silverbacks in this group, andone in particular, Gwiza, was an al-most constant companion of theinvalid.

When it was clear that Amahoro'scondition was deteriorating, we con-tacted the International Gorilla Con-servation Programme (IGCP) in Ugan-da in the absence of the MountainGorilla Veterinary Center vets fromRwanda. IGCP contacted WayneBoardman, working at the UgandaWildlife Education Centre. We hadlengthy discussions of whether or notto intervene and if so how. VinceSmith of Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund(DFGF) Europe also participated inthe debate. After an evaluation visit,Wayne Boardman discussed Ama-horo's condition by telephone withAntoine Mudakikwa and Mike Cran-field of MGVP and Liz Macfie, Veteri-nary Advisor to IGCP.

The following day we successfullydarted Amahoro with two antibiotics.His weak state contributed to theease of the intervention � a vocalisa-tion would have drawn the attention ofthe dominant silverback � but Ama-horo hardly reacted to the dart, hesimply went to his mother, Pandora,for comfort. He has now fully recov-ered and was an enthusiastic partici-pant during a recent inter-group inter-action. Thanks to everyone involved.

Liz WilliamsonEach Karisoke gorilla group is visiteddaily. Karisoke researchers are allo-Photo: Liz Williamson

Amahoro sits close to his mother after having received his medication

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cated military escorts 4 days per weeksince September 2000. Gorilla tour-ism is operational 7-days per week ondemand. (From Primate Eye 72)

Mountain GorillaVeterinarians

Recently, the MGVC conducted anautopsy on a young gorilla from a re-search group. The animal had anaffected gastrointestinal tract. The re-sults of the microscopic sections havenot yet arrived. It is planned to startresearch into the microbiology and vi-rology of gorillas through dung sam-pling this year.

The MGVC vets participated in aconference on zoo animals in the USAto give a talk on the necessity of amultidisciplinary approach in veteri-nary medicine for nature conservationand to participate in a training courseon the assessment of disease risk.They received training in modern tech-niques in the microbiological andvirological part of the Simian Labora-tory in San Antonio.

The Morris Animal Foundation(which funds the Mountain Gorilla Vet-erinary Project) invited 18 participantsto meet in Florida for the strategicplanning of the project�s future.

Journey to Uganda andRwanda

After having seen the mountain goril-las in the Bwindi Impenetrable ForestNational Park in February 1999, ourinterest in the gorillas of the MgahingaGorilla National Park had been awak-ened. So we set out to see them inSeptember 2000.

We were not able to obtain permitsfor the Mgahinga Park from theUganda Wildlife Authority in Kampala.As the only habituated group (Nyaka-gezi) sometimes moves into the Vi-

runga National Park in the D.R.Congo, visits can only be booked lo-cally in the Kisoro office of the park.There we learnt that the Nyakagezigroup had recently stayed in Congobecause of more abundant food onthat side of the border.

However, a visit to the mountaingorillas was not our only reason forcoming to Kisoro. As members of theBergorillas & Regenwald Direkthilfewe wanted to see the recently estab-lished office in Kisoro and meet theorganisation's assistant, William Mu-gisha. He showed us the small officenext door to the Mgahinga NationalPark office. A lap-top computer and adigital camera had just been handedover. With this modern equipment,William Mugisha can now send up-to-date news to Germany, both in textand pictures, via e-mail, and also re-ceive messages. We tested the newequipment the same evening andfound it was working well.

On 11 September, we drove withWilliam Mugisha from Kisoro to theMgahinga National Park post. In thepresence of Chief Warden Isaac F.Drani, we handed over 2 tarpaulins,3 two-men tents, 42 polo shirts and3 sweatshirts.

We learnt that visits to the moun-tain gorillas of the Volcano NationalPark in Rwanda are possible from theUgandan side. So we decided to at-tempt this. In the Virunga Hotel we

found a tour operator who took us tothe border in Cyanika in his pick-uptruck, together with four British stu-dents. From there we went to ORTPN(Office Rwandais du Tourisme et desParcs Nationaux) in Ruhengeri to getthe permits, before we finally arrived inKinigi, the post where the gorilla visitsstart. As in Uganda, the permit costsUS$ 250 for foreigners.

We visited the Sabinyo group whichconsists of 2 silverbacks, 5 adult fe-males and 4 young gorillas. It tookless than an hour to reach the group.For a second time we were able toenjoy the overwhelming experience ofseeing the mountain gorillas. Whenwe re-entered Uganda, we had to payanother US$ 30 for the visa.

Klaus Griegel and Sylvia Wladarz

Visit to the MountainGorillas in Rwanda

In August 2000, the federal delegate ofthe Green Party, Hans-Christian Strö-bele, and I visited the Volcano Natio-nal Park in Rwanda and the MountainGorilla Veterinary Center in Ru-hengeri. Ute Eilenberger also accom-panied us on our visits to the gorillafamilies Sabinyo and Susa.

Rwanda profits from the tourist rushin Uganda. Tourists who did not man-age to get into a group in Uganda aretaken accross the border to theRwandan park and integrated within

Young gorilla in Rwanda

100

200

300

A S O N D J F M A M J J A

Number of gorilla tourists fromAugust 1999 to August 2000(ORTPN)

Photo: Sylvia Wladarz

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visitor groups there. During our firstvisit to the Sabinyo family we learntthat this trans-border shuffling of tour-ists is conducted in a relatively un-bureaucratic way. The park authoritynot always keeps the stipulated maxi-mum number of visitors per gorillafamily (8). There were 9 of us when wevisited Sabyinyo; when we visited theSusa group on the next day, we were5. Both times we were accompaniedby several guides and the inevitablemilitary escort. The visitors are al-ways accompanied by armed troopsas a precautionary measure, becausethe situation at the border area is stillunsafe. Time and again, people inrefugee camps and in the forest havesuffered attacks from the Congoleseside of the border.

Although clear instructions to theaccompanying soldiers are supposedto prevent the gorillas from feelingalarmed, the soldiers did not followthese instructions during our visit. Asconsequence, the silverback male es-pecially became irritated. The other10 group members, all of which seem-

ed healthy, reacted to the visitors ac-cording to age: the young gorillaswere curious, the older ones werecalm and mostly relaxed. However,neither on this occasion nor on thenext day when we visited the Susagroup, was the minimum distance of7 m between people and gorillas main-tained. This regulation is supposed toprevent the gorillas from catching hu-man diseases. The accompanyingvet was not happy.

The gorillas were close to the parkborder and the walk to the Sabinyofamily was only a short amble. Incontrast, the visit to the Susa grouprequired a high degree of fitness. Wehad to hike for several hours up to analtitude of over 3,000 m, first to reachthe edge of the forest, and then withinthe forest. The gorillas moved justahead of us out of sight. We onlyreached them after they had settleddown in a clearing.

