http://www.karlammann.com/bondo.html

The Economist - 17.10.2002
A species of ape unrecognised by science may exist in the Congo



A HUNDRED years ago, on October 17th 1902, Oscar von Beringe, a German explorer, "suddenly noticed a troupe of large black monkeys" while climbing a volcano in eastern Congo. "We were able to shoot two of these monkeys," he wrote, "which hurtled down the gorge of the crater with an incredible rumble." That von Beringe then found himself "unable to classify the monkey" is not surprising. He was the first European to come into contact with a mountain gorilla.

Gorillas, mountain and otherwise, are rare now. Poachers kill the adults for their meat, and sometimes to make knick-knacks for foreigners. Youngsters are taken from the wild to adorn private zoos. But even after a century, that diminished population may yet hold a surprise.

In 1908 two apes were shot near a place called Bondo, in northern Congo. Their skulls (and two others found in local dwellings) had the crests characteristic of gorillas, but they were unusual enough for taxonomists of the time to classify them as a separate subspecies. Since then, no further specimens of this subspecies have been recorded. Four years ago, Karl Amman, a Swiss wildlife photographer, took up the quest to rediscover the missing gorillas. What he has found is not yet clear. But it might just be a new species of ape.

Mr Amman's expeditions into the forest of Bili, near Bondo (the latest of which, accompanied by this correspondent, has just returned from the bush) have not seen a live ape. But they have found a lot of ground nests. Such nests are characteristic of gorillas. Chimpanzees, the other species of ape that lives in this area, prefer to sleep in trees. Other spoor point to the presence of gorillas, too. Feces in the area resemble those of gorillas, as does the way that saplings are broken down around nest sites. As if to clinch it, Mr Amman has also found another crested skull lying around.

Some of the nests, however, have hairs in them. And hairs contain DNA. That yielded a surprise. The DNA looks like that of a chimpanzee, not a gorilla. Moreover, a re-interpretation of the skull Mr Amman found has pronounced it to be that of a chimp, albeit a crested one. And analysis of the feces suggests that whatever dropped them was eating a fruit-rich diet. That is also characteristic of chimps. What Mr Amman seems to have found is a chimpanzee that behaves like a gorilla.

Local hunters' reports point to something unusual, too. Bondo's hunters do not distinguish between gorillas and chimpanzees. Instead, they divide the local apes into "tree-beaters" and "lion-killers." These two types look the same, and both flee hunters. But lion-killers, say the hunters of Bili, are much bigger and are difficult to kill, even with a poisoned arrow. Several enormous chimp footprints seem to confirm the hunters' reports of an out-sized chimp. And, in a photograph recently obtained from a hunter, the body of one chimp appears to be about 1.8 metres tall (five feet or so). Indeed, to nest confidently on the ground in forest thick with lions and leopards, the lion-killers would probably have to be of such a size.

Whether such lion-killers really are a distinct population, corresponding to Mr Amman's ground-nesting "chimpanzees" and whether they are so different from other great apes that they constitute a separate species, remains to be seen. But it is surprising that in the early years of the 21st century such a discovery could even be contemplated. Apparently, the jungle has not given up all its secrets yet.

Karl's notes on The Bili Mystery Chimpanzees
The Economist article has lead to a lot of inquiries and requests for more detailed information. Not being a scientist myself I am aware that and specific feedback has to be "politically correct". Below are facts and interpretations of facts I am comfortable with. However for a final analysis as to what might be mysterious about the chimpanzees around Bili I would prefer if readers would form their own opinions based on the photographic material we present as well as comments on the DNA analysis.

In 1898 a Belgian officer returning from the Congo provided the Trevuren Museum in Bruxelles with three gorilla skulls which he had collected near Bondo in Northern Congo and a village further south near the Itumbiri River.

This Bondo location is about half way between the extreme edges of the Western and Eastern distribution of any gorilla populations.

In 1937 based on the skulls anatomical differences and their unique origin Henri Schouteden named an new subspecies: Gorilla Gorilla uellensis.

I did a first survey of the forests around Bondo in 1996 returning with a skull which had a pronounced sagittal crest (as male gorillas do). However all the rest of the measurements associated with the skull were those of a chimpanzee.

In the subsequent years the war situation in most of the Congo made travel to the Bili/Bondo area very difficult. I recruited a Cameroonian bush meat hunter to visit and survey the area. This guy had killed dozens of chimpanzees and gorillas in his life and would be able to assess any tracks he would find.

He did not manage to get to Bili or Bondo but was blocked at a village north of Bili where he surveyed the surrounding forest. He came back with photographs and a report having found gorilla ground nests.

In the year 2000 I returned for further research. We found in the area described a range of ground nests of different ages. All large all made in swampy river beds and all well built and worn (not likely being day nests).

The local population told tales of large and normal chimps. The normal ones could be hunted with the poisoned arrows when feeding in trees, the big ones however hardly climbed trees and would not succumb to the poison fast enough before fleeing and getting lost in the forests. The Azande translation for names used for apes include: The ones which beat the tree! and The one which kills the lion.

This referring to the fact that this forests and savannah mosaic ecosystem is home to a range of predators including lions, hyenas (which regularly attack people) and leopards. The elephants also seem to prefer the vegetation in the very river beds we kept finding the ground nests.

Collecting fecal and hair samples from ground nests turned out to be a lot easier than it would have been with the tree nesting population of chimps of which we also found evidence on a regular basis.

The results of some of the initial mt DNA analysis was that we were looking at a chimp population which grouped nicely with the schweinfurthii subspecies but also with some individuals of the further west living Ptt subspecies.

(see Phylogenetic Tree below)
http://www.karlammann.com/bondo.html#tree

While collecting more samples from tree and ground nests to hopefully compare the relationship between the tree and ground nesting groups we found some additional interesting evidence of a chimp population which seems to include some very large animals which in turn - probably due to size and weight - have adopted the different and new nesting culture.

The forests in the riverbeds concerned are very dense and as such we have not managed to see any of these chimps and as a solution I acquired some trip cameras triggered by the animals themselves. Here is one of these images which I for one consider impressive and interesting.

Then a few months ago I heard about a chimp which was shot near Bondo and which supposedly had been very large. The story was that the carcass had been photographed. I sent one of my trackers to Bondo to find the hunter and he came back with the photograph in question.

None of the scientist having looked at the evidence has so far gone on record with estimating the size in terms of kilos or pounds of the two chimps in the photographs.

While several labs hold fecal and hair samples to analyze the nuclear DNA and via the Y chromosome the male relationships none of this work has been concluded yet. Some preliminary comments on the DNA are attached. http://www.karlammann.com/bondo.html#dna

Several survey trips to the south of Bili and the East have shown that ground nesting is indeed geographically limited to our main research area and some of the surrounding forests.

In the meantime I have started provisioning a clearing in the ground nesting area with sugar cane. The nearby village is growing the cane and putting it on an elevated platform two times a week. In January of 2003 I will install a trip video camera to film the villagers doing their job and hopefully chimp groups stopping by to feast on the sugar cane.

I have little doubt that sometimes soon we will be able to look at images of what are very very big chimpanzees doing there thing in the forests of Bili and Bondo. I have little doubt that 'their thing' will illustrate a new chimp culture and possibly quiet a bit more.


*Moderator's note: Please visit the link below for more photos and information regarding the photos.

http://www.karlammann.com/gallery-bondo.html

:)