On 14th November 2009 I went into the forest to track chimpanzees. At around 7:40am I found a group of chimpanzees up in some big trees eating fruits. The chimpanzees saw me coming and did not react negatively to my approaching them at all; they kept on relaxing and feeding.
Suddenly I heard a loud terrifying sound; it was a sound from a tremor from an earth quake. The chimpanzees hearing that loud sound on my arrival, they perhaps thought I was the source and started to scream out. Primus and Cadmus, both adult males came from the undergrowth charging and loudly screaming and climbed to join other chimpanzees up in the trees. Three minutes from when the earth quake occurred, those chimpanzees kept quiet and Christmas, a sub-adult male climbed down. When he got to the ground, he stood on his hind feet and looked at me. He quickly got back to the ground on his four feet and started to scream out and charging while running away from me. Other chimpanzees who were quiet for a while started to scream again when they heard Christmas screaming for a second time. On a tree a bit far from where I was standing Christmas climbed up on it and looked at me with fearful and glaring eyes. They continued to scream and be uncomfortable in my presence for about half an hour.
But 20 minutes later a loud sound from a boat engine started from a camp and aroused the chimpanzees again. This time the scream started from Wakusi, a mother of the beta male. The alarm was picked up by all the chimpanzees around. It appeared, right up until a time when I was leaving, that they were still imagining I was the source of that loud sound and saw me as a threat for that day. But it wasn’t the case the next morning when I went out chimping. They could relax in my presence and carried on with their activities.
Picture by Hugh Webster