As these gorillas have been used toreceiving visits from tourists for a longtime, they were not disturbed by ourpresence. Ute Eilenberger was

pleased to see that a bite wound on ablackback was healing well. However,she was considerably concernedabout the attention another blackbackpaid to the head guide. The gorillagrasped the collar of the man (whomhe has known for many years), pulledhim towards himself, held his headand turned it so that the man�s facewas pressed against his own cheek.Thankfully, this was accompanied bya very friendly facial expression. Heheld his "prisoner" in this way for quitea while: an impressive if very ambiva-lent experience. It can only be hopedthat neither of them suffer any healthproblems as a result of this encounter.

The rangers and guides impressedus with their involvement, their knowl-edge and the respect they show forthe gorillas, and last but not least withtheir friendly but professional way ofdealing with the tourists. There is nodoubt that they need equipment of allsorts, as do their colleagues in Ugan-da and the Congo. In this terrain,boots and other equipment suffer a lotwear and tear.

The government has the difficulttask of resettling returning refugees.Contrary to their cultural tradition andpatterns of dispersed residence, thegovernment promotes their new settle-ment in villages, which facilitates infra-structural support and shall preventsettlement in the forest. However,fields are adjoining the edge of theforest. The establishment of bufferzones with appropriate managementis urgently required if the nationalparks� biodiversity, including the goril-las, is to be conserved. Internationalcooperation is required here. How-ever, since the end of the war, interna-tional cooperation is executed with re-straint, although the country, afterhaving suffered a terrible war, urgentlyneeds help. Nature conservation andthe promotion of development cannotbe separated here.

Juliana Ströbele-GregorTourists sometimes can approach the gorillas very closely

Photo: Sylvia Wladarz

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What, if Anything, IsTaxonomy?

Taxonomy and classification, twowords that have come to mean muchthe same thing, are "the ordering oforganisms into groups, on the basisof their relationships" (modified afterSimpson, 1961).

It is important to realize that tax-onomy is a part of biological science,like ecology, behaviour, physiology orevolution. So a classification is ascientific hypothesis, subject to modi-fication if new evidence comes to light,or if new understandings are broughtto bear. In this sense, a classificationis never finalized, there is no "officialtaxonomy". There can only be astatement of the present position, asseen by a particular taxonomist, tak-ing (one hopes) all relevant informationinto account.

Nowadays, nearly all taxonomistsagree that common ancestry is themost objective criterion for orders,families and genera (and suborders,subfamilies � and so on); so, thelemurs, tarsiers, monkeys, apes andhumans are classified in the order Pri-mates because they share a commonancestor not shared by other mam-mals. In older books, humans areusually classified alone in the familyHominidae, whereas orangutans, go-rillas and chimpanzees are placed in a

different family, Pongidae; but it isnow clear that humans, chimpanzeesand gorillas share a common ancestornot shared by the orangutan, so weshould classify them together in agroup that excludes the orangutan.As all four are rather closely related, itis now almost universal to place themin a single family, for which the correctname is Hominidae, with two subfami-lies: Ponginae for Pongo (the orang-utan) alone, and Homininae combin-ing Homo (humans), Pan (chimpan-zees) and Gorilla (gorillas).

A Word about NamesI referred to "the correct name" be-cause, unlike taxonomy, nomencla-ture is objective. Once one has de-cided what the most appropriate tax-onomy is, the question of what namesto call the resulting taxonomic groupsis decided by the rules of naming, laiddown in the International Code of Zoo-logical Nomenclature. In the main,one must use the earliest availablename given to a species (or subspe-cies, or a genus, or a family).

A species name is a binomial. Thefirst word is the generic name, thesecond is the specific name. So inthe genus Macaca we have the spe-cies Macaca mulatta, Macaca fuscataand others. In the genus Pan we havePan troglodytes (common chimpan-zee) and Pan paniscus (pygmy chim-

panzee or bonobo). Always begin thegeneric name with a capital letter; al-ways begin the specific name with asmall letter.

What Are Species?The category "species" needs to bediscussed separately, for reasonsthat will become clear. The great tax-onomist Ernst Mayr defined a speciesas being "reproductively isolated"; hisfullest discussion of what this wouldmean was published nearly 40 yearsago (Mayr, 1963), but is still well worthreading. The concept of reproductiveisolation has been much misunder-stood. It actually means that twospecies do not, "under natural condi-tions" (meaning, more or less, in thewild) interbreed with each other. Whatit does not mean is that they donot interbreed with each under anycircumstances. Thus, horses andmules interbreed, though their hybrids(mules and hinnies) are almost invari-ably sterile; and lions and tigers canbe persuaded to interbreed in zoos,and their hybrids are fertile � yet no-body, as far as I know, has ever sug-gested that they should be included inone species. This is known as theBiological Species Concept (BSC).

But what if two animal populationslive in different geographic areas (areallopatric), so do not have the opportu-nity to interbreed? Consider the follow-ing three levels of separation:� Japanese macaques (on all theJapanese islands) differ strongly andconsistently from rhesus macaques,which live on the Asian mainland.Japanese and rhesus macaques arecustomarily separated into differentspecies, Macaca fuscata and Macacamulatta respectively.� Within Japan, the macaques ofYakushima (=Yaku island) differ onaverage from those of the three mainislands, but not absolutely. The Japa-nese macaques are customarily di-vided into two subspecies, Macaca

Hands of (from left to right) orangutan, chimpanzee, gorilla and manDrawings from Schultz, 1956

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fuscata fuscata (large islands) andMacaca fuscata yakui (Yakushima).� Macaques on the three main Japa-nese islands of Honshu, Shikoku andKyushu are indistinguishable morpho-logically from each other. Macaquesof all three islands are regarded asbelonging to one and the same sub-species, Macaca fuscata fuscata.

Could the essence of species,then, be that they are morphologicallydistinct, and if so, how much differ-ence is required?

It is today possible to examineDNA sequences directly, and these,like morphological characters, maydiffer between two populations. Thosesequences that have been analysedtend either to code for enzymes (hae-moglobin, cytochrome oxidase) or notto code for anything (pseudogenes,introns) and so apparently are "silent".No sequences that code for morpho-logical characters have yet been iden-tified, let alone analysed, thoughclearly they exist, because such mor-phological (visible or metrical) differ-ences as occur between individuals,and hence between populations, are,to a greater or lesser degree, herit-able. So morphological differencesare a special case of genetic differ-ences. Let us then rephrase thequestion: Could the essence of spe-cies be that they are genetically dis-

tinct, and if so, how much difference isrequired?

The view promoted by the ornitholo-gist Joel Cracraft nearly twenty yearsago (Cracraft, 1983), and now widelyadopted, is that species should be"diagnosable", or 100% distinct; thatis to say, that every member ofa species should be distinguishablefrom every member of all other spe-cies. This is known as the Phylo-genetic Species Concept (PSC).Some of the DNA sequences ofpseudogenes could likewise be identi-fied infallibly though, interestingly, intheir mitochondrial DNA some rhesusmacaques are much more similar toJapanese macaques than to otherRhesus � so not all genes give thesame results.

