Baby chimp uses a stone as a toy

By Suleman Juma, Tracker - Greystoke Mahale

Carmen, a juvenile female born to an old female Calliope, was recently seen happily playing with a stone. An object not commonly used by chimpanzees as a play object, but rather used as a tool especially by the adult males when charging others or displaying before others to show off their strength. Juveniles also use stones to evoke fighting with their peers.

That day Carmen was seen taking a stone of about 2 or 3 kilograms in both hands while she lay on her back. Holding it with her hands stretched straight, she raised her feet up and put the stone on her feet, and then bent her knees bringing her feet down to her stomach, with the stone, and then raising her legs straight again. She then took it in her hands, before placing it again on her feet and once more raising her legs. She did that repeatedly for about 6 minutes, after which time she dropped the stone down, stood up and picked it up again but this time she put on her back and carried it as if she was carrying a baby. After walking for about 4 metres she dropped it down when Liz, a juvenile female of her age, came to play with her. She didn’t pay further attention to the stone, instead the two engaged in a brief play, wrestling one another before they went into some thick bush.

Update from the chimp wars

By Mwiga Mambo, Tracker - Greystoke Mahale.

In November last year, I witnessed an extraordinary event in the Mahale Mountains. My fellow tracker and I witnessed four male adult chimpanzees - Primus, Orion, Fanana and Carter - forming an alliance together against Alofu and Cadmus (then the second and fourth ranking males respectively in the M-community). It became apparent that their plan was to move Primus up in rank from number three to number two, thus deposing Alofu from his position.

At first Cadmus was wary of the situation, as the four males were getting closer to him and Alofu. They were stamping and pounding the ground, shaking and dragging logs, accompanying this with loud wuhwuuh calls and at times screaming. However, Cadmus appeared encouraged by Alofu who leapt up and used Cadmus’ back as support as he displayed and showed aggression to the 4 advancing males. Soon Cadmus found his courage and both he and Alofu stood up and walked bipedal for about 7 metres towards their rivals. Primus, the leader of the other group, retreated with his allies, and a short moment later three of them, including Primus hastened into the forest thicket.










Alofu

But Fanana didn’t run. Instead he started to pant-grunt and squatted before calmly approaching Alofu and Cadmus. When he got close he reached out and touched Alofu’s chin, which seemed to stop Alofu dead in his tracks. But Cadmus kept on charging as if he wanted to attack Fanana. Alofu, who for years was reputed as a peaceful chimp, had to intervene. Cadmus then reluctantly appeared to pay his respect to Alofu and moved away. But 15 minutes later, he came back, this time with Orion who he had earlier been forming an alliance against.

The two of them looked as if they would attack Fanana who, when he saw what was happening, quickly ran and jumped onto a smaller tree nearby where Alofu was standing. Fanana got highly anxious and urine dripped down to his feet, and soft dung was released for a moment. The charging had persisted for about 10 minutes before Alofu had to behave brutally to stop them. He kicked Cadmus on the rump and vigorously charged Orion. The two ran way into the forest and left Fanana in peace and with Alofu maintaining his rank within the community.

Spittlebugs found during the rains

By Lazaro George, Guide - Greystoke Mahale

One day while walking along one of the park trail’s - ‘Roland's Road’ - we encountered a colony of unique insects known as Spittlebugs or Froghoppers. These tiny insects, reputed to be nature’s most powerful jumper, use a kind of catapult (super push-up) mechanism for jumping. They can jump higher than 2 feet.

This sort of movement serves particularly well for adult Spittlebugs, when moving between trees or escaping away from predators. Adult Spittle bugs use this defensive jump mechanism when in danger as well as a means of moving through the forest, although they cannot make these leaps repeatedly, and have to pause between them.












In the rainy season, it is common to encounter the spittlebugs, especially the nymphs. They are easily located by frothy masses of liquid dripping from the twigs, leaves and bark of various plants. which they inhabit. Those masses of liquid (known as spittle) are formed by these nymphs when they have absorbed excess juice from trees.

Walking along Roland Road, we came across a Spittlebug colony containing several nymphs. We tried to see how they reacted when threatened by danger. As we approached, we found that they pushed themselves into the mass of spittle, a very distasteful, unpleasant mass of liquid. They use spittle as a protective mechanism for survival against predators and harmful sunlight.

Spittlebugs cannot be seen in dry season because they hide in tree bark as eggs or nymphs awaiting for the next rainy season when they will morph and hatch.