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By Suleman Juma Bakari - Tracker, Greystoke Mahale
Chimpanzees are social animals, with complex social behaviours. They indulge in different sorts of play, which can be between infants themselves, or juveniles and infants, infants and their mothers, and so forth. The most common sort of play seen at Mahale is between juveniles and between juveniles and infants.
Recently, however, Ruby (a 27 year old female in M-community) was seen playing with her 19 month old son. They spent about 10 minutes playing together. While Ruby laid on her back with hands touching the ground and feet in the air, the baby held on to her toes and started to swing from them. A moment later, Ruby grabbed her son and tickled his sides. The son responded with a full smile showing all his teeth.
Picture - Yvonne de Jong
By Mwiga Mambo – Tracker, Greystoke Mahale
Chimpanzees, like humans, are skilled in their ability to select and use tools. At Mahale chimpanzees are commonly seen using leaves, grasses, sticks, and rocks as tools for a variety of purposes, but mainly to get food and drink.
It was around 7:15 AM on 29th November 2008 when I was in the forest tracking the chimpanzees. I heard the pant-hoot calls of the chimpanzees about 500 m to the south of me.
I traced the calls until I found eight chimpanzees from the M-community at a locationknown as J4. There were six adult females and two adult males seated on the path grooming one other. I then spotted Ichiro, an 8 year old juvenile male sitting alone in the fork of a big dead tree. As I watched him he climbed to the top of the tree, reached out for a nearby branch, and grabbed a handful of green leaves. He selected some of the more mature leaves and crushed them into pulp to create a ‘sponge’. He then climbed down to the fork where he was originally sitting, and skillfully poked the sponge into a hole in the trunk of the tree. Once his sponge was fully saturated with water he removed it and sucked the water! He repeated this process four or five times before his sister, Imani, an adolescence female, distracted him by tempting him to play. Ichiro quickly dropped his drinking tool and they began chasing each other from branch to branch. Photo Dominiek Timmermans
By Kakae Saiteu, Guide - Greystoke Mahale
On one of our nature walks from Greystoke Mahale, heading south from the camp, we encountered two brightly coloured bugs - the cotton stainer assassin bug and a cotton stainer bug. Both appeared in bright red, yellow and black colours. The cotton stainer assassin bug is a carnivore, which feeds on other insects---preferably on cotton stainer bugs. The cotton stainer bug feeds on plants, most species of which are in the ‘cotton family’ (the Malvaceae family).
Although the cotton stainer assassin bug and the cotton stainer bug feed on completely different foods, they have similar mouthpart structures called a ‘rostrum’. The rostrum is an organ which is long and well-adapted for piercing and sucking sap or blood from victims. When not in use, the rostrum is folded back beneath the head and between the legs.
On this particular day, we found these two bugs on two different leaves on the same branch. The assassin bug was on the higher leaf and the stainer bug was about 3 centimetres below. Neither of them was moving - which initially made us think that these were a male and a female of the same species. After further observation, however, we saw that the two bugs looked only superficially similar and that they were clearly not of the same species. The assassin bug was mimicking the stainer bug. This mimicry allows the assassin bug to get very closer to the stainer bug before attacking.
After about one minute of watching them, the stainer bug started to move along the leaf. Suddenly the assassin bug jumped and caught the stainer bug using its powerful forelimbs. The assassin bug then moved its rostrum from the head to the abdomen of the victim, before piercing it. The victim move slightly at the moment it was caught but suddenly became motionlessc - suggesting that it might have been paralyzed. Ignoring our presence, the assassin bug continued turning and overturning the victim while driving its rostrum into different parts of the stainer bug. After about 15 minutes we left---with the predator still piercing its prey.
By Lazaro George, Guide - Greystoke Mahale
I set off from Greystoke Camp into the Mahale forest with a group of five clients. After about 45 minutes we saw four juvenile female chimpanzees - Acadia, Imani, Aqua, and Xantip. They were all repeatedly shaking a big vine as though they were scaring something. We became curious as to what was happening. We then saw an adult female warthog laying about 1.5 metres below the chimpanzees and about 2 metres from the entrance to an aardvark burrow. With persistent disturbance from the chimpanzees, the warthog got up and ran into the burrow. The four chimpanzees then jumped to the ground and walked toward the burrow. Three of the chimpanzees then threw dirt and large sticks into the burrow and popped their heads and forelimbs in and out of the burrow. They did this for about 3 minutes.
