Primates of Gashaka (eBook)

Foreword 8
Contents 10
Contributors 12
Bio-Sketches 16
Chapter 1: Exploring and Protecting West Africa’s Primates: The Gashaka Primate Project in Context 20
The Remote Wilderness of Gashaka 21
A Fragile Paradise 24
The Gashaka Primate Project 26
Research as Conservation 28
An International Network 32
Contributions to Primates of Gashaka 35
Those Who Made It Happen 40
Looking Towards the Future 41
Literature 42
Appendix 1. Climate in Study Areas at Kwano and Gashaka 43
Summary of Weather Parameters, 2000 – 2008 43
Rainfall Pattern 46
Appendix 2. Publications of the Gashaka Primate Project 46
Total 46
Books 46
Research Articles in Journals & Edited Volumes
Unpublished Reports 48
PhD Theses (completed) 48
PhD Theses (expecting completion working titles)49
Masters Dissertations and Diplomarbeiten 49
Undergraduate Dissertations 50
Popular Writing 53
Documentaries 54
Appendix 3. Affiliates and Supporters of the Gashaka Primate Project 54
Core Funding 54
Cooperation and Logistic Support 54
Infrastructural Development, in Particular “Power-Island” at Kwano Field Station and Radio Communication Throughout Gashaka Gumti National Park 55
Webmaster 56
Volunteers 56
GPP Field Assistants and Camp Management 56
Contact 56
Chapter 2: To Save a Wilderness: The Creation and Development of Gashaka Gumti National Park, Nigeria 57
Early Efforts of Protection 57
From Fragile Reserve to Full-Fledged Park 64
Future Challenges 68
Literature 72
Chapter 3: Hunters, Fire, Cattle: Conservation Challenges in Eastern Nigeria, with Special Reference to Chimpanzees 73
Introduction 74
Materials and Methods 76
The Taraba Region 76
Political and Socioeconomic History 76
Physical Environment and Habitat Types 77
Gashaka Gumti National Park 79
Surveys 79
Results 82
Potential Northern Distribution: Shebshi Mountains 82
Southern Distribution: Cameroon Border 83
Vicinity of the National Park 84
Gashaka Gumti National Park (GGNP) 84
Discussion 85
Trends of Chimpanzee Distribution 86
Shebshi Mountains and Northern Distribution 86
Cameroon Border and Southern Distribution 86
Park Vicinity 86
Gashaka Gumti National Park 86
Hunting, Burning, Grazing: Main Threats to Wildlife 92
Factors Aiding Conservation 95
Community-based Approaches 95
Protected Areas and Law Enforcement 96
Research 97
Prospects 97
Acknowledgements 98
Literature 99
Appendix. Narratives of Foot Surveys of Chimpanzee Habitats in the Taraba Region 102
Cameroon Border (Southern Distribution) 102
Bissaula 102
Survey rationale, date and team 102
Survey narrative 102
Large mammals 103
Chimpanzee distribution 103
Conservation prospects 103
Zedah / Buru 103
Survey Rationale, Date and Team 103
Survey Narrative 104
Large Mammals 104
Chimpanzee Distribution 105
Conservation Prospects 105
Shebshi Mountains (Potential Northern Distribution) 106
Dakka 106
Survey Rationale, Date and Team 106
Survey Narrative 106
Large Mammals 106
Chimpanzee Distribution 107
Conservation Prospects 107
Vogel Peak 107
Survey Rationale, Date and Team 107
Survey Narrative 107
Large Mammals 108
Chimpanzee Distribution 108
Conservation Prospects 108
Park Support Zone 108
Ngel Nyaki 108
Survey Rationale, Date and Team 108
Survey Narrative 108
Large Mammals 109
Chimpanzee Distribution 109
Conservation Prospects 110
Alekum 110
Survey Rationale, Date and Team 110
Survey Narrative 110
Large Mammals 111
Chimpanzee Distribution 111
Conservation Prospects 111
Gashaka Gumti National Park 111
