Chester Zoo Foundation Nigeria Gashaka Biodiversity Project REPORT 2014

Transcription

1 Chester Zoo Foundation Nigeria Gashaka Biodiversity Project REPORT 2014

2 2 Gashaka Biodiversity Project Report 2014 Gashaka Biodiversity Project Report CHESTER ZOO FOUNDATION NIGERIA CHESTER ZOO PARTNERS & ACKNOWLEDGMENTS CONTENTS A registered company (CAC/IT/NO 74183) in Nigeria, and operator of the Gashaka Biodiversity Project. Mission The protection of the biodiversity of Nigeria Aims To protect the biodiversity of Gashaka Gumti National Park through: Facilitating on-going research activity, executed by international and national scientists and students, to increase the international profile of the GGNP and to help inform conservation strategy Chester Zoo Foundation Nigeria represents part of the wider global conservation activities of The North of England Zoological Society (Chester Zoo). Mission To be a major force in conserving biodiversity worldwide Strategic objectives To ensure that our conservation and educational activities, both in the zoo and globally, achieve the greatest conservation impact To be a world class must see, visitor attraction, in terms of quality, service and enthralling experience Everton in the Community, (Everton Football Club) UK Gashaka Gumti National Park, Nigeria Nigerian Montane Forest Project Nigerian National Parks Service Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, UK Taraba State University, Nigeria University College London, UK University of Roehampton, UK University of Canterbury, New Zealand Introduction... 4 Gashaka Gumti National Park... 5 Chester Zoo and Support for the Gashaka Gumti NP... 6 Project Manager s Summary... 7 Scientific Director s Report... 8 Gangirwal Expedition...10 Camera Trap Project...14 Collaborating with the National Park Service in the development of infrastructure and capacity to protect the GGNP Involving the community in the conservation of GGNP To be a centre of excellence for animal and plant care based on sound scientific principles To ensure long term commercial viability through excellent business practices University Of Lagos, Nigeria Julius Berger Nigeria PLC, Nigeria National Park Service...15 Community Engagement & Public Relations...16 To ensure that our staff are recognised as being at the heart of the organisation and influence the success of everything we do To ensure an excellent external reputation that builds trust and allows us to influence our stakeholders Project Funders 2014 Chester Zoo Everton in the Community Staff profiles...17 Staff and Visitors to the GBP...19 Appendices...21 Acronyms GPP GBP Gashaka Primate Project Gashaka Biodiversity Project GGNP Gashaka Gumti National Park EitC Everton in the Community NNPS Nigerian National Park Service RBGK Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew UCL University College London IUCN International Union for the Conservation of Nature

3 4 Gashaka Biodiversity Project Report 2014 Gashaka Biodiversity Project Report INTRODUCTION GASHAKA GUMTI NATIONAL PARK Enclaves GGNP Boundary Probable Core Chimpanzee Range GBP Core Study Area Gangirwai Expedition Route 2014 Welcome to the first report of the Chester Zoo Foundation Nigeria, heralding a new chapter for Chester Zoo s long history of wildlife conservation support in Gashaka Gumti National Park (GGNP). This report also reflects on a busy year of transition, from the Gashaka Primate Project (GPP), to the new Gashaka Biodiversity Project (GBP). This changeover includes the formation of Chester Zoo Foundation Nigeria as a Nigerian nongovernmental organisation providing the framework within Nigeria for coordination of the GBP. The GBP will build upon the considerable achievements of the GPP and continue the zoo s history of support in GGNP, which now spans over two decades! Early support dates as far back as 1994 with varying involvement from Chester Zoo but it was in 1999 that Chester Zoo became really involved in the park, becoming the main organisation supporting the GPP. Professor Sommer continues his involvement with the project in the role of Scientific Director, and the various GPP research trajectories and many activities that existed under the GPP will continue. However, as the name change implies, the GBP will build upon the well-established conservation network and successful initiatives developed through the GPP, to further expand the conservation activities in GGNP. We are also delighted that Dr Umar Buba (GBP Project Manager) and the various dedicated local field assistants remain with the project. Dr Umar will continue to work closely with the Field Programme team at Chester Zoo, including the new Chester Zoo Field Programme Coordinator, Stuart Nixon, who brings with him over 15 years experience of working with national parks, communities and conducting great ape conservation research in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Of course our work in GGNP could not happen without the Nigerian National Parks Service (NNPS). Recognition of the new GBP is being formalised through a new 5 year Memorandum of Understanding with the NNPS and the project looks forward to continuing to work closely with the park direction for GGNP has been a busy year, and I am proud to introduce this new report; to be celebrating a long history of conservation support in GGNP and the beginning of what I hope will be many more years of fruitful engagement with the research potential and conservation challenges embedded in Nigeria s largest national park. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank all of our partners, past and present, which have played a role in the protection of GGNP and its wildlife. Dr Mark Pilgrim Chair, Chester Zoo Foundation Nigeria Director General, Chester Zoo

