Monday, September 17, 2007 | Science : Commentary | print version

The Bili Apes Are in Trouble!

by Cleve Hicks of the Bili Ape Project

I am pleased to see that Richard Dawkins.net has posted on its website the recent article in The Guardian about our Bili Ape Project
(http://richarddawkins.net/article,1414,Found-the-giant-lion-eating-chimps-of-the-magic-forest,James-Randerson-Guardian). This article was written a little over two months ago, when a rosy future seemed to lie ahead for our project. During the 2006-2007 field season, we established Camp Gangu, 40 km from the nearest human settlements and in the middle of a pristine forest inhabited not by humans, but by forest elephants, lions, hyenas (yes, the latter two species are found deep in the forest!), giant forest hogs, and a large population of naive chimpanzees who reacted to our presence with more curiosity than fear. We spent hours observing and filming these apes. We discovered more elements of the Bili apes' unique culture (snail and fruit smashing, honey-dipping, and even the consumption of a leopard, observed by Ligada, our most experienced Azande field assistant) (please visit www.wasmoethwildlife.org for photos and films of our work). The community conservation project run by The Wasmoeth Wildlife Foundation (TWWF) was back on track, after a year in which the buying of the locals' coffee had been suspended due to continued elephant-poaching. The Congolese representative of TWWF, Michel Mokede, was monitoring the situation at Bili, and several elephant poachers had been arrested. Efforts were underway to bring in Ecoguards to help protect this vast area of unspoiled wilderness.

I was scheduled to leave Holland for Bili in mid-September for my third field season, and research collaborations were underway with other universities. Then, in early July, the news came from Michel: within the last month, over a period of a week or two, a large number of gold miners had flooded into the Bili area! Apparently the local chiefs had invited in over 1200 of them to open an artisanal mine, within 50 km of Gangu. In addition, we were told by Michel that a mining permit had been granted for Gangu itself (although no mine has yet been opened). This is all illegal under Congolese law, as the Bili area is part of a hunting reserve --- but in this frontier region, the law is often impossible to enforce. The attitude towards our conservation project seems to have turned hostile, and miners continue to pour in to the area from as far away as 300 km.

Tragically, large-scale mining of minerals such as gold and coltan inevitably leads to massive degradation of the fauna in surrounding areas (see what happened to Eastern lowland gorillas living in the Kahuzi-Biega World Heritage Site, also in The DRC. Their population was decimated within a few years of the opening of coltan mines in the park). The miners themselves consume large amounts of bushmeat, and their activities provide a cover for ivory hunters, who will without a doubt be drawn from the mine towards the large elephant herds in their remote Gangu refuge. Once this untouched forest is invaded by hundreds of poachers, it may be impossible to ever undo the damage.

Given the seriousness of the situation, TWWF and I have spent the last month writing emails to the ICCN (Institute Congolais Pour la Conservation de la Nature), and writing and visiting government officials in Kisangani and Kinshasa. My return to Bili has been postponed. The plan to habituate the Gangu chimpanzees has obviously been abandoned, at least for the time being. In mid October, I will fly into Aketi, a town about 220 km SW of Bili, to survey for chimpanzees and other large mammals in the nearby forests. Aketi is rather close to the area in which four gorilla skulls were found a century ago, possibly belonging to a relict population called Gorilla gorilla uellensis --- if there really were gorillas here then, they were separated from their eastern and western cousins by hundreds of kms. So, who knows what we might find!

We are poised to return to Bili if and when it is safe to do so. The representatives of TWWF are in Kisangani right now, seeking a solution to the problem. The Congolese government must be encouraged to enforce its conservation laws, which were designed to protect some of the world's most amazing and charismatic mega-fauna. It would be a terrible shame if the Bili apes were to disappear from the planet just as we were getting to know them!

Add to del.icio.us Posted: Monday, September 17, 2007 | Permalink

Comments 1 - 13 of 13 |

Reload Comments | Back to Top | Page Numbers

1. Comment #71090 by BAEOZ on September 17, 2007 at 8:04 pm

Damn humans! I blame god for creating us! He's a prick.

Other Comments by BAEOZ

2. Comment #71232 by pewkatchoo on September 18, 2007 at 5:47 am

This is what we should be sending the UN armies in for! To protect other species from extinction. We will never run out of humans!

Other Comments by pewkatchoo

3. Comment #71239 by Barbara on September 18, 2007 at 6:30 am

Humans . . . the scourge of the planet. Will we ever learn? Just shameful!