In the Japanese vs. Rhesus ma-caque example, there is not the slight-est possibility of determining whetherthey are separate species or not usingthe BSC. (These drawbacks apply,quite frankly, to most comparisonsbetween pairs of populations.) But thePSC can be applied, and we find thatthe two are genetically distinct: thereare some genes which are universal(fixed) in the one, absent from theother. Each can be diagnosed. Bycontrast, Yakushima and larger-islandmacaques differ on average only: nogene (including morphological charac-

ter) has been discovered which is uni-versal in the one, absent in the other.

Although species theory is verycontroversial, there is a growing con-sensus that the BSC has outlived itsusefulness as a criterion. It is still atouchstone, in that it illustrates insome important way what a species isall about, but it is simply inapplicablein most cases. The PSC, however,always offers objective criteria, and itis likely that a majority of taxonomistsnow adopt some version of it, con-sciously or subconsciously.

A species, then, is a population (orgroup of populations) which differs di-agnostically (i.e. absolutely) from oth-ers. Put another way, it has fixedgenetic differences from others. Putanother way, there are gaps betweendifferent species. Below the specieslevel, relationships between popula-tions are reticulate (shared genes,shared characters). In cladistic jar-gon, the species is the terminal on thecladogram.

What Are Subspecies?Subspecies are geographic segmentsof a species. They are populationswhich differ from one another as awhole, but not absolutely. In this caseit is relevant to ask how much theyshould differ to merit being called dif-ferent subspecies � what proportion ofindividuals should be recognizable?The decision is somewhat arbitrary,but a good rule of thumb is the "sev-enty-five percent rule" (Mayr, 1963):three-quarters of individuals in a popu-lation should differ from all individualsin other populations of the species.

Subspecific names are trinomials.The first two words denote the spe-cies; the third denotes the subspeciesitself. Note that there is never just onesubspecies, there are none or thereare two or more: a species is dividedinto subspecies. As mentioned, Ma-caca fuscata is divided into two sub-species. One, the mainland Japa-

Feet of (from left to right) orangutan, chimpanzee, western gorilla,eastern gorilla and man

Drawings from Schultz, 1933 and 1956

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nese macaque, is called the nomino-typical subspecies, and it subspecificname repeats the specific name: Ma-caca fuscata fuscata. It is the onethat occurs at the type locality (thelocality from which the species wasfirst described). The other has its ownsubspecific name, peculiar to it:Macaca fuscata yakui.

Applying the Criteria to GorillasGorillas are found in two widely sepa-rate parts of Africa. Western gorillaslive in the West-Central African region:southwestern Central African Repub-lic, Congo, Mayombe, Luanda, Ga-bon, Río Muni, southern Cameroon,southeastern Nigeria, and the Djabbirregion of the Democratic Republic ofCongo. Eastern gorillas live in theEast-Central African region: easternD.R. Congo, southwestern Uganda,northern Rwanda. Eastern and West-ern gorillas are somewhat different.How to classify them?

In my experience, every gorilla is atonce distinguishable as an Eastern ora Western gorilla. They are diagnos-able. They differ 100% in their exter-nal characters, and in the skull andteeth. Their mitochondrial DNA(mtDNA) sequences are absolutelydifferent; note that what is important,in deciding whether they are differentspecies or not, is not the fact that theirsequence differences show that theydiverged over a million years ago (Gar-ner & Ryder, 1996), but that they havefixed genetic differences betweenthem. Even if we knew nothing of theirmtDNA, we would still be justified inconcluding that they have fixed ge-netic differences, because their mor-phological differences are absolute,and are heritable. So, under the PSC,they rate as distinct species.

Note that, because their distribu-tions are entirely separate, we havenot a hope of applying the BSC tothem � just as in the rhesus and Japa-nese macaque example. Unless we

apply the PSC, we will have no objec-tive means of deciding whether to callthem different species or not. Somebiologists do not accept the PSC; butfor myself, I do not see how else weare to arrive at anything like a repeat-able, falsifiable hypothesis for theirclassification.

The first gorillas to be describedwere from the Gabon estuary andwere Western gorillas. The ReverendSavage, who first made gorillas knownto science (Savage & Wyman, 1847),gave the name Troglodytes gorilla.

About the generic name: The namethen in common use for the chimpan-zee was Troglodytes niger, which hadbeen given to it by the great Frenchzoologist, Etienne Geoffroy St. Hi-laire, in 1812; Savage thought that thegorilla was a giant species of chim-panzee, which is why he called itTroglodytes gorilla. But the chimpan-zee�s generic name had to be chang-ed, because the same name, Troglo-dytes, had earlier been applied (byVieillot in 1806) to the wren! So thenext available name, Pan Oken, 1816,is now used for the chimpanzee. Butthe gorilla is in any case no longerconsidered to belong to the same ge-nus as the chimpanzee, and in fact asearly as 1852 Isidore Geoffroy St.Hilaire, son of Etienne, gave it its owngeneric name, Gorilla. And that is

why the correct scientific name for theWestern gorilla is Gorilla gorilla.

In 1902, Captain Oskar von Beringediscovered the Eastern gorilla (he"discovered" it by shooting one), and itwas described the following year (Mat-schie, 1903), and named after him:Gorilla beringei. Von Beringe�s gorillawas from Mt. Sabinyo in the VirungaVolcanoes, so this is the type localityof G. beringei. I have argued, above,that Eastern and Western gorillas aredistinct species, so both Savage�sand Matschie�s names are valid.

Paul Matschie, describer of Gorillaberingei, was by modern standards agreat "splitter" of species: where wetoday see a single species, he sawtwo, three or more. Between 1905and 1914 he described several moresupposed new species of gorilla fromdifferent regions of Cameroon: Gorilladiehli, jacobi, schwarzi, hansmeyeriand zenkeri (and the Hon. WalterRothschild even named one after him:Gorilla matschiei!). In 1914, too, hedescribed a supposed new species,Gorilla graueri, from the ItombweMountains, in the D.R. Congo west ofLake Tanganyika. Other people de-scribed supposedly new subspeciesof Gorilla gorilla: G. g. halli from RíoMuni, G. g. uellensis from Djabbir, andG. g. rex-pygmaeorum from Mt. Tshia-berimu.

Artwork: Chisato AbeGorillas from the Virungas, Kahuzi-Biega and the western lowlands

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Two of Matschie�s "species" do ac-tually denote different subspecies. Itdoes not matter that he describedthem as species; we can also usethe names for the subspecies theyreally are.