4 6 Gashaka Biodiversity Project Report 2014 CHESTER ZOO AND SUPPORT FOR THE GASHAKA GUMTI NATIONAL PARK Project Manager s Summary GASHAKA BIODIVERSITY PROJECT NEWS Gashaka Biodiversity Project Report The first support for the GGNP dates back as far as This has included funding wild dog surveys by Nigerian Conservation Foundation and the World Wide Fund for Nature UK (WWF UK), the first ever freshwater fish surveys in the park by the then Chief Curator of Mammals at Chester Zoo, Professor Gordon McGregor Reid and research by various Chester Zoo staff on the flagship species: the endangered Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee Pan troglodytes ellioti. In 1999, Chester Zoo began what would become a major expansion of its involvement in the park, providing core support for the work of Professor Volker Sommer and the GPP. Over the next decade and a half the GPP then developed into a world renowned field research project. In recognition of the success of the GPP since its inception, Chester Zoo honoured Volker with a North of England Zoological Society Gold medal for Lifetime Achievement in Conservation and Science in June This year I am pleased to continue as the GBP Project Manager, and especially delighted to do so in my new capacity as Dr Umaru Buba after completing my PhD this year, an academic journey that started and continues with the project in GGNP. My role at Taraba State University also continues to develop, providing me with the opportunity to support more Nigerian students to study at Gashaka and hopefully continue along the conservation path that I have been fortunate to take. Top: The first GPP project vehicle provided by Chester Zoo, 2003 Volker Sommer Bottom Left: Chester Zoo provides uniforms for the GPP field assistants Middle Left: 2005 saw the solar powered power Island installed at Kwano Middle Right: Volker receiving his Chester Zoo Gold Medal 2012 Maintenance also continues at our two research sites and this year there was major refurbishment of the Gashaka House with the provision of a new roof and new doors. GBP Staff and NNPS staff engineers also renovated the 2-way radio repeater station, an essential structure for effective communications in the park. Another major, and essential, addition to project infrastructure was a new project vehicle to replace the retired Mercedes that has served the project well over many years. We are also very grateful to Julius Berger, Nigeria PLC, who continues to support our work and this year donated 5 radios. Visitors to Kwano included six work placement students from the Taraba State University, Jalingo. These students carried out responsibilities such as routine patrols with rangers, chimpanzee tracking, phenology on the four km transect in chimpanzee habitat, socio-ecology of baboons both at Gashaka and Kwano, new baboon troop habituation, camera trap monitoring and beacon surveys. They also participated fully in the Everton in the Community (EitC) sponsored football tournament during which they helped to educate the spectators on various conservation and health messages. A personal highlight for me this year was my visit to the UK spending time in Cambridge, London and Chester. During my stay, I visited our new GBP partner, EitC, a charity that has close ties with Everton Football Club. Everton FC hosted me at Goodison Park to launch the EitC Balls to Extinction project, and I was thrilled to meet Everton legend Ian Snodin, team mate of the great Nigerian Evertonian Yakubu Aiyegbe. I must not forget to mention the project s dedicated field assistants who continue to provide the backbone for our work in Kwano and Gashaka and we were particularly pleased to see the return to Gashaka of Felix Vitalis, long term Kwano camp manager, after serious illness earlier in the year. Bottom: The newly repaired roof at the Gashaka house Top: Head Field Assistant, Hammaunde, setting up a camera trap Top Right: Meeting Everton legend Ian Snodin (centre right) at Goodison Park

5 8 Gashaka Biodiversity Project Report 2014 Gashaka Biodiversity Project Report Scientific Director s Report IN THERE FOR THE LONG RUN So, what did you find out this time around? I often hear this question after I return to Europe from a research trip to Nigeria. The expectation is not unreasonable, given two permanent research stations maintained by the GPP since 2001; a recently renovated house at Gashaka village at the edge of the National Park and a larger assemblage of buildings ten kilometres away in the forests of Kwano. However, the image of a lone researcher venturing to a little known place, soon to emerge with exciting scientific results, is a misconception. Firstly, the success of field projects is positively correlated with the time they are running because much of what we want and need to know about habitat and wildlife ecology can only be answered through the collection of long-term data. By long-term I mean not weeks or months but years or even decades. Secondly, much of today s cutting-edge field research is combined with the subsequent analyses of data and biological samples in off-site facilities specialising in, e.g., virology, genetics, nutrition, geology, endocrinology or remote sensing. successful of any permanent field research station on the globe. Such productivity is capacitated because individual pieces of research can rely on a background set of long-term data: - Weather. Each day, field assistants jot down temperature, humidity and rainfall readings at Kwano and Gashaka. (Don t be tempted to think that pen and paper are antiquated ways of doing this. It is not. Electronic climate loggers are quite literally blown away by severe storms during the rainy season or incinerated by lightning.) - Habitat vegetation cover. Straight-line transects over a total of 12 km at Kwano and Gashaka are visited twice per month, to monitor flowering and fruiting cycles as well as growth and survival of 1,500 taxonomically identified trees and associated vines. These transects constitute the longest running seasonal records for a mosaic habitat of Guinea-savannah and lowland rainforest anywhere in the world. They allow comparison with methodologically identical transects at other biomes (Ngel Nyaki / Nigeria; LuiKotale / Democratic Republic of Congo). Long-term data on climate and phenology allow us to pursue one of the main goals of GPP: to understand how environmental factors influence the structure and dynamics of animal societies. Within this paradigm, our focus has traditionally been on primate socio-ecology. A helpful way to understand the philosophy behind permanent field stations is to view them as out-door laboratories. As scientific director of such a wild lab, I need