Other Comments by Barbara

4. Comment #71241 by Dr Benway on September 18, 2007 at 6:37 am

Is there really gold there?
And who buys ivory anymore?

Somehow we have to convince the politicians that a unique ecology is of priceless value. We need some documentaries that make money and can fund conservation costs. Tourism established in such a way as to not threaten wildlife. Scholarships and student exchange between Africans and prestigious universities.

How much money did that penguin movie make?

Other Comments by Dr Benway

5. Comment #71278 by USA_Limey on September 18, 2007 at 9:24 am

Comment #71090 by BAEOZ

Damn humans!

Comment #71232 by pewkatchoo

We will never run out of humans!

Comment #71239 by Barbara

Humans . . . the scourge of the planet

...fear not, my anti human friends, and be of brave heart. There is an asteroid out there with our name on it.

Everything works out in the end.

:-)

Other Comments by USA_Limey

6. Comment #71288 by Barbara on September 18, 2007 at 9:34 am

USA_Limey,

You're funny!

I wouldn't say I'm anti human. I'm anti thoughtless-human.

Other Comments by Barbara

7. Comment #71291 by bwana ndege on September 18, 2007 at 9:48 am

...fear not, my anti human friends, and be of brave heart. There is an asteroid out there with our name on it.

This is a 'human specific' asteroid then I presume.

Other Comments by bwana ndege

8. Comment #71306 by USA_Limey on September 18, 2007 at 11:04 am

Comment #71291 by bwana ndege

This is a 'human specific' asteroid then I presume.

Oh no no no, an indiscriminate planet killer. Wipe the slate clean and start again.

What could be better than that?

Other Comments by USA_Limey

9. Comment #71320 by konquererz on September 18, 2007 at 12:35 pm

I'm very pro-life, mostly my own! I'm not all for the asteroid, but what can you do? But we humans could be helping other species to not die because of us. Or we can believe its the "end times" and say screw them all!

Other Comments by konquererz

10. Comment #71354 by Veronique on September 18, 2007 at 2:08 pm

4. Comment #71241 by Dr Benway

I am led to understand that a lot of ivory is sold via e-bay. There has been a call to boycott e-bay until it removes all sellers of ivory from its web site. I can't see that working.

Gee this stuff gives me the shits! I am not anti-human either, well sometimes I am. Our thoughtless behaviour in the governance of this planet stirs me up like everyone else has said.

I don't know Doc. While ever our appetites remain insatiable, while ever our governments remain attached to a model of economic rationalism and follow the 4% annual growth regime, we just won't make it. And all the chimpanzees will go the way of the dodo. All over the planet there are reducing islands of geographic habitat as we eat our future (as Flannery puts it).

I listened to an interview on Saturday that was part of Science Week here in Oz. Jeremy Leggett of Solar Century said that by 2012, plus or minus a couple of years, we will be looking at a temperature rise of possibly 2º and we probably won't stay under the target of 450 ppm tropospheric CO2. We are at about 377 ppm now. And we still mine and burn coal and uranium. Unbelievable. Methane packs approximately 22 times more punch than CO2 and the ice caps and tundra are melting. And my son's wife has just had a little boy. sigh

I can't help feeling that whatever we do, it's like shifting deck chairs on the Titanic. I don't really believe that the politicians will do anything that remotely addresses the reduction of environmental stressors. At the APEC meeting in Sydney, our PM Howard boasted about the 21 member countries agreeing on 'aspirational goals' to reduce greenhouse gases. Whoopee do. Another talk-fest where these countries do marketing and trade deals to improve their bottom line. And, still no one will talk about global population control.

Oh dear
V

Other Comments by Veronique

11. Comment #71434 by HappyPrimate on September 18, 2007 at 7:02 pm

USA_Limey - You may not be far off. An article on BBC.com tells of a metorite that hit in Peru and is causing severe illness in people and a bull has died. It appears there are gases coming from the impact site. Could there be more of those out there heading our way right now? Maybe, maybe not. BTW I'm with those who feel humans need more humility and empathy for our fellow creatures. But as long as most of us think we were special creations, it's not going to happen.

Other Comments by HappyPrimate

12. Comment #71702 by USA_Limey on September 19, 2007 at 1:58 pm

Comment #71434 by HappyPrimate:

An article on BBC.com tells of a metorite that hit in Peru and is causing severe illness in people and a bull has died. It appears there are gases coming from the impact site.

Let me know when the top screws off the meteorite and a death ray comes out the top will ya. I'll start digging me tunnel then.

Other Comments by USA_Limey

13. Comment #71969 by _J_ on September 20, 2007 at 2:59 am