Having observed what was happening, adult male Cadmus and sub-adult male Christmas descended to the ground from a neighboring tree. They then walked to the burrow and began pounding the ground above the entrance with the palms of their hands for a good 5 minutes. The warthog then suddenly rocketed from the burrow and ran into a nearby thicket. The chimpanzees did not pursue the warthog, but moved to join the rest of the group about 60 metres away.
By Vianney J Kabwine, Guide - Greystoke Mahale
You may wonder how the hippo, one of the most dangerous animals in Africa, can be seen in its natural habitat. Typically, at around 4 PM, the guests of Greystoke Mahale go out on Lake Tanganyika (the second deepest and third largest lake in the world) for fishing, sundowners, and sometimes just for a boat ride on one of our three boats---Gwekulo, Kiko and Wolfie. We usually take some drinks (as requested by the guests), and some fishing equipment, including some local, traditional, fishing equipment that most guest have never seen before.
About 200 metres south of Greystoke Camp is the Lubulungu River with its abundance of bird and fish species. Through the extremely clean and clear water you can easily see the sandy bottom below…as well as the footprints of hippos under the water.
It is here where we usually find three or four hippos hanging around and where our guests can sometimes have wonderful views of hippos in the unusually clear water just 5 to 10 metres away from their boat. This is in contrast to the very muddy water that hippos are usually found in. Hippos are also sometimes seen swimming across the bay in front of Greystoke---30 m from the beach. Seeing hippos so very close, and in their natural habitat, is a lifetime experience. How do hippos behave? Do they walk or swim while in the water? How long do hippos stay under water? What do hippos eat? (not fish---as many people believe). Just come and see for yourself! Its amazing how all this happens in front of you---and how much you will learn!
After viewing the hippos, we start fishing, either with rods and reels, or using traditional, hand-made (Tongwe tribe), fishing equipment. While fishing, and before returning to camp, we usually have our drinks (sundowners). On our way back to Greystoke we sometimes have another view of the hippos---at either the Lubulungu River or passing in front of the beach at Camp. Not surprisingly, after such an afternoon, hippos are often a topic of discussion around the bar, at the dinner table, or around the campfire.
By Gabriel L. Mushi, Guide - Greystoke Mahale
It was around 8:15 AM and we were viewing chimpanzees in the forest along the L Trail. There were about six adult females, three of which had young babies. Also present were three adolescence females. Suddenly, Cadmus, an adult male, appeared behind us. He bristled his hairs and charged, climbing the tree where the females were grooming and the babies playing. All of a sudden, all the females began “pant- grunts” while being submissive towards Cadmus. They greeted him and reached out their hands towards him for assurance. The females normally do this because they are below the males in the social ladder as of when the males reaches adolescence at about 13-14 years of age.At this point, Cadmus calmed down and engaged in a grooming sessions with some of the females. Pimu, the current alpha male of the M Community, then appeared on the scene. He swaggered from foot to foot, bristled his hairs, and dragged a large branch. He then moved in the direction of the tree where Cadmus and the females where sitting, dropped the branch and grabbed a big vine, shaking it back and forth before climbing the tree to displace Cadmus and the females. They ran away while “pant–grunting”. Pimu then climbed back down and sat in the undergrowth of vines followed by several females who then submitted themselves to Pimu before moving out of sight.
Cadmus - picture Yvonne de Jong
Chimpanzees often throw rocks (sometimes into water) and drag branches or logs in order to enhance their charging display. They consider any object lying on the ground as suitable props for this. Adult male chimpanzees typically do the charging display accompanied by rock throwing and branch dragging when they are excited, when they arrive at a food source, or when joining up with other chimpanzees. This is only done by the dominant males of the community as they intimidate, threaten, and show dominance to lower ranking chimpanzees. This is not a physical attack on other chimpanzees.
By Suleman Juma Bakari - Tracker, Greystoke Mahale