to ensure the uninterrupted collection of various baseline records, which entails maintenance of essential buildings and equipment as well as training and supervision of local field assistants. I also need to assess, facilitate and coordinate requests from short-term investigators who envisage pursuing a specific agenda during a limited stay in the field. These hopefuls include undergraduate, master and PhD students, postdocs and established academics as well as volunteers who yearn to gain experience in research and conservation-related activities. Such temporary visitors pay the project a modest bench fee that subsidises costs for accommodation and kitchen amenities, supplies of cooking gas, water and power as well as field assistant expertise. These fees also feed into a linked scholarship scheme that fosters tertiary education of Nigerians in technical training institutes, community colleges and universities. Our project also aims to enable direct knowledge transfer. For this, Nigerian fieldworkers and those from the developed world work alongside each other, this introduces Africans to state-of-the-art methods not yet available to them. So far, GPP field workers have come from two-dozen nations (Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, USA). They have been affiliated with 24 universities, 5 research institutes, 3 zoological societies and 4 conservation NGOs. Over 15 years, this flurry of research activity has resulted in 203 publications that s one per month! Overall, students produced 4 undergraduate and 36 master s dissertations as well as almost 20 PhD theses (13 completed, 6 expecting completion). Output also encompasses 22 reports ( grey publications), 13 popular writing pieces, 4 documentaries, 42 research abstracts, 2 books and the major currency of scientific credibility 60 articles in edited volumes and journals. One such publication just became the first winner of the Folia Primatologica AH Schultz Best Paper Award. The honoured paper by Alejandra Pascual-Garrido, Umaru Buba, George Nodza and me ( Obtaining raw material: Plants as tool sources for Nigerian chimpanzees ; Folia Primatol 83) illustrates how African and European researchers can fruitfully cooperate and achieve international recognition. (A summary of the published outputs can be found at the back of this report). The scientific yield of GPP, I dare to say, clearly ranks amongst the most Top Left: Volker in Gashaka village Top Right: Putty nose guenon (Cercopithecus nictitans martinii) Bottom: Lowland rainforest - Monkey socioecology. Two groups of olive baboons are fully habituated to human observers meaning that observers can approach within a metre or so, without the monkeys being frightened. One of the troops at Kwano is completely wild feeding while the second one at Gamgam River near Gashaka supplements its diet via crop-raiding. Field assistants visit these troops according to a defined daily rota and record activity pattern, home-range use, group composition and demographic changes (pregnancies, miscarriages, birth, death, immigrations). These permanent records helped us to understand how matrilines of mothers, daughters and granddaughters provide the structural backbone of their society. Moreover, these baboons survive at the edge of the species bio-geographical distribution, representing the most tree-dwelling population of otherwise rather terrestrial monkeys. Our investigations thus shed light not only on animal adaptability, but also our own ancestry as baboons serve as a model for how early humans survived. The baboon studies are coordinated by Dr. Caroline Ross, Roehampton University. A monograph Top: GPP sign at Kwano Bottom Right: Collecting hair samples from chimpanzee nests Bottom Left: Young baboon from the Kwano Research group. D.MacGregor Inglis

6 10 Gashaka Biodiversity Project Report 2014 Gashaka Biodiversity Project Report Scientific Director s Report (continued) IN THERE FOR THE LONG RUN GANGRIWAL EXPEDITION that sums up more than 15 years of field and lab-research is planned for 2017 (Caroline Ross / Volker Sommer, Life at the Edge. The Baboons of Gashaka ). - Ape socioecology. Communities of Nigeria- Cameroon chimpanzee inhabit the wider Kwano area. These apes represent the most endangered sub species of the genus Pan and are rightly the park s flagship animal, as they survive nowhere in larger numbers than here. Field assistants make regular contact with a study community, most commonly between April and June when fruit production is high, which attracts numerous apes to the same tree. Nevertheless, the chimpanzees are not habituated to human observers, and research relies mostly on indirect data. Ever more comprehensive data repositories exist for the assemblage of extractive wooden tools used by the apes, on the ecology of their invertebrate prey species (ants, bees), as well as on chimpanzee nutrition and pathogen load reconstructed from faecal samples. The Kwano community is also an integral part of the Pan Africa Great Ape Monitoring program led by the Max-Planck-Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig Germany. A vast amount of information on baseline ecology of the habitat stored at Leipzig awaits comparative analyses with respect to other chimpanzee, gorilla and bonobo populations. - Wildlife abundance. In collaboration with the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology dozens of camera traps were employed throughout the Kwano forests as part of the Pan African Great Ape Surveillance project. This provided a fascinating insight into chimpanzee behaviour, in particular tool use. This work continues, given that the captured still- and video-images generate a riveting archive of the assemblage and activity pattern of numerous other types of large animals. These include antelopes, pigs, rodents and carnivores, many of which survive nowhere else in West Africa in such numbers. Finally, as promised, some results and questions that long-term research may generate. For example, our data on tree fruiting revealed surprising and peculiar 5-year cycles of high and low productivity. We are now keen to understand if certain trees synchronise their flowering, perhaps as a strategy to swamp seed predators with