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West Africa > Republic of Guinea > Bossou

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Summary

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Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) are present in Bossou.
The last population estimate was 7 individuals.
The chimpanzee population trend is declining.
This site has a total size of 20 km².
Key threats to chimpanzees are isolation due to habitat destruction and fragmentation.
The following conservation activities were implemented: establishing a habitat corridor and environmental education.
Bossou is one of the longest-running research sites on chimpanzees.

Site characteristics

Bossou is a long-term research site in south-eastern Guinea located 6 km west of the foot of the Nimba mountains (Kormos et al. 2003). The site was established in 1976 by Sugiyama and colleagues from the Kyoto University Primate Research Institute in Japan (Sugiyama 1979). Prior, Kortlandt was the first researcher to study chimpanzees at Bossou in 1960, but continuous research has been ongoing since 1976 (Kormos et al. 2003). Research conducted at Bossou has contributed to the understanding of chimpanzee ecology and behavior through numerous studies as diverse as population dynamics, social structure, feeding behavior, grooming behavior, genetics, tool use (as detailed in Kormos et al. 2003, The chimpanzees of Bossou and Nimba 2019). In 2001 the Institut de Recherche Environnementale de Bossou was established to foster collaboration between the Guinean government and Japanese researchers (Kormos et al. 2003).

Table 1. Basic site information for Bossou

Species	Pan troglodytes verus
Area	20 km²
Coordinates	Lat: 7.65 , Lon: -8.49
Type of site	Non-protected area
Habitat types	Agricultural land, Subtropical/tropical heavily degraded former forest, Subtropical/tropical moist forest, Savanna
Type of governance

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Since the chimpanzee community at Bossou is habituated to the presence of researchers, exact population estimates have been recorded since the 1970s. From 1976 to 2003 chimpanzee abundance fluctuated around 20 individuals (Sugiyama 1981, Kormos et al. 2003, The chimpanzees of Bossou and Nimba 2019). In 2004 the size of the chimpanzee community started to decline and is now at 7 individuals (The chimpanzees of Bossou and Nimba 2019).

Table 2. Ape population estimates reported for Bossou

Species	Year	Abundance estimate (95% CI)	Area	Method	Source	Comments
Pan troglodytes verus	1967	17	Bossou	Full count	Sugiyama 1979	likely underestimate as chimpanzees were not yet habituated to human observers (Sugiyama 1979)
Pan troglodytes verus	1976	21	Bossou	Full count	Sugiyama 1979
Pan troglodytes verus	1979-1980	20 (19-21)	Bossou	Full count	Sugiyama 1981
Pan troglodytes verus	2004	14	Bossou	Full count	The chimpanzees of Bossou and Nimba 2019
Pan troglodytes verus	2018	7	Bossou	Full count	The chimpanzees of Bossou and Nimba 2019

Threats

The key threat to chimpanzees is the destruction and fragmentation of habitat which led to the complete isolation of the Bossou chimpanzee community from other chimpanzee groups. The last male chimpanzee migrated into the research group in 1982 (Hirata et al. 1998). In the 1980s other chimpanzee groups in the surrounding area have likely gone extinct (Hirata at el. 1998).

Table 3. Threats to apes reported for Bossou

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
1 Residential & commercial development	1.1 Residential areas	Medium	humans live in close proximity chimpanzees, but do not hunt them (Matsuzawa et al. 2011a)	ongoing (2011)
2 Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	High	widespread agriculture (Hockings et al. 2012)	Ongoing (2012)
3 Energy production & mining		Absent
4 Transportation & service corridors	4.1 Roads & railroads	Medium	chimpanzees need to cross roads to move between habitat patches (Matsuzawa et al. 2011a)	ongoing (2011)
5 Biological resource use	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	High	most of the forest has been destroyed or degraded, especially when many people moved to the area during the Liberian civil war (Matsuzawa et al. 2011a)	until 1990s
6 Human intrusions & disturbance		Absent
7 Natural system modifications	7.1 Fire & fire suppression	Low	fire do occur in the area (Matsuzawa et al. 2011a)	ongoing (2011)
8 Invasive & other problematic species, genes & diseases	8.1 Invasive non-native/alien species	Medium	outbreak of flu-like respiratory disease killing five chimpanzees (Humle 2011b)	2003
9 Pollution		Absent
10 Geological events		Absent
11 Climate change & severe weather		Unknown
12 Other threat		Absent

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

Conservation activities focus on reestablishing habitat connectivity between Bossou and the Nimba mountains to end the isolation of the chimpanzee community (Hirata et al. 1998). In 1997 the [“Green Corridor Project” https://www.greencorridor.info/] started. To overcome the 10 km distance to the Nimba mountains a habitat corridor is being planted of a length of 4 km and 300m wide through savanna areas.

Table 4. Conservation activities reported for Bossou

Category	Specific activity	Description	Year of activity
3 Species health	3.1 Wear face-masks to avoid transmission of viral and bacterial diseases to primates	since the outbreak of the respiratory disease all people observing chimpanzees have to wear masks (Humle 2011b)	since 2003
3 Species health	3.2 Keep safety distance to habituated apes	a minimum distance of 20 m is enforced (Humle 2011b)	since 2003
3 Species health	3.6 Ensure that researchers/tourists are up-to-date with vaccinations and healthy	up-to-date vaccinations are required (Humle 2011b)	since 2003
4 Education & awareness	4.1 Educate local communities about apes and sustainable use	video screenings, pamphlets, educational material for schools and environmental education sessions at schools (Hirata et al. 1998, Humle 2011c)	since 1993
5 Protection & restoration	5.6 Habitat restoration	the Green Corridor Project aims to reestablish habitat connectivity between Bossou and the Nimba mountains (Matsuzawa et al. 2011a)	since 1997
7 Economic & other incentives	7.2 Provide non-monetary benefits to local communities for sustainably managing their forest and its wildlife (e.g., better education, infrastructure development)	financial support for the construction of schools and latrines, material donations to schools (Humle 2011c)	since end 1990s

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Bossou

Challenges	Specific challenges	Source	Year(s)
	Not reported

Enablers

Table 6. Enablers reported for Bossou

Enablers	Specific enablers	Source	Year(s)
1 Site management
2 Resources and capacity
3 Engaged community
4 Institutional support
5 Ecological context
6 Safety and stability

Research activities

Since 1976 research has been continuously conducted at Bossou covering a wide range of topics from ecology, demography and social organization, tool use, cognition, communication, culture, feeding behavior, genetics, and social behaviors (listed in more detail in Kormos et al. 2003, Matsuzawa et al. 2011b, The chimpanzees of Bossou and Nimba 2019). As chimpanzees at Bossou live in a landscape strongly impacted by anthropogenic activities, one focus of research activities was how chimpanzee are behaving in such a landscape, on crop-raiding behavior by chimpanzees and conflicts between chimpanzees and humans (e.g., Hockings et al. 2012, Hockings et al. 2010).

Documented behaviours

Table 7. Behaviours documented for Bossou

Behavior	Source
Algae scooping	Humle et al. 2011
Ant dipping	Matsuzawa & Humle 2011
Branch shaking	Whiten et al. 1999
Branch slapping	Whiten et al. 1999
Buttress beating	Whiten et al. 1999
Drinking palm wine	Hockings et al. 2015
Hunting and meat eating	Sugiyama 1981
Leaf clipping	Sugiyama 1981
Leaf cushion	The chimpanzees of Bossou and Nimba 2019
Leaf sponging for drinking water	Sugiyama 1981
Medicinal uses of leaves	Matsuzawa & Yamakoshi 1996
Nut cracking (palm nut)	Sugiyama 1981
Pestle pounding	Matsuzawa & Humle 2011
Stem pull-through	Whiten et al. 1999
Stone throwing	Whiten et al. 1999
Termite fishing	Whiten et al. 1999
Wood pounding	Whiten et al. 1999

Exposure to climate change impacts

External links

Relevant datasets

References

Hirata S, Morimura N, and Matsuzawa T. 1998. Green passage plan (Tree planting project) and environmental education using documentary videos at Bossou: a progress report. Pan African News, 5, 18–20.

Hockings KJ et al. 2010. Attacks on local persons by chimpanzees in Bossou, Republic of Guinea: long-term perspectives, American Journal of Primatology, 72:887-896

Hockings KJ et al. 2012. Socioecological adaptations by chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes verus, inhabiting an anthropogenically impacted habitat, Animal Behaviour 83(3) 801-810

Hockings KJ et al. 2015. Tools to tipple: ethanol ingestion by wild chimpanzees using leaf-sponges. Royal Society Open Science, 2: 150150

Humle T. 2011a. Location and ecology, in Matsuzawa T, Humle T and Sugiyama Y, ed. The chimpanzees of Bossou and Nimba. Springer. Tokyo

Humle T. 2011b. The 2003 epidemic of a flu-like respiratory disease at Bossou, in Matsuzawa T, Humle T and Sugiyama Y, ed. The chimpanzees of Bossou and Nimba. Springer. Tokyo

Humle T. 2011c. Environmental education and community development in and around Bossou, in Matsuzawa T, Humle T and Sugiyama Y, ed. The chimpanzees of Bossou and Nimba. Springer. Tokyo

Humle T et al. 2011. Algae scooping remains a puzzle, in Matsuzawa T, Humle T and Sugiyama Y, ed. The chimpanzees of Bossou and Nimba. Springer. Tokyo

Kormos R et al. 2003. The Republic of Guinea, in Kormos, R. Boesch, C., Bakarr, M.I. & Butynski, T.M. [eds.] Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan, IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK

Matsuzawa T. and Yamakoshi G. 1996. Comparison of chimpanzee material culture between Bossou and Nimba, West Africa, in Russon AE, Bard KA and Parker ST, eds. Reaching into thought: the minds of the great apes. University Press, Cambridge

Matsuzawa T, Humle T. 2011. Bossou: 33 years, in Matsuzawa T, Humle T and Sugiyama Y, ed. The chimpanzees of Bossou and Nimba. Springer. Tokyo

Matsuzawa T et al. 2011a. Green corridor project: planting trees in the savanna between Bossou and Nimba, in Matsuzawa T, Humle T and Sugiyama Y, ed. The chimpanzees of Bossou and Nimba. Springer. Tokyo

Matsuzawa T et al. 2011b. The chimpanzees of Bossou and Nimba. Springer. Tokyo

Sugiyama, Y. (1979) Social structure and dynamics of wild chimpanzees at Bossou, Guinea. Primates 20(3) 323-339.

Sugiyama, Y. (1981) Observation on the population dynamics and behavior of wild chimpanzees at Bossou, Guinea, in 1979-1980. Primates 22(4) 435-444.

The chimpanzees of Bossou and Nimba (2019) [Green Corridor Project https://www.greencorridor.info/]

Whiten et al. 1999. Cultures in chimpanzees. Nature 399: 682-685

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