by Gabriel l Mushi, Guide - Greystoke MahaleIt was not until the early sixties when it was discovered in Gombe National Park by Jane Goodall that chimpanzees hunt and feed on the meat of other monkeys.
For the past nine months that I have been here in Mahale, I have observed several hunting scenes of chimpanzees hunting red colobus, most of which were not successful.
On 28th of Dec 2008 I was in the forest with five visitors viewing the chimpanzees. After about 15 minutes viewing them, the chimpanzees moved away through thick bush where we could not see them. In the process trying to follow and relocate them again, we saw tree branches shaking vigorously, with several chimpanzees running and leaping up an Anna tree [Faedherbia albida] with a lot of vocalization. Given the nature of the habitat, --’ thick bush with dense canopies’--we couldn’t tell what was going on at the time.
We went closer to where the branches were shaking and we encountered an awe-inspiring experience. The chimpanzees were hunting Yellow baboon. We saw two chimpanzees on one of the trees. They seemed to be seated on a day nest, picking leaves and eating them. Suddenly two other chimpanzees appeared, both adult males: the current alpha male Pimu in front, holding the carcass of a young Yellow baboon in his mouth, followed by another male---Fanana. He sat on a branch and ripped the carcass’s abdomen open, throwing the intestines away and feeding on other internal parts of the carcass.
From time to time he was seen picking Landopia vine’s leaves and eating them at the same time with the meat, probably to add flavor or aid in digesting. Fanana tried to beg meat from Pimu but he did not share it with him. Totsy, a female in estrous, with her son Teddy, followed Pimu at a close range while stretching their arms out, begging for meat, but neither did they succeed. Pimu finally climbed down from a tree and went away into a thick bush and the other chimpanzees followed him. At that point we were done with our one hour of viewing time and had to move on
Photographs taken by Y. de Jong & T.Butynski