so much fruit, that pigs, antelopes or rodents can only destroy a fraction of the crop which would increase the trees chances to reproduce. Long-term records on climate and availability of edible wild fruit also allowed us to better understand the levels of stress that baboons experience at the edge of their geographical distribution (MacLarnon et al. 2015, Gen. Comp. Endocrinol.). For this, we utilised hormone (glucocorticoid) measurements extracted from more than 1,000 baboon faecal samples that had been collected over a 6-year period. We identified considerable levels of thermoregulatory and nutritional stress for the wild-feeding baboons, while those that could supplement their diet via crop-raiding experienced only thermoregulatory stress. These findings lead us to hypothesise that baboons do not extend into even thicker, wetter forest, because they would be unable to maintain physiological stability within their normal reactive scope. The phenology data may also allow us to get a better grip on the question of why chimpanzees sleep at certain sites. Like other great apes, every evening the chimpanzees build a new night-nest in the canopy. Primatologists still struggle to detect patterns behind this habit. Are certain trees selected because their architecture is more secure against attacks from leopards? Are certain species chosen where branches and leaves can be woven into a particularly comfortable sleeping platform? Is the nesting site related to thermoregulatory needs? Or does nest tree foliage protect against insect bites or other pathogens? To approach these questions, we have permanently marked 1,000 trees in which individual chimpanzees had constructed a nest. To detect selectivity, we will compare the species composition and architecture of nest trees against the baseline generated from the random transects. Moreover, the 1,000 nest trees will be re-visited by field assistants every other month for several years to come. In this way, we can see if certain trees are being used repeatedly. With this, we ultimately hope to understand if chimpanzee sleeping habits follow some underlying principal or pattern. Research, however, is not purely academic but has a tangible impact on deterring illegal activities in the core study areas and the parts of the park surveyed for biodiversity. Research also informs the conservation management strategies of National Park staff. Moreover, various students who gained first experiences at GGNP later chose a career in nature conservation. The intellectual challenges and outcomes of research are thus a persistent motivator to work towards the preservation of the truly wonderful wilderness that is GGNP. Volker Sommer is Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at UCL. He advises the IUCN as an expert on small and great apes Top: Collection of chimpanzee tools The 2014 Gangirwal Forest Expedition (16-28 Feb) continued previous surveys from 2005, 2006 and 2007 into little known areas surrounding the Gangirwal escarpment. It consisted of 43 members and was enabled by the tireless stamina of 21 porters from Gashaka village and Serti town spearheaded by the rightly famous cutlass-wielding pathfinder Mamuda Dabo, nicknamed human GPS. The National Park, which granted a permit for the expedition, was represented by 8 rangers, including members of the GGNP research unit and Officer Pepeh Kamaya. The Nigeria Montane Forest Project situated near GGNP at Ngel Nyaki and directed by Dr. Hazel Chapman (University of Canterbury, New Zealand) delegated four members, including doctoral student Ralph Adeyinka Adewoye. The scientific crew comprised of 9 individuals, including the organiser and leader of the expedition, Prof. Volker Sommer (UCL; scientific director of GBP); conservationist and wildlife expert Ian Redmond (Ape Alliance, UK); as well as George Nodza, doctoral student in botany at the University of Lagos. Chester Zoo was represented by Dr Sonya Hill (primate expert) and John Fletcher (Horticulture and Botany). The construction firm Julius-Berger-Nigeria sent two of their IT-experts, Wolfgang Krause and Malte Schmalfeldt. Botanical expertise was provided by Lee Davies and Felix Merklinger of the Wet Tropics of Africa herbarium team of RBGK. Top: The Gangirwal expedition team 2014 Bottom: The Montane forests of the Gangirwal escarpment

7 12 Gashaka Biodiversity Project Report 2014 Gashaka Biodiversity Project Report Gangirwal Expedition THE BOTANISTS PERSPECTIVE The Wet Tropics of Africa (WTA) team in the herbarium at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, took part in fieldwork in GGNP in early At the heart of this exercise was a twoweek expedition through the mountainous southern sector, including an ascent to Gangirwal: almost 2500m to climb, claiming the title of West Africa s highest mountain. The expedition snaked up through densely forested tributaries and descended through some heavily forested and steeply framed high-elevation valleys that quite probably had not previously been visited by human beings. The long-term objective of Kew s involvement in GGNP is to assist in characterising the vegetation types of Nigeria s largest national park by enumerating the species and plant composition and hopefully one day to produce a comprehensive catalogue of the sanctuary s flora. Such ambition is combined with the intention to develop a botanical capacity building programme. For this, it will be necessary to identify rangers who are keen and capable to engage in plant collection. Accumulating such material will enable further study and conservation measures for those plants that are rare (Red Data Species). As a first step, Kew staff members Lee Davies and Felix Merklinger trained various rangers in the basics of making herbarium specimens. It is hoped that through further collaboration with partners in Nigeria, a recognised centre for plant diversity studies might develop. This first visit included brief surveys of some of the iconic vegetation types of GGNP. Guinea Savannah - a type of wooded grassland covers much of the lower lying areas of the southern sector, and is comprised of plants that can tolerate fire or recover rapidly after burning. A particularly interesting pyrophytic species from