(1) The so-called Eastern Lowlandgorilla, from the Itombwe Mountains,Kahuzi-Biega, Mt. Tshiaberimu andthe D.R. Congo lowlands east of theLualaba, is different from the trueMountain gorilla of the Virunga Volca-noes; but the morphological charac-ters overlap slightly, and althoughthere is no difficulty in distinguishingthe two as a whole, I do not believethat every single individual could beallocated to one or the other. So I donot think that they are different spe-cies; instead, I class them as sub-species of Gorilla beringei. Becausethe Eastern Lowland gorilla occurs inthe Itombwe Mountains, type localityof Matschie�s G. graueri, its correctname is Gorilla beringei graueri. (Inthe days when I assumed that all goril-las belong to one single species, Icalled it Gorilla gorilla graueri; but, asexplained above, I now conclude thatall Eastern gorillas belong together ina species different from Western).The name rex-pygmaeorum, given toMt. Tshiaberimu gorillas, denotes thesame subspecies, so is a synonym ofgraueri; but if, at some future time,someone considers that Mt. Tshia-berimu gorillas are a different subspe-cies from Itombwe gorillas, the namewill have to be resurrected. The trueMountain gorilla is Gorilla beringeiberingei.

(2) It has recently been argued(Stumpf et al., 1998; Esteban Sar-miento, in preparation) that the goril-las of the Cross River district, on theNigeria�Cameroon border, are some-what different from other Westerngorillas, and should be regarded asa separate subspecies. Matschie�sname diehli was given to gorillas fromthis region. The Cross River gorilla

must therefore be known as Gorillagorilla diehli, and other Western goril-las will be Gorilla gorilla gorilla.

I should add that long ago I studiedand measured the three skulls onwhich the name uellensis was basedand, unexpectedly (because the pop-ulation is geographically so isolated), Icould find no differences at all fromany other Western gorillas. So I con-clude that they are probably examplesof Gorilla gorilla gorilla.

Sarmiento et al. (1996) considerthat the gorillas of the Bwindi-Impen-etrable Forest are different from allother Eastern gorillas, whether Moun-tain (Virunga) or Eastern Lowland.Should further specimens support thishypothesis, then a new subspecies ofG. beringei will have to be describedand named because curiously, de-spite the arrant splitting that went onin the early 20th century, no-one evergot around to looking at any Bwindigorillas!

Colin Groves

ReferencesCracraft, J. 1983. Species concepts and spe-ciation analysis. Current Ornithology (R.F.Johnston, ed.), 1:159-187. New York: PlenumPress.Garner, K.J. & O.A. Ryder. 1996. Mitochond-rial DNA diversity in gorillas. Molecular phylo-genetics and evolution, 6:39-48.Matschie, P. 1903. Über einen Gorilla ausDeutsch-Ostafrika. Sitzungsberichte der Ge-sellschaft naturforschender Freunde, Berlin,1903:253-259.Mayr, E. 1963. Animal Species and Evolution.Oxford University Press.Sarmiento, E.E., T.M. Butynski & J. Kalina.1996. Gorillas of Bwindi-Impenetrable Forestand the Virunga Volcanoes: taxonomic impli-cations of morphological and ecological dif-ferences. American Journal of Primatology,40:1-21.Savage, T.S. and J. Wyman, 1847. Notice ofthe external characters and habits of Troglo-dytes gorilla, a new species of orang fromthe Gaboon River; Osteology of the same.Boston Journal of Natural History, 5:417-442.Simpson, G.G. 1961. Principles of AnimalTaxonomy. Oxford University Press.Stumpf, R.M., J.G. Fleagle, W.L. Jungers, J.F.Oates & C.P. Groves. 1998. Morphologicaldistinctiveness of Nigerian gorilla crania.AAPA Abstracts, 1998:213.

An Overview of Apes inAfrica

All the great apes, except the orang-utan, live in tropical Africa. They com-prise two species of chimpanzee, therobust chimpanzee (also known asthe common chimpanzee) and thegracile chimpanzee (also known asthe bonobo or pygmy chimpanzee),and two species of gorilla, the westerngorilla and the eastern gorilla. All fourof Africa's great apes are found nearthe equator, primarily inhabiting tropi-cal forest where they are essentialcomponents of the richest assem-blage of species on the continent. Un-fortunately, apes are also a source offood and cash for many people inWest and Central Africa. Hunting,together with loss of habitat, hasgreatly reduced both the distributionand the abundance of all four species.

ChimpanzeesThe robust chimpanzee lives in sa-vanna woodlands, grassland-forestmosaic and tropical moist forest, andis found from sea level to an elevationof about 3,000 m. This species prob-ably once spanned most of equatorialAfrica from southern Senegal tosouthwestern Tanzania, ranging overall or part of at least 23 countries.Today, the robust chimpanzee is themost widely distributed of Africa'sapes, occurring in 21 or 22 countriesbetween 13° N and 7° S.

There are four subspecies of robustchimpanzee. The western chimpan-zee once ranged over ten to twelvecountries, but now an estimated40,000 members of this subspeciesare patchily distributed in eight or ninecountries from southeastern Senegaleastwards, possibly to the Niger Riverin Nigeria. Recent genetic researchsupports the recognition of the robustchimpanzee in eastern Nigeria andwestern Cameroon as a distinct sub-species, the Nigeria chimpanzee. Its

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range covers what was formerly con-sidered the southern range of thewestern chimpanzee and the northernrange of the central chimpanzee. Areasonable "guess" is that there aretoday 4,000�6,000 Nigeria chimpan-zees and that their geographic rangeis approximately 20,000 km2.

The range of the central chimpan-zee is very much larger, coveringapproximately 270,000 km2 acrossseven countries in the region betweenthe Sanaga, Ubangi and Congo rivers.Probably between 47,000 and 78,000individuals inhabit this region.

The eastern chimpanzee, with apopulation estimated at between75,000 and 118,000, is the most nu-merous of the chimpanzee subspe-cies. Its range is also the largest,covering about 500,000 km2 and span-ning seven countries from the UbangiRiver in the central Democratic Re-public of Congo, north of the CongoRiver to southwestern Sudan andsouth to southwestern Tanzania.

The gracile chimpanzee is endemicto the grassland-forest mosaic, low-land forest and swamp forest of thecentral Congo Basin south of theCongo River in the Democratic Repub-lic of Congo. It lives within a range ofelevation of 300�500 m, and numbers

between about 30,000 and 50,000 in-dividuals.

GorillasGorillas occur in two distinct regions,western Central Africa and easternCentral Africa, which are separated byabout 900 km of forest in the CongoBasin. Recent studies show that thegenetic differences between the goril-las in the eastern and the westernregion are slightly greater than thosebetween the robust chimpanzees andthe gracile chimpanzee. This geneticdistance, together with morphologi-cal, ecological and behavioural differ-ences, provide support for recognizingtwo species, the western gorilla andthe eastern gorilla.

The western gorilla inhabits lowlandforest, swamp forest and submontaneforest from sea level to about 1,600 m.Two subspecies are recognized: thewestern lowland gorilla and the CrossRiver gorilla. The former is distributedover six countries from south Cam-eroon to Angola's Cabinda enclave,covering an area of roughly 445,000km2. As in the cases of the chimpan-zees, however, the actual range thatgorillas occupy is much less than thegeographic range, as there are largeareas in which no gorillas are present.