Chappal Wade to Mambilla Plateau 111
Survey Rationale, Date and Team 111
Survey Narrative 112
Large Mammals 113
Chimpanzee Distribution 113
Conservation Prospects 113
Gamgam Headwaters 114
Survey Rationale, Date and Team 114
Survey Narrative 114
Large Mammals 115
Chimpanzee Distribution 116
Conservation prospects 116
Eastern Enclaves from Chappal Delam to Filinga 116
Survey Rationale, Date and Team 116
Survey Narrative 117
Large Mammals 117
Chimpanzee Distribution 117
Conservation Prospects 117
Chapter 4: Monkeys and Apes as Animals and Humans: Ethno-Primatology in Nigeria’s Taraba Region 118
Introduction 119
Materials and Methods 122
Results 126
General Knowledge About Monkeys and Apes 126
Hunting of Primates 130
Bush-meat Consumption 131
Primates as Pets 134
Attitudes Towards Protection 135
Primate Populations in Taraba State 136
Discussion 137
Reduction of Forest Habitat 138
Hunting 138
Pet Trade 139
Food Taboos 140
Protected Areas and Law Enforcement 141
Acknowledgements 142
Literature 142
Appendix. Folklore About Chimpanzees and Monkeys in the Taraba Region, Nigeria 144
Interpreting Naturalistic Behaviour of Chimpanzees 144
The Meaning of Drumming 144
Why Chimpanzees Build Nests 144
The Human Nature of Chimpanzees 145
Human-like Qualities of Chimpanzees 145
How Humans Came to Live in the Bush as Chimpanzees 146
Taboos and Customs Surrounding Hunting of Chimpanzees 147
Why Chimpanzees Are Not Hunted or Eaten 147
Hunting Customs 148
Medicinal Uses of Chimpanzee Body Parts 149
Stories About Monkeys 150
Chapter 5: The Bush as Pharmacy and Supermarket: Mechanisms and Functions of Plant Use by Human and Non-human Primates at Gashaka 152
Introduction 153
Food, Implements, Medicine: Plants as Resources 153
Why Can Plants Be Medicinal? And Why Do Fruits Taste Good? 155
Traditional Plant-based Medicine 156
Ethno-veterinary Medicine 156
Animal Self-medication 157
Study Aims 158
Materials and Methods 159
Study Area 159
Data Pool 160
Data Processing 162
Results 163
Natural Occurrence of Exploited Plants 163
Plant Families 163
Selective Use: The Example of Trees 168
Plant Parts Used 168
Multiple Usages of Same Plant Species 171
Categories of Usage: Food, Medicine, Implements 177
Baboon Case Study: Contraceptive Effects of African Black Plum 177
Chimpanzee Case Study: Leaf-swallowing as Self-medication 184
Discussion 184
Emerging Trends 186
Taxonomic Pattern 186
Plant Parts 187
Food versus Medicine 188
Case Studies of Plants with Multiple Usages 188
Desmodium gangeticum 189
Vitex doniana 190
Erythrophleum suaveolens 192
Erythrina senegalensis 192
Vitellaria paradoxa 193
Cola spp 193
Knowledge Acquisition: Which Plants Are Beneficial? 194
Future Research 196
Acknowledgements 199
Appendix. Use of Plants as Food, Medicine, and Implements by Humans, Baboons, and Chimpanzees in the Gashaka Area: A Compilation of Current Knowledge 204
Family, Species (main references) 204
English, Hausa, Fulfulde (Fulani) 204
Habit 204
Habitat 204
Food, Medicine, Implements: Consumers 205
Food, Medicine, Implements, Usage, Description: Plant Parts Used 205
Usage: Description, Category 206
Miscellaneous 206
Sources 207
Unpublished reports (UR) to NCF (Nigerian Conservation Foundation, Gashaka Gumti Project) and personal communications 207
Local informants 207
Appendix 209
Literature 199
Chapter 6: Fulani of the Highlands: Costs and Benefits of Living in National Park Enclaves 248
Introduction 249
The Fulani 250
The Same Old Problem? 252
Methods 252