the daisy family (Compositae) was spotted at several locations: the Vernonia chthonocephala. This plant emerges from the ground shortly after fires have swept through. It produces small, purple inflorescences at ground level before pushing leaves in response to the rains later in the year. Lowland seasonal hardwood forest is found as a mosaic with Guinea Savannah. This type of vegetation cover only survives along water courses and is continuously threatened by fire and grazing. The repeated burning results in the understory of these forests slowly disappearing because the plants here are not adapted to fire. As a result, larger trees are often not protected by surrounding vegetation and burn themselves. Losing the understory also means that the vegetation dries out much quicker during the dry season. Notable specimens are trees of the Sapindaceae and Leguminosae families as well as some Rubiaceae and Pandanus candelabrum. The montane forest at elevations of 1200 m and above is the least known vegetation type in the park. Very high humidity for most of the year promotes a healthy growth of mosses and lichens on the trees that gives the forest an almost mystical aura. Growth also becomes somewhat stunted, leading to a more dense vegetation cover. In this jungle one can still find a myriad of little known species, for example members of the Thymelaeaceae (Daphne) family (e.g. Dicranolepis). Numerous watercourses provide a home to members of an enigmatic family of aquatic angiosperms i.e., plants that manage to produce flowers despite often submerged conditions. These Podostemaceae are specialised to grow in fast flowing rapids of fresh water streams. Species are often very restricted and sometimes even known only from one river. Tributaries of the Gam Gam River, for example, saw an abundance of Ledermanniella, Letestuella and the more widespread genus Tristicha. Pollination in this family is not well understood, but is often assumed to take place by wind. However, during this expedition, it was observed that Tristicha trifaria was pollinated by Apis mellifera the honeybee. That hitherto unknown interaction was photographed and filmed, and the specific type of pollinating insect identified by a specialist at the Natural History Museum in London. Until some decades ago much of the Gangirwal escarpment (as well as the entire Cameroonian highlands) were still covered in montane forest. However, forest clearing, cattle herding and burning to promote the fresh re-growth sought by livestock, has led to significant loss. Such practices are severely impacting on floral diversity in the lowland and highland areas, where some herbaceous plants such as the African dropseed (Sporobolus africanus) have become dominant. In fact, in many places, and in particular on top of the escarpment, all that remains is grass. This is continuously nibbled on by herds of cattle and once it is gone, the slopes will start eroding. As a result, entire mountain sides will turn into a desert-like wasteland a process that has already taken its sad course in much of the Mambilla plateau adjacent to the park. Nevertheless, in at least some very steep locales, the expansion of grassland at the expense of forest may have ended due to natural topography. For example, photos from the 1970s compared to images taken on this trip, show no increase in the extent of burning around the rocky outcrop Dutsin Dodo near the top of the Gangirwal plateau. Still, given the cultural importance of pastoralism in Nigeria, it seems unlikely that much of the area can be protected from destructive anthropogenic practices. In any case, any attempt to stop illegal grazing, to manage burning and to identify top priority protection or restoration areas will have to rely on assessments of key vegetation elements. More systematic surveying and future botanical work will no doubt identify many more interesting plants, provide clues about their ecological intricacies and thus create much needed attention for the floristic importance of the GGNP. Lee Davies, Felix Merklinger Previous page: Top: Scaling the Gangirwal escarpment. Bottom left: Botany team at work. Bottom Right: First evidence of an aquatic flowering plant being pollinated by a honeybee This page: Top left: Flowers of Vernonia chthonocephala emerging from fire-swept soil Bottom Left: Ascent through montane forest. Top Right: The little known Dicranolepis sp. of the Daphne family Bottom Right: Plant collection. All photos Felix Merklinger, Royal Botancial Gardens, Kew

8 14 Gashaka Biodiversity Project Report 2014 Gashaka Biodiversity Project Report CAMERA TRAP PROJECT NATIONAL PARK SERVICE The GBP continues its close partnership with the NNPS. Past joint initiatives with the National Park include improving radio communication in the park and demarcation of the park boundary. This year we continued to help strengthen the infrastructure within the park, supporting the construction of rotary camps at Mayo Kam and Yakuba. These rotary camps are in areas, partly identified by this year s expedition, that are particularly under threat from illegal activities. The camps provide a temporary base for rangers in the forest, allowing them to expand their patrol efforts and operate more effectively in more remote areas of the park. A major project, the construction of the Education Centre at Bodel Gate, was also finished this year. This building, fully funded by Chester Zoo, will function as an education centre for tourists and students entering the park and help raise local awareness about the biodiversity and ecological value of the park and the threats that it faces. The next phase, commencing in 2015, will furnish the centre and Discovery and Learning staff at Chester Zoo are currently working alongside the park s education staff to develop interpretation material. Another major occurrence for the NNPS, not only at GGNP but also throughout Nigeria, was the change to paramilitary status. This new change in legal status introduces a military regimentation system, allowing the rangers to carry higher powered automatic weapons (rather than the single shot firearms they are currently equipped with). The NNPS s rangers will also be afforded increased policing power in rural