The Cross River gorilla, a recentlyresurrected subspecies, inhabits low-land and submontane forest in the up-per Cross River region on the Nige-ria�Cameroon border, about 260 kmnorth of the range of the western low-land gorilla. With only about 200�250individuals remaining, this is the mostthreatened of the gorilla subspecies.

The eastern gorilla lives in sub-montane and montane forest at analtitude of between about 800 and4,000 m. There are two currently rec-ognized subspecies: the mountain go-rilla and Grauer's gorilla. The moun-tain gorilla is restricted to one popula-tion of about 300 individuals. Thispopulation lives in a 375 km2 area inthe Virunga Volcanoes where the bor-ders of Uganda, Rwanda and theDemocratic Republic of Congo meet.

The taxonomic status of the 300 orso gorillas that range over an area ofabout 215 km2 in the Bwindi Forest insouthwestern Uganda is highly uncer-tain. Although they have been called"mountain gorillas", differences be-tween them and the gorillas of theVirungas sugest that the "Bwindi go-rilla" represents a third subspecies orthat they are Grauer's gorillas.

Grauer's gorilla has a discontinu-ous distribution in eastern Democratic

Red List � Gorillas

Listing of the gorillas in the 2000 IUCN Red List

Gorilla beringei (Eastern gorilla) endangeredG. b. ssp. ? (Bwindi gorilla) critically endangeredG. b. ssp beringei (Virunga gorilla) critically endangeredG. b. ssp. graueri (Grauer's gorilla) endangered

Gorilla gorilla (Western gorilla) endangeredG. g. ssp. diehli (Cross River gorilla) critically endangeredG. g. ssp. gorilla (Western lowland gorilla) endangered

C. Hilton-Taylor 2000: 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.IUCN, Gland (Switzerland) und Cambridge, UK

In September 2000 the IUCNpublished the new Red List. Itis available in the internet athttp://www.redlist.org and alsoincludes the definition of thecriteria.

Republic of Congo from Lake Edwardsouth to Lake Tanganyika. This sub-species numbers roughly 17,000 ani-mals and has a geographic range ofabout 15,000 km2.

Conservation StatusAt an international workshop heldin Orlando, Florida, in March 2000,members of the IUCN/SSC PrimateSpecialist Group and other senior sci-entists met to reassess the taxonomyand degree of threat status of theworld's primates in preparation for thepublication of the next Red DataBook. The participants concludedthat, in the light of the recent andcontinuing rapid declines in the num-bers and distributions of Africa's apes,all four species and six of the eightsubspecies are "Endangered". Twosubspecies, the mountain gorilla andthe Cross River gorilla, are "CriticallyEndangered", as is the population ofgorillas in the Bwindi ImpenetrableForest. Clearly conservation effortsmust focus on these taxa.

ThreatsWhat are the current threats to pop-ulations of apes in Africa? On a conti-nent where food production per personis on the decline, where one person inthree is malnourished, and where thehuman population is expected to dou-ble by the year 2025, the require-ments for food, clothing, fuelwood andshelter will continue to grow rapidly.This is coupled with a growing de-mand for Africa's natural resources bypeople in Europe, Asia and NorthAmerica. As a result of this exploita-tion, the populations of chimpanzeesand gorillas are being reduced, frag-mented and destroyed, both indirectlythrough habitat degradation and loss,and directly through unsustainablehunting.

Throughout their ranges, chimpan-zees and gorillas are officially pro-tected under both national and inter-

national law. Nonetheless, during thelast decade the commercial (i.e., non-traditional, non-subsistence) huntingof apes has increased greatly as log-ging companies open up large tractsof previously inaccessible forest.Hunters have completely destroyedpopulations of apes and greatly re-duced many others. As a result, to-day there are large tracts of suitablehabitat where chimpanzees and goril-las are either at low densities or nolonger present. Hunting, rather thanthe loss of forest habitat, is now prob-ably the most significant and immedi-ate threat facing all of Africa's apes,as well as many other species of pri-mates and other large mammals.

The increase in hunting not onlythreatens populations and taxa ofapes, but it also brings people andapes into closer and more frequentcontact than ever, with the conse-quence that the rate of disease trans-mission between humans and apeshas increased. Medical researchersnow recognize links between the

"opening up" of the tropical forest bylogging firms, the increased hunting ofgreat apes and the more frequenttransmissions of diseases betweenapes and humans. For example, thevirus that gave rise to HIV-1 in humansmay have been transmitted throughblood contact during the butchering ofrobust chimpanzees for food.

Disease can be a major problem inefforts to conserve endangered pop-ulations and taxa. Exotic strains ofpathogens have the potential to be-come hyperdiseases by "jumping" tohosts not previously exposed to thestrain. Experience tells us that thiscan result in 80�100% mortality, witheven large populations being virtuallydestroyed by disease. Yet diseaseas a threat to free-living apes remainsa neglected topic. Since chimpan-zees and gorillas are phylogeneticallyclose to man, they are highly suscep-tible to numerous human infectiousdiseases, especially viruses. Therisks and consequences of diseasetransmission between humans and

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Current Numbers and Geographic Ranges of Africa's Great Apes

Approximate ApproximateSpecies and subspecies number range (km2)

Robust chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) 200,000 838,000 Western chimpanzee (P. t. verus) 40,000 48,000 Nigeria chimpanzee (P. t. vellerosus) 5,000 20,000 Central chimpanzee (P. t. troglodytes) 62,000 270,000 Eastern chimpanzee (P. t. schweinfurthii) 96,000 500,000

Gracile chimpanzee (Pan paniscus) 40,000 120,000

Western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) 94,000 445,000 Western lowland gorilla (G. g. gorilla) 94,000 445,000 Cross River gorilla (G. g. diehli) 200 300

Eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei) 17,000 15,000 Mountain gorilla (G. b. beringei) 300 400 Grauer's gorilla (G. b. graueri) 17,000 15,000 Bwindi gorilla (G. b. subspecies?) 300 200

apes are predicted to become moreserious as once-stable ecosystemsand large (genetically diverse) pop-ulations of apes are fragmented andreduced.

Several small, critically endangeredpopulations of apes are being ex-posed to contact that is both frequentand close (i.e., less than 1 m or touch-ing) with large numbers of people. Ineastern Central Africa, all five of thegorilla tourism programmes are basedon populations of only 240�340 indi-viduals, while all seven of the chim-panzee tourism programmes arebased on populations of 20�650 indi-viduals.