Study Area and Data Collection 252
Measuring Crop Damage 255
Risk Analysis 256
Benefit Analysis 257
Socioeconomic and Socioecological Variables 258
Potential Pitfalls of Risk / Benefit Analysis 258
Results 259
Socioeconomic and Socioecological Variables 259
Life in the Enclaves: Pros and Cons 261
“What Is Bad About Living in the Highlands?” 261
“What Is Bad About Living in a National Park?” 261
“What Is Good About Living in the Highlands?” 264
“What Is Good About Living in a National Park?” 265
Perceptions of Pest Severity 266
Direct Measures of Crop Damage Compared with Perceived Risk 266
The Maize Yield 269
Discussion 270
Contextualising Crop-Raiding 271
Local Perceptions of Wildlife Species 272
Is Crop Damage a Real Problem? 274
It’s All About the Cows 275
Acknowledgements 278
Literature 278
Chapter 7: Pan-African Voyagers: The Phylogeography of Baboons 283
Introduction 284
Methods 292
Phylogenetic Reconstruction 292
Data Sampling 293
Laboratory Procedures 302
Statistical Methods 302
Results 303
Discussion 307
Taxonomy 307
Conservation 309
Phylogeography 309
Conclusions 315
Acknowledgements 315
Literature 316
Chapter 8: Crop-raiding and Commensalism in Olive Baboons: The Costs and Benefits of Living with Humans 323
Introduction 323
Methods 327
Focal Species 327
Focal Troops and Study Site 327
Data Collection 329
Female Reproductive Parameters 329
Endoparasites 330
Activity Budget and Ranging 330
Crop-raiding 331
Results 332
The Ecology of Crop-Raiding 332
Activity Budget 333
Ranging Behaviour 333
Life-history 334
Parasitology 336
Discussion 337
Crop-raiding, Activity Budget, and Ranging 337
Life-history 340
Parasites 341
Crop-raiding and Baboon Ecology at Gashaka: Why Crop-raid? 342
Acknowledgements 343
Literature 343
Chapter 9: How Different Are Gashaka’s Baboons? Forest and Open Country Populations Compared 349
Introduction 349
Methods 351
Study Species, Focal Troops, and Study Site 351
Data Collection and Analyses 353
Troop Sizes 353
Activity Budget and Ranging 354
Diet 354
Diet and Food Availability 355
Reproductive Parameters 355
Results 356
Troop Size 356
Activity Budgets and Ranging 361
Diet 361
Reproductive Parameters 364
Discussion 366
Troop Size 366
Activity Budgets 367
Ranging 367
Diet 368
Demography and Life-history 369
Conclusions 371
Acknowledgements 371
Literature 372
Chapter 10: Keeping in Contact: Flexibility in Calls of Olive Baboons 376
Introduction 377
Methods 382
Study Site and Subjects 382
Data Collection 383
Acoustic Analyses 384
Definition of Acoustic Variables 384
Grunts 385
Clear Barks 385
Statistical Analyses 385
Comparison with Other Populations 386
Results 386
Behavioural Data 386
Grunts 388
Occurrence of Calls 388
Grunt Rate 388
Acoustic Characteristics 388
Clear Barks 389
Occurrence of Calls 389
Bark Rates 390
Acoustic Characteristics 390
Discussion 390
Grunts 391
Clear Barks 394
Acknowledgements 395
Literature 395
Chapter 11: Not Words but Meanings? Alarm Calling Behaviour in a Forest Guenon 400
Introduction 401
Alarm Calling in Primates 401
Animal Call Combinations 403
Methods 404
Study Animals 404
Aims and Hypotheses 405
Male Loud Alarm Calls 406
Alarm Calling Responses to Predators 407
Acoustic Predator Models 407
Visual Predator Models 408
The Pyow-Hack Sequence 410
Does the Pyow-Hack Sequence Elicit Group Movement? 410
Are Pyow-Hack Sequences Causally Responsible for Eliciting Group Movement? 411
Statistical Analysis 412
Results 413
Alarm Calling 413
General Response Characteristics 413