areas outside of the national park Throughout 2014, the camera trap project continued at 11 locations within the Kwano research area. The most notable species captured by the camera traps in 2014 was the rare and cryptic golden cat, (Caracal aurata) which was filmed on three occasions. One of these short films remarkably recorded an adult golden cat playfully attacking a tree pangolin (which may represent a prey item in GGNP) and was covered by the international press in May The full clip can be viewed by following this link; Top Left: Red river hog Potamochoerus porcus Top Right: Chimpanzee Pan troglodytes elliotti Middle Left: Red flanked duiker Cephalophus rufilatus Middle: Bushbuck Tragelaphus sciptus Middle Right: Golden cat Caracal aurata Bottom Left: Yellow backed duiker Cephalophus sylvicultor Bottom Right: Giant forest hog Hylochoerus meinertzhageni itself. It is hoped these changes will help the NNPS better tackle poaching and illegal encroachment into protected areas. As part of this status change, the rangers received additional training and rangers from Chad, Cross River and Abuja National Parks, visited Serti to join the GGNP rangers in exercises held at the Serti Army barracks. Top: The completed education centre at Bodel gate Middle: Rangers on parade during paramilitary training, November 2014 Bottom Left: National Park rangers on the Gangirwal expedition 2014 Bottom Right: Dr Okedeji Agboola Okeyoyin, Director of GGNP

9 16 Gashaka Biodiversity Project Report 2014 Gashaka Biodiversity Project Report COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & PUBLIC RELATIONS STAFF PROFILES - UMAR BUBA A huge number of partners and supporters are engaged with the conservation of GGNP. This community ranges from researchers and students (past & present) to visiting artists, international donors, the local community and national park staff. One of the aims of the GBP is to help promote and expand this community; raising awareness of the importance of the park and its biodiversity and engaging support for conservation various initiatives. Everton in the Community Football tournament This year a major new partner joined the GBP in activities aimed at engaging communities in and around GGNP in the conservation of wildlife. Everton in the Community, (EiTC) affiliated with English Premier League giants Everton F.C., supports health and development projects in the UK and overseas and through teaming up with the GBP, we were able to jointly organise an event using football as a forum to promote health and conservation messages. EitC raised the funds for this event in the UK through the sale of scratch cards and as we have heard previously, Dr Umar Buba was invited to launch the fundraising event while visiting Chester Zoo in the summer of Together, the GBP, National Parks and EitC organised and implemented a day of health and conservation awareness activities in Serti which engaged not only the people of Serti but also visitors from many of the surrounding communities. The day began with a colourful parade through Serti, greatly enhanced by students from Taraba State University and the local Mohammed Sambo and Bilingual primary schools, who displayed posters and chanted slogans communicating key messages on health and conservation issues. This lively parade of dancing and music certainly attracted attention and ended at the Serti football ground where a large crowd had begun to gather for the main event two football matches: National Park rangers vs the community and the highly anticipated army wives vs rangers wives. The teams had been practicing daily for several weeks and local expectations were high! The turn-out for the games was exceptional with an estimated crowd of around 1000 people and was attended by many important local representatives from the region ncluding religious leaders, customary village chiefs, police, army personnel, teachers and local government officials. The hard fought football games resulted in a 1-1 and 0-0 draws in both the men s and wives games respectively. The games were interspersed with speeches from local political and religious figures representative, Scott Wilson of Chester Zoo, Geogre Karngong, Deputy Conservator of Parks GGNP and Dr Robert Houmsou, Zoology lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences at Taraba State University, each reinforcing the conservation and health messages core to this event. The Students from Taraba State University also continued their hard work, moving around the crowd with posters to reinforce these messages. The hard work of the football teams was rewarded with prizes and awards at the end, and a pitch invasion of fans in support of the biggest sporting event in Serti s history! For the evening schedule the GBP and NNPS hosted a dinner for local leaders and for the finale a group of talented local dancers performed an engaging routine to highlight the importance of wildlife and the environment to local communities. Top: Local community members helped deliver environmental and health messages Bottom: One of the participants in the women s football match Umar Buba GBP project manager It s common for parents in my culture, and across Africa in general, to push their children into lucrative careers. This probably largely accounts for the swathes of engineers, accountants, lawyers etc. roaming the streets in search of white-collar jobs. While I understand the appeal, I m immensely glad that I have bucked the trend and have not become one of them. Through a series of unlikely but fortuitous events, I became a primatologist and conservationist. My encounters with primates started rather inauspiciously. As a child, I spent my holidays obediently helping my parents on their farm. My responsibilities centred largely on chasing pests away from the crops. While I generally did a good job with the birds and rodents, the various monkey species always outfoxed me. What seemed like hordes of patas, tantalus and baboons, ransacked our farm despite my best efforts to repel them. My father had once told me an old story about a man who pretended to pick up a tree with a monkey in it, which had become hysterical at the thought of being kidnapped by the man. As my last hope I decided to