The single population of 300 moun-tain gorillas in the Virunga Volcanoesis particularly badly affected. Whenthe security situation allows, 70% ofthe gorillas in this population � andtherefore of this subspecies � is vis-ited daily by more than 70 tourists anda similar number of guides, porters,rangers and researchers. There havebeen several outbreaks of diseasewhich can probably be attributed tohumans, including an epidemic in1988 in which six habituated gorillasdied of respiratory illness and 27 morebecame ill and were given injections ofpenicilline. It appeared that the mea-sles virus or a related morbillivirus wasresponsible. As a result, 65 gorillas inseven habituated groups were vacci-nated against human measles. Nofurther signs of respiratory diseasewere seen after the initiation of thevaccination campaign. There is noevidence that this disease affectedgorillas in the unhabituated groups. In1990, broncho-pneumonia affected 26of 35 gorillas in a group visited bytourists and four of the gorillas died.

Similar episodes have occurredamong other great ape populations.There were at least six epidemics inthe research and tourist community ofrobust chimpanzees at Gombe Na-tional Park, Tanzania, between 1966

and 1997. The diseases involved in-clude poliomyelitis, pneumonia andscabies. In the course of the epidem-ics at least 42 chimpanzees eitherwere crippled or died. During the1980s there were about 150 chimpan-zees in Gombe National Park. Todaythere are fewer than 100.

In 1993/1994, at least 11 habitu-ated robust chimpanzees (perhaps asmany as 18) died in the Mahale Moun-tains, Tanzania, from a "flu"-like ill-ness. It is suspected that tourists orother people in contact with thesechimpanzees transmitted the virus. In1992 and 1994, outbreaks of Ebola ora similar disease killed at least 20 ofthe 40 or so robust chimpanzees inthe research community in Tai Forest,Côte d'Ivoire. The number of adultmales in this community was reducedfrom eight to two. One student fellseriously ill (but recovered) from thesame virus after participating in anautopsy. It is probable that the dis-ease resulting in at least some, per-haps all, of these epidemics weretransmitted to the apes by people.

ConclusionsThere is broad consensus among fieldworkers that chimpanzee and gorillanumbers are in sharp decline in thewild, that the rate of decline is rapidlyaccelerating, and that all four specieswill become extinct in the wild if thecausal factors are not sufficiently ad-dressed. The population estimates forthe apes are small in the context ofspecies survival potential, and particu-larly so in view of the extreme frag-mentation of their populations andhabitats. It is obvious that further ex-ploitation of these species, and oftheir habitats, should not be permit-ted, and that more effective conserva-tion measures need to be imple-mented.

To date, all that can be claimed isthat we have pushed forward some-what the time when Africa will begin to

lose some of its taxa of great apes.The present decline in numbers willnot be reversed without more work,more ideas, more approaches, moremoney and, above all, more peoplewho are willing to commit to an activerole. This problem must be made anissue of global concern if all taxa ofAfrican apes are to have a long-termfuture in the wild. We must all find away to help make the "African greatape crisis" a global issue and a focusof effective global action.

Tom ButynskiA longer version of this article wasoriginally published in Africa � Envi-ronment & Wildlife, Vol. 8, No. 5 (June2000).

ReferencesButynski, T.M., in press. Africa's Great Apes.In Apes and Humans at an Ethical Frontier.B.B. Beck et al., eds. Washington, D.C.:Smithsonian Institution Press.Butynski, T.M. & J. Kalina, 1998. Gorillatourism. Pp. 280�300 in Conservation ofBiological Resources. E.J. Milner-Gullandand R. Mace, eds. Oxford: Blackwell.

Conservation of CrossRiver Gorillas: AProgress Report

There are several pieces of encourag-ing news to report about the gorillas ofthe Cameroon�Nigeria border region,the population described in GorillaJournal 20 as belonging to the sub-species Gorilla gorilla diehli.

In April 2000, Nigeria�s Cross RiverState Government declared Afi Moun-tain as a wildlife sanctuary. This wel-come news, which brings more formalprotection to the Afi Mountain sub-population of gorillas, was the result ofvigorous activity by the reorganizedState Forestry Commission (formerlythe Department of Forest Develop-ment) and especially by its new Direc-tor of Wildlife and Ecotourism, ChrisAgbor, and its Permanent Secre-tary, Etim Amika. Meanwhile, Kelley

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McFarland�s team of gorilla trackerson Afi Mountain have continued theirpatrols, supervised by Liberian volun-teer James Coleman, who reports to aconservation consortium that includesthe Forestry Commission, the localNGO Pandrillus, Fauna and Flora In-ternational, and myself (representingthe Wildlife Conservation Society andthe City University of New York).Kelley McFarland is presently in theU.S. analyzing her field data for herdoctoral dissertation, but plans even-tually to return to Afi to continuestudying the gorillas. In October2000, Hazel White arrived in CrossRiver from the U.K. to take over on aninterim basis from James Coleman onAfi Mountain, while we work to developa sanctuary management plan.

Elsewhere in Nigeria, anotherCross River State NGO, PrimatesPreservation Group (PPG), has beenmonitoring the gorilla subpopulationson the Mbe Mountains and in theBoshi Extension forests of CrossRiver National Park. During July


GORILLAS

through September, Ernest Nwufoh ofPPG recorded evidence of two gorillagroups in Boshi Extension, and man-aged to see two juveniles in one of thegroups, showing that they are repro-ducing successfully.

No recent hunting of any Nigeriangorillas has been detected in the lastyear and there appears to be growingawareness in Cross River State of theimportance of gorilla conservation.One very helpful element contributingto this awareness has been the per-sonal commitment of Onari Duke, thewife of the new State Governor, togorilla conservation. The state�s FirstLady has initiated a plan for an educa-tion and visitor center to be estab-lished on the Obudu Plateau, near theCattle Ranch Hotel and within sight ofthe Boshi Extension gorilla habitat.

In Cameroon, meanwhile, Septem-ber saw the start of renewed field sur-veys in the Takamanda and MawneForest Reserves by Jacqui Groves.These surveys are supported by theWildlife Conservation Society, the

Margot Marsh Biodiversity Foundationand the Whitley Foundation.

Finally, plans are being made for asmall workshop to be held at ObuduCattle Ranch in April 2001, a meetingthat will bring together conservation-ists, scientists and government offi-cials from Nigeria and Cameroon toformulate policies for more coordi-nated and effective conservation of theremaining Cross River gorillas.

John F. Oates

Bushmeat ActionThe bushmeat crisis, the commercial,illegal trade in meat from wild animals,which is particularly common in Westand Central Africa, has been thetheme of various activities this year.The exhibition Gorillas in the CookingPot in the Stuttgart Zoo from June toSeptember had a great response. Inparticular, Marianne Holtkötter sup-ported the exhibition in every conceiv-able way. We also have to thankProfessor Jauch, the Director of Stutt-gart Zoo, for his courage and trust andfor the funding, all of which made theexhibition possible in the first place.

Shortly after the exhibition hadbeen opened, German zoo directorsand EEP coordinators had a meetingin Stuttgart and they seized the oppor-tunity to have a look at the 34 posterson the bushmeat problem. There wasgreat interest in taking the exhibitionto other zoos. Consequently, it wentto Cologne Zoo in October and willstay there until December.