Analysis of Alarm Call Types 415
Alarm Call Series Characteristics 415
Comparison Between Acoustic and Visual and Different Predator Models 417
Contextual Factors 417
Response to Moving Ground Predator Models 419
Loud Calling Under Natural Conditions 420
The P-H Sequence 421
Does the P-H Sequence Elicit Group Movement? 421
Are P-H Sequences Causally Responsible for Eliciting Group Movement? 421
Discussion 422
The Notion of Reference in Primate Vocalisations 423
Do the Alarm Call Series of Male Putty-Nosed Monkeys Refer to Particular Events? 424
The Contexts of Naturally Occurring Loud Call Series 425
What Information Do the Loud Calls of Male Putty-nosed Monkeys Convey? 426
An Exceptional Guenon? 426
Acknowledgements 428
Literature 428
Chapter 12: Patriarchal Chimpanzees, Matriarchal Bonobos: Potential Ecological Causes of a Pan Dichotomy 432
Introduction 433
Hobbes, Rousseau, and Apes as Role Models 433
Basics of Nutritional Ecology 436
Comparing Chimpanzees and Bonobos 438
Methods 439
Study Sites 439
Fruit Production and Fruit Abundance 439
Collection of Plant Food for Chemical Analyses 440
Phytochemistry of Plant Food 440
Macro-nutrients and Energy 441
Anti-feedants 441
Structural Analyses of Faecal Samples 442
Party Size as a Measure of Sociality 443
Results 443
Environmental Features 443
Diet Composition 445
Macro-nutrients and Anti-feedants 445
Structure of Ingesta 449
Nest-Group Sizes 451
Discussion 452
Climate and Habitat Phenology 452
Food Availability 453
Food Quality 454
Food Processing 455
Feeding Ecology and Gregariousness 455
Ecology and Species Psychology 456
Lessons for a Politically Correct Agenda? 458
Acknowledgements 459
Literature 459
Chapter 13: Panthropology of the Fourth Chimpanzee: A Contribution to Cultural Primatology 465
Introduction 466
Materials and Methods 469
Basic Chimpanzee Socioecology 470
Characteristics of Chimpanzee Insect Prey 470
Bees 471
Termites 471
Ants 472
The Gashaka Study Site 474
Gashaka-Kwano Chimpanzee Study Community 475
Candidate Behavioural Patterns Reflecting Subsistence Technology 476
Data Collection 478
Results 479
Hard-shelled Nuts: Absence of Cracking Technology 479
Ignored Insect Prey: Termites 480
Insect Prey: Stingless Bees, Honey Bees 481
Insect Prey: Ants Other Than Army Ants 483
Insect Prey: Army Ants 483
Characteristics of Insect-harvesting Tools 484
Discussion 490
Potential Biases in Data Collection 490
Lack of Behavioural Variation (“Universals”) 492
Genetic Explanations for Behavioural Variation 494
Environmental Explanations for Behavioural Variation 494
Cultural Variation 496
“Core Cultural Tendencies” of Behavioural Variation? 498
Cultural Primatology and Conservation 500
Acknowledgements 501
Literature 501
Chapter 14: Will the Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzee Go Extinct? Models Derived from Intake Rates of Ape Sanctuaries 507
Introduction 508
Methods 509
Chimpanzee Subspecies 509
P. t. vellerosus: Distribution, Population Size, and Life-history Parameters 510
Ape Sanctuaries in Cameroon and Nigeria 513
How Many Dead Wild Chimpanzees Does One Sanctuary Orphan Represent? 516
When Does Hunting Become Unsustainable? 519
Modelling Risk of Extinction 521
Results 522
Sanctuary Intake Rates 522
Lives of Orphans Before Arrival 523
Loss to the Wild Population 524
Is the Loss Unsustainable? 524
Do Hunting Rates Exceed Growth Rates? 525
Extinction Risk 526
Discussion 528
Acknowledgements 534
Literature 534
Index 538