try to scare the monkeys away this way. When I put my arms around the trunk and mimed pulling up the tree however, the monkey above me gave a loud shriek and rather than fleeing, never to return, decided instead to defecate directly on my head. While a normal reaction at this point might have been to avoid the monkeys, or at least not stand directly underneath them, it only served to pique my interest. I discovered that they sometimes left their infants on a high peak overlooking the farm when they went on their raiding trips. As soon as I had discovered this piece of information, my priorities shifted dramatically. I neglected my duties as crop defender and instead spent most of my time mapping out strategies of how to capture one of the infants. After weeks of careful planning, I finally got close enough to touch one of their tails. This resulted in me narrowly avoiding being bitten, and of course the infant s parents stealing our maize while I was distracted. Eventually, I left the farm and the monkeys for university, where I hoped to study chemical engineering. Despite my best efforts to transfer however, I was placed in the department of Forestry and Wildlife Management. This degree included a placement with GPP as part of the Student Work Experience Scheme, which took me to Kwano for the first time. While I couldn t see how spending weeks in the forest was going to enhance my career, I begrudgingly packed my bag and travelled to the GGNP. On arrival, I was bowled over by the project, the multilingual, international researchers and their commitment to the work. Professor Volker Sommer, one of the researchers and founder of the project was affectionately called Prof by the staff and locals. Volker organised a student bursary for me from Chester Zoo via the project, which saw me comfortably through my undergraduate studies. This support and encouragement made me adjust my expectations. I had not dreamed of being able to study beyond undergraduate level, but now I began to have loftier ambitions. Thanks to the GPP, Chester Zoo and Prof, I am now the proud holder of both an M.Tech and a Ph.D.; not bad for a village boy whose father once sat in their one roomed home and told him that if he did insist on continuing his education, all he could afford to offer in support was a prayer. To date, I am the first member of my minority ethnic group to hold a Ph.D in Nigeria. I hope that because of this I have inspired a new generation of village kids to dream big and care about Nigeria s incredible natural heritage. Throughout my university studies, GGNP was my natural laboratory. It gave me the chance to conduct research into chimpanzee nesting behaviour at undergraduate level, baboon behaviour at MSc degree level and chimpanzee insectivory and habitat ecology at Ph.D. level. I also had the opportunity to assist other researchers conducting field work from all over the globe and gained a wider research experience in the following areas: chimpanzee material culture, nesting behaviour, primate socio-ecology and support for local communities. I have also co-authored many of our research work published in reputable journals across the globe. I became the deputy project manager of the GPP in 2006 and became manager in In 2013 the GPP became the GBP and since then I oversee the general day to day management of the project, which includes supervision of seven field assistants and all aspects of keeping the field research (and the station itself) at Kwano and Gashaka running. I also maintain and develop new collaborations with local and international universities, partners, sponsors, and consultants and in particular with GGNP and the NNPS Parks Service. In addition to my work with the GBP I am also an assistant lecturer in at the newly founded Taraba State University teaching Ecology and Conservation in the Department of Biological Sciences. I have also been given an opportunity to help establish a new Department which shall hopefully be called the Department of Environmental Conservation. I currently live in Jalingo, where I am happily married to Samira Yuguda and blessed with two children (Khadija Umar and Emmanuel (Isa) Umar). To God be the glory and long live the biodiversity of GGNP. Top Right: Umar with Chester Zoo s former Head of Field Programmes Dr. Roger Wilkinson and Zoo Director Dr.General Mark Pilgrim

10 18 Gashaka Biodiversity Project Report 2014 Gashaka Biodiversity Project Report STAFF PROFILES - STUART NIXON 2014 STAFF AND VISITORS TO THE GBP Stuart Nixon Field programme coordinator at Chester Zoo is a member of the IUCN Specialist Advisory Groups for great apes and giraffids. I am a Cheshire native, born and raised in the beautiful Cheshire countryside. I am also a conservation biologist with 15 years experience conducting field research and managing conservation projects in Central Africa. I m often asked, How did you get into that job? While the full account of that would be a long story, the shorter version starts with family visits to Chester Zoo as a youngster infatuated with dinosaurs and King Kong. A couple of visits in particular stick in my mind from my childhood: one where an emu managed to steal and swallow my elder brothers pocket money ( the emu was quite alright we later found out from keepers ) and another more meaningful visit on my 8th birthday in April That day was a particularly cold grey April day -even by UK standards- and my Dad and I sought some respite from the rain in the lush Tropical Realm, which was home to the zoo s indoor gorilla quarters at the time. There, lay out on his climbing frame, was Mukisi a huge and magnificent Grauer s gorilla silverback and zoo star attraction, lazily chewing on a piece of freshly cut willow. We watched him quietly for some time before Mukisi, climbing down and sitting side on to us, casually tilted his head in our direction and looked me gently in the eyes. This brief encounter lasted just a few seconds before Mukisi turned away and returned his attention to his far more interesting sprig of willow, nonetheless it had a profound and far reaching effect on me. Anyone who has been privileged enough to share a moment of eye contact with a great ape and feel the deep enquiring intelligence