From January to March 2001 it canbe seen in Neunkirchen Zoo, fromApril to May 2001 in Heidelberg Zooand from June in Karlsruhe. Besides,the zoos of Krefeld, Zürich, Herber-stein, Basel and Hamburg will alsoshow the exhibition. In exchange, thezoos will donate a certain amount ofmoney to the Berggorilla & RegenwaldDirekthilfe. As other organisations(Rettet den Regenwald, Wild Chim-

Kelley McFarland looking for gorillas in the Afi ForestPhoto: John Oates

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panzee Foundation, Bonobo In SituProject, Save the Drill, World Societyfor the Protection of Animals) alsocontributed material, they will help todetermine which projects workingagainst the bushmeat trade will re-ceive the money.

The exhibition formed the basis of aEuropean-wide bushmeat campaigninitiated by the European Associationof Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA). Thecampaign is to inform the visitors toEuropean zoos about the backgroundof the bushmeat trade and collect do-nations for organisations working tofind a solution to the bushmeat prob-lem. The Berggorilla & RegenwaldDirekthilfe is one of them.

In addition, signatures are collectedfor a petition calling upon the politicaldecision-makers in Europe and Africato initiate effective measures to solvethe bushmeat problem. The petitionwas laid out publicly for the first timeduring the exhibition in Stuttgart. Wecollected 20,000 signatures there.The aim is to get at least one millionsignatures. When this is achieved,the petition will be handed over to the

leaders of African nations by JaneGoodall and others. This campaignwill probably run until October 2001and hopefully receive a lot of attentionfrom the media.

In the USA, local organisations arealso very active. Working groupsspring up everywhere, because peoplenow recognize the severe threat thebushmeat trade is posing. This hap-pened during the spring 2000 CITESconference, for instance. During theWorld Conservation Congress in Am-man, the IUCN passed a resolution toban the illegal bushmeat trade. It isencouraging to see that organisationsand institutions worldwide seem tocooperate well in this campaign.

Iris Weiche

The Great Ape EventAt the end of September, the ApeAlliance launched the Great ApeEvent to present the campaign 2001 �An Ape Odyssey. In fact, it includedthree events: a press conference, anonline event (hosted by the BBC) andthe Great Ape Event.

Iris Weiche explains the exhibitionto Amooti Latif, Murchison FallsNational Park, Uganda

Photo: Angela Meder

Iris Weiche and Marianne Holtkötter in the bushmeat exhibitionPhoto: Michael Reibenspies

The Great Ape Event on 27 Sep-tember was a sell-out with many moreticket orders than seats available �2,350 people were there. David At-tenborough hosted the evening in theWestminster Central Hall, London.Speakers included Jane Goodall, whotalked about her work with chimpan-zees, Birute Galdikas on orangutans,Jo Thompson on bonobos, Ian Red-mond on gorillas, and special guestCharlotte Uhlenbroek presented ex-tracts from the BBC 1 series Cousins.They each gave a short presentationfollowed by a question and answersession.

All profits will go to four primateprojects: Mount Tshiaberimu GorillaProject (Democratic Republic of Con-go), Bonobo Sanctuary (Kinshasa),the Orangutan Foundation Care Cen-tre and Quarantine Facility (Borneo)and Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Or-phanage (Pointe-Noire, Congo).

For follow-up publicity, a short arti-cle about the bushmeat problem willbe published in the BBC Wildlifemagazine. Further activities are inpreparation, including for example apostcard action.

READING


Guy Cowlishaw and Robin DunbarPrimate Conservation Biology.Chicago (University of Chicago Press)2000. 512 pages, 89 line drawings,59 tables. Hardcover US$ 75, ISBN0-226-11636-0. Paperback US$ 27,ISBN 0-226-11637-9.

This book gives a general overviewof primate conservation biology. It isan introduction to the subject for stu-dents and primatologists starting inthe field, and it explains conservationproject planning. Some knowledge ofstatistics is useful to understand themodels and calculations presented.

The first sections introduce thereader to primate biology, diversity,life history, ecology, behaviour, groupdynamics, distribution of species andpopulation biology. This is necessaryfor understanding the problems andsolutions. Based on these subjects,key issues of primate conservation(mainly theories and models), threatsand conservation strategies are de-scribed. The authors also discuss thevarious approaches to conservationand refer to studies that deal with theirsuccesses and failures. In the con-clusions, they give some advice forsolutions and stress that each projecthas to be planned individually.

As both authors are working in Af-rica, this continent is the focus of thebook � although it covers primate con-servation worldwide, including captiv-ity. Apart from the comprehensivetext, the references are useful forthose who want to read more.

Christophe and Hedwige BoeschThe Chimpanzees of the Tai For-est. Oxford (Oxford University Press)2000. 316 pages, 22 halftones, 30line drawings. Hardcover £ 55, ISBN0-19-850508-6. Paperback £ 19.95,ISBN 0-19-850507-8.

Filippo Aureli, Frans B.M. de WaalNatural Conflict Resolution. Berke-ley (Univ. of California Press) 2000.

422 pages, 38 photos, 31 drawings,19 tables. Hardcover US$ 65, £ 40,ISBN 0-520-21671-7. Paperback US$24.95, £ 15.95, ISBN 0-520-22346-2.

Shirley C. Strum and Linda M.FediganPrimate Encounters � Models ofScience, Gender and Society. Chi-cago (University of Chicago Press)2000. 636 pages, 34 drawings. Hard-cover, US$ 35, ISBN 0-226-77754-5.

Which questions are posed in pri-mate research? Why and how arethey posed? Ideas about primate so-cieties are shaped by various scien-tific disciplines and theories as well ascultural factors � this is clearly shownhere. This book is a reflection on thehistory of primatology and science ingeneral. It was written after a sympo-sium and workshop with 23 primato-logists and people who study pri-matologists, initiated by the editors.

Included are: an overview of the his-tory of primate society research, re-ports of primatology pioneers abouttheir experience, articles on the influ-ence of various cultures, disciplinesand approaches, models of scienceand society. The sections containintroductions with short summaries ofthe contributions; at the end, e-maildiscussions are added. The focusclearly is on North America � 16 of the23 authors are North Americans �, butit deals also with the influence of differ-ent cultures (Japan, Brazil, Nether-lands) on primate research. Neverthe-less, it is a fascinating book for anyprimatologist.

Jane GoodallAfrica in my Blood. An Autobiogra-phy in Letters. (Houghton Mifflin)2000. 371 pages, US$ 28.

Michela WrongIn the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz. FourthEstate 2000. £ 13.99. ISBN 1-84115-421-0.

Peter M. KappelerPrimate Males. Causes and Conse-quences of Variation in Group Compo-sition. Cambridge (Cambridge Univer-sity Press) 2000. Hardcover US$ 85,ISBN 0-521-65119-0. Paperback US$37.95, ISBN 0-521-65846-2.

