Year after year populations of wild apes disappear across Africa
due to increased habitat fragmentation, the commercial bushmeat
trade and disease. One or all of these problems may threaten
a given population. Lincoln Park Zoo scientists work with various
partners on projects throughout Africa to help conserve wild
apes. The zoo also supports young African scientists who lead
conservation projects for chimpanzees, lowland gorillas and mountain
gorillas. This helps groom a new generation of researchers as
environmental decision-makers and strengthens conservation leadership
in the countries where great apes live.
Gombe Health Monitoring Zoo scientists, in cooperation with the Jane Goodall
Insitute (JGI) and Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA), are conducting
a baseline health-monitoring study of chimpanzees in Tanzania’s
Gombe National Park. This study includes observational health
data collection and fecal and urine sampling for diagnoses. By
developing baseline measures of health in the population, scientists
can help park managers decide when and if to take action to treat
a sick chimpanzee. In addition, zoo staff and JGI investigate
ways to prevent transmission of disease between humans and chimpanzees.
Goualougo Triangle Ape Project The main goals of the Goualougo Triangle Ape Project are to enhance our knowledge of the central subspecies of chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) and improve their conservation status throughout central Africa. A long-term site-based conservation and research program is in place to document the social structure and ecology of this ape population, monitori the densities of chimpanzees and gorillas in the Goualougo Triangle, improve survey methods to estimate ape abundance in the region and document the effect of timber exploitation on chimpanzees residing in an active logging concession.
Chimpanzee Mother-Infant Relationships In most mammals, including humans, the mother-offspring relationship is critical to how offspring survive and reproduce later in life. Despite the insights chimpanzees can provide into humans, relatively little is known about what influences chimpanzee maternal behavior and how that behavior translates to offspring health and development.
One factor that may be crucial is maternal stress levels, and so our current research aims to identify what stresses female chimpanzees and to relate maternal stress to maternal behavior, and ultimately, offspring stress, health, and development. Since 1970, researchers at Gombe National Park in Tanzania have been collecting data on maternal and infant behavior. These data currently include more than 15,000 hours of observations on 39 different mothers, making the Gombe mother-infant dataset the largest and most detailed primate-behavioral-development database in the world.
In addition, health data have been collected since 2004 under the direction of Elizabeth Lonsdorf, Ph.D., and Dominic Travis, Ph.D. Endocrinologist Rachel Santymire, Ph.D., has also developed techniques for collecting and analyzing fecal samples for stress hormones. This collaborative, multidisciplinary project will allow us to fully investigate the relationship between maternal stress, offspring stress and health.
Tanzanian master's student Jared Bakuza (left) oversees the health-monitoring
project at Gombe. The zoo’s veterinary technician, Joel Pond, inspects
a field lab that has been set up by Bakuza with funding from Lincoln Park
Zoo.
