Rubi-Télé

Central Africa > Democratic Republic of the Congo > Rubi-Télé

Summary

• Eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) are present in Rubi-Télé.
• It has been estimated that 545 individuals occur in the site.
• The population trend is unknown.
• The site has a total size of 9,080 km².
• Key threats to great apes are bushmeat hunting, artisanal mining, and a national road.
• Conservation activities are not documented.

Site characteristics

The Rubi-Télé hunting domain is located in the Bas-Uélé province, in northern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The site was one of the first protected areas in the Belgian Congo, established as a Hunting Reserve in 1930, five years after the creation of Virunga National Park (Mutombo et al. 2017).

Table 1. Basic site information for Rubi-Télé

Area	9,080 km²
Coordinates	2.631336 N, 24.850447 E
Designation	Hunting Domain
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Rubi-Télé

Species	Year	Abundance estimate (95% CI)	Density estimate [ind./ km²] (95% CI)	Encounter rate (nests/km)	Area	Method	Source	Comments	A.P.E.S. database ID
Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii	Unknown	545	0.06		Rubi-Télé Hunting Domain	Index survey (reconnaissance walk)	Plumptre et al. 2010

Threats

Artisanal mining has been established for over 20 years in Rubi-Télé, during which time the fauna has been substantially reduced by hunting. Encounter rates of chimpanzees and other fauna were much lower in this region than in forests immediately to the north (Hicks et al. 2010).

Table 3. Threats to apes in Rubi-Télé

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development		Unknown
2. Agriculture & aquaculture		Unknown
3. Energy production & mining	3.2 Mining & quarrying	High		Invasion of artisanal-scale miners into the Rubi-Tele (Hicks et al. 2010, Bisimwa et al. 2021).	Ongoing (2021)
4. Transportation & service corridors	4.1 Roads & railroads	High		The site is crossed by National Road Four (RN4) that connects Buta to Kisangani and other eastern DRC cities. This is a factor explaining the intensification of hunting and mining activities at the site (Bisimwa et al. 2021).	Ongoing (2021)
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High		Bushmeat hunting, linked to mining activities (Hicks et al. 2010, Bisimwa et al. 2021).	Ongoing (2021)
6. Human intrusion & disturbance		Unknown
7. Natural system modifications		Unknown
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases		Unknown
9. Pollution		Unknown
10. Geological Events		Absent
11. Climate change & severe weather		Unknown
12. Other options		Absent

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

Table 4. Conservation activities in Rubi-Télé

Category	Specific activity	Description	Year of activity
1. Residential & commercial development	Not reported
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	Not reported
3. Energy production & mining	Not reported
4. Transportation & service corridors	Not reported
5. Biological resource use	Not reported
6. Human intrusion & disturbance	Not reported
7. Natural system modifications	Not reported
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases	Not reported
9. Pollution	Not reported
10. Education & Awareness	Not reported
11. Habitat Protection	Not reported
12. Species Management	Not reported
13. Livelihood; Economic & Other Incentives	Not reported

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Rubi-Télé

Challenge	Source
Not reported

Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Rubi-Télé

Behavior	Source
Not reported

External links

Relevant datasets

A.P.E.S Portal

References

Mutombo P., Nyundai G., Malekani A., Angoyo R., Basa O., Dudu B., Amundala N., Gambalemoke S., Akaibe J., Kambale J. J., Bongo G. N., Ngbolua K. N. (2017). Diversity of rodents and shrews in Rubi-Télé Hunting Domain in the territory of Buta, Bas Uélé Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. International Journal of Zoology Studies, 2(1):89-95.
Plumptre, A.J., Rose, R., Nangendo, G., Williamson, E.A., Didier, K., Hart, J., Mulindahabi, F., Hicks, C., Griffin, B., Ogawa, H., Nixon, S., Pintea, L., Vosper, A., McClennan, M., Amsini, F., McNeilage, A., Makana, J.R., Kanamori, M., Hernandez, A., Piel, A., Stewart, F., Moore, J., Zamma, K., Nakamura, M., Kamenya, S., Idani, G., Sakamaki, T., Yoshikawa, M., Greer, D., Tranquilli, S., Beyers, R., Furuichi, T., Hashimoto, C. and Bennett, E. (2010). Eastern Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii): Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan 2010–2020. IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group, Gland, Switzerland. 52pp.
Hicks, T. C., Darby, L., Hart, J., Swinkels, J., January, N., & Menken, S. (2010). Trade in orphans and bushmeat threatens one of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s most important populations of Eastern Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii). African Primates, 7(1), 1-18.
Bisimwa, L., Musangu, E., Mampeta, S., Amundala, N., Sabongo, P., & Sonwa, D. J. (2021). Challenges on the valorisation of local knowledge: Preliminary assessments in the Rubi-Tele Hunting Area (DRC). ASC-TUFS Working Papers, (1), 203-216.

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki team Date: 10/01/2022