peering back, will understand the feelings this can invoke. From that moment I gradually cultivated what was to become a love of the natural world and in later years a near obsession with the African great apes! Eventually, my interests led me back to the zoo in long after the gorillas had gone. I spent my first summer working on the zoo grounds before starting a Zoology degree at the University of Liverpool. It was during that summer at the zoo that I heard of the GGNP from Steven Hogarth, then a keeper on the zoo s primate section. Steve had recently returned to the zoo from Nigeria where, as part of his MSc degree he had been one of the first researchers to venture into the wilderness of GGNP, studying its then little known chimpanzee population. Steve s stories of the time he spent in the park with its rugged peaks, largely unexplored forested slopes and of course its wild apes, left a considerable impression on me, fuelling my own determination to study Africa s great apes for myself. I spent the next few years studying for my degree, working at Chester Zoo on the grounds and gardens during the holidays and spending my weekends volunteering on the Primate section. In 1999 I assisted the University s animal genomic laboratory conduct a paternity test on the Zoo s chimpanzees by collecting hair samples and making preliminary DNA analyses. As chief hair snatcher this made me (albeit briefly) very unpopular with the chimpanzees and in response to their loud protests I became quite skilled in the art of dodging flying dung. Unfortunately, I was not as skilled at dodging dung as the chimps were at hitting a moving target through two-inch square steel mesh! Later that year I spent a month working on the gorilla section at Howletts Wild Animal Park and measuring gorilla skulls for a gorilla health study at the Powell Cotton museum, Kent, both being facilitated in part by Chester Zoo. In August 2000, again with the support of Chester Zoo in the form of a student research award, I visited the African rainforest for the first time, spending six months studying the movements and ecology of the swamp loving western lowland gorillas in the Central African Republic (CAR). During this intense introduction to the realities of tropical field research, I quickly learnt (often the hard way ) to keep my notebook dry and pencil sharp, to walk quietly with minimal equipment, to avoid short tempered elephants, buffalo and standing on electric fish in the swamps. I also learnt to avoid the bites of numerous creatures of all shapes and sizes, including, on occasion the gorillas themselves. In 2001, I jumped further into the fire, making my first visit to the incredibly beautiful but troubled eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Here I conducted a survey of endangered Grauer s gorillas and eastern chimpanzees in the remote mountain forests of North Kivu. Cool, cloudy, and extremely rugged compared to the steaming, flat, lowland forests of the CAR, this introduced me to a whole new world, with even more challenges and obstacles including adding armed rebels to my list of things to avoid. Thoroughly inspired I vowed to return. After finishing my degree in 2002 I worked at the zoo for a final summer before returning to the DRC in late Working for a number of international conservation organisations, I spent the next eleven years leading forest surveys for great apes, the elusive okapi and other large mammals in some of the most remote and previously unexplored forests in the region. I also conducted research on Grauer s gorilla ecology developed landscape wide wildlife monitoring programs for communities and national parks, while also building local capacity for great ape monitoring and protection through field training of DRC conservationists. In November 2014 I returned to Chester Zoo, this time as Field Programme Coordinator with a focus on the Nigeria programme. After spending more than a decade based mostly in Africa, it is a wonderful opportunity to be able to return to the Zoo and become involved in the protection of the GGNP. At the turn of the century, when I first headed out to Central Africa to embark on my own ape studies, the GPP was in its infancy. Today, with the hard work and dedication of the GPP field team, it has become one of the most successful and long-term primate research projects in the world. The recent and ongoing transition of the GPP into the GBP represents an exciting new phase for Chester Zoo and GGNP I am very excited by this new role and to be part of the Chester Zoo and GBP teams and I am looking forward to helping Chester Zoo, the NNPS and its partners further develop the GBP and help protect Gashaka Gumti National Park and its wildlife into the future. Scientific Director Prof Volker Sommer, German, Univ. College London (UCL) [*Jan Apr, Aug, Dec] Director of Baboon Studies Dr Caroline Ross, UK, Roehampton Univ. London Project Manager Dr Umaru Buba, Nigerian, BTech, MTech, lecturer, Taraba State Univ. [on site] Chester Zoo Nigeria Biodiversity Programme Dr Mark Pilgrim, Director General Scott Wilson, Head of Field Programmes, North of England Zoological Society [Feb, Nov] Stuart Nixon, Field programmes Coordinator PhD Students George Nodza, Nigeria, BSc, MSc, 3rd yr PhD stud. Lagos Univ. (botany / orchids) [Feb, May, Jul] Yaelle Bouquet, BSc, MSc, Swiss, 2nd yr PhD stud. Neuchatel Univ. (baboon communication) [Apr-Sep] Joseph Johnston, Nigeria, FUTY (baboon ecology) [Jan-Apr] MSc Students Kyle Hendrikson, USA, UCL (baboon sleeping sites) [Apr-Jul] Adriana Lowe, England, UCL (baboon social networks) [Apr-Jul] Volunteers Eelco van Riel, Netherlands (primate socioecology) [Apr-Sep] Work Placement Students (Taraba State University) John Annabel Sambidiri Yamusa Bitrus Nouseh Dan azumi Samaila Sabastine Gidado Nubuya Fiyamila Samuel Manu Abraham V. Augustine Field Assistants (FA) Head FA Hammaunde Guruza (chimpanzees, transects) Senior FA Felix Vitalis (camp manager Kwano) Halidu Iliyasu (Dan-Azumi) (baboons) Maigari Ahmadu (transects, baboons, chimpanzees, etc.) Maikanti Hassan (baboons, Gashaka; caretaker, GPP house Gashaka) Ibrahim Usman (baboons, Gashaka & Kwano) Buba Hammaselbe (baboons, chimpanzees) Cooperation GGNP (Gashaka-Gumti