Hans Dieter NeuwingerAfrican Traditional Medicine. ADictionary of Plant Use and Applica-tions. Stuttgart (medpharm ScientificPublishers) 2000. 589 pages + 46pages (supplement). Hardcover, DM198. ISBN 3-88763-086-6.

World Commission on Forestryand Sustainable DevelopmentOur Forests, Our Future. Cam-bridge (Cambridge Univ Press) 1999.228 pages, 20 halftones, 50 diagrams,40 tables. Paperback US$ 34.95,ISBN 0-521-66956-1. Hardcover US$74.95, ISBN 0-521-66021-1.

Rob Glastra (ed.)Cut and Run: Illegal Logging and Tim-ber Trade in the Tropics. Stylus Pub.1999. 160 pages. Paperback, US$17.50. ISBN 0889368627

Thandika Mkandawire andCharles C. SoludoOur Continent, Our Future: AfricanPerspectives on Structural Adjust-ment. Lawrenceville (Africa WorldPress) 1999. 176 pages. Paperback,US$ 21.95. ISBN 086543705X.

Thandika Mkandawire andCharles C. Soludo (eds.)African Voices on Structural Ad-justment. A Companion to Our Conti-nent, Our Future. Lawrenceville (Af-rica World Press) 2000. 280 pages.Paperback, US$ 25.00. ISBN0889368880

World BankAfrican Development Indicators �Print Edition. Washington, D.C.

BERGGORILLA & REGENWALD DIREKTHILFE


(World Bank) 2000. 448 pages, US$40. ISBN 0-8213-4386-6.

World Bank Africa Database CD-ROM. Washington, D.C. (WorldBank) 2000. Single user: US$ 95,ISBN 0-8213-4387-4. Network user:US$ 190,ISBN 0-8213-4388-2.

International Panel of EminentPersonalitiesSpecial Report to Investigate the1994 Genocide in Rwanda and theSurrounding Events. OAU 2000.Available online in English (http://www.oau-oau .o rg /Document /ipep/report/Rwanda-e/EN-II I -T.htm) and French (http://www.oau-oau.org/Document/ipep/report/Rwanda-f/FN-III-T.htm).

News from the InternetPrevious issues of the IUCN Red Listof Threatened Species were pub-lished as books, but now it is availablefor free in the internet at http://www.redlist.org. The activities of theMountain Gorilla Veterinary Projectare presented on the Morris AnimalFoundation's website at http://www.MorrisAnimalFoundation.org/Mountain_Gorilla.html.

Information about forestry � espe-cially for the timber industry � can befound on the ForestWorld website(http://www.forestworld.com).

Some new websites are dealingwith the bushmeat crisis. The newsite for the Ape Alliance is now run-ning at http://www.4apes.com. TheEuropean Association of Zoos andAquaria (EAZA) has also started abushmeat campaign (http://www.EAZA.net). You can read the newsrelease of the IUCN resolution onbushmeat at http://www.iucn.org/info_and_news/press/bushmeat.html.

For FFI (Fauna and Flora Interna-tional), the new web address is http://www.fauna-flora.org. The Orang-

utan Network, founded by Carel vanSchaik, presents news and informa-tion at http://www.usfstudent.com/orangutannetwork. African conser-vation organisation links are collectedonAfrican Websites http://www.africanwebsites.net. The Pan-Afri-can Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) isspecializing on chimpanzees (http://www.andkeys.com/pasa).

Jobs and Opportunitiesfor Volunteers

As war continues in the distributionarea of the mountain gorillas, there arecurrently no opportunities for volun-teers in mountain gorilla conservationprojects. In principle, the Berggorilla& Regenwald Direkthilfe attempts toinvolve local scientists and conserva-tionists, as they can communicatemore easily with the local populationand cope better with local difficulties.

Vacancies are usually advertisedpublicly, for example on the PrimateJobs webpage (http://www.primate.wisc.edu/pin/jobs), the internationaljob market for primatologists on theinternet. Generally, a degree is re-quired (mostly in biology or veterinarymedicine) and very good command ofEnglish, also of French in the case ofRwanda or Congo. Moreover, appli-cants usually should have field experi-ence in the tropics.

However, sometimes there are alsoopportunities for people to become in-volved who do not have a scientificbackground but possess a strong in-terest in animals and nature conserva-tion, are able to cope with great physi-cal and psychological stress and arewilling to commit themselves. Forexample, people who want practicalexperience are always needed at theLimbe Orphanage in Cameroon. Youcan read more about this on theirwebsite: http://members.nbci.com/_XMCM/limbe/staff.html. Vacan-

cies for internships and other posi-tions are also advertised by the por-tal African Websites (http://www.africanwebsites.net).

ActivitiesUp to September 2000, a total of£ 2,600 has been raised in the currentjoint fund-raising drive with VolcanoesTours, DFGF Europe and IBCP. Onethird of this sum was transferred to us,earmarked for the purchase of rangerequipment. This fund-raising drive willcontinue: publicity material will be dis-tributed at the World Travel Market inLondon in November 2000 as well ason the ITB in Berlin in March 2001.

For the future, we want to becomeactive in schools through giving talksor through fund-raising activities. Weare also thinking about arranging part-nerships between German and Africanschools. Our assistant William Mu-gisha has already made contact witha school in Kisoro. The Africanschools are to receive support to ob-tain teaching materials. Both Germanand African students are to be mademore familiar with the concept of na-ture conservation.

Iris Weiche

We thank each person and companythat has supported us during the pe-riod from 1. June to 31. October 2000.Larger contributions were given byJane and Steuart Dewar, Horst Engel,Wolfgang Ettel, Angela Meder, Aga-the Paech, Michael Reibenspies, Er-win Rosenkranz, Patricia Schmidt,Juliana Ströbele-Gregor, Karl-OttoWeber, Susanne and Helmut Zeitler.Erwin Fidelis Reisch (Gentner VerlagStuttgart) took charge of the costs ofreproduction and composition for theGorilla Journal. Many thanks to allthe above mentioned and all the otherdonors for their confidence in ourwork. We hope that you will continueto support us in 2001!

Subscription to the Gorilla JournalIf you become a member, you will receive the journal regularly. If you want to subscribe without becoming a member,we would be grateful if you could make a donation to cover our costs. The costs to send the journal overseas are abutUS$ 20. Please send your application with a cheque to Rolf Brunner (address below).

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Date and signatureUS$ 25 (Student)US$ 75 (General member)US$ 120 (Family)US$ 180 (Donor)

Please send to: Bank account:Rolf Brunner Berggorilla & Regenwald DirekthilfeBerggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe Account number 353 344 315Lerchenstr. 5 Stadtsparkasse Muelheim, Germany45473 Muelheim, Germany Bank code number 362 500 00Fax +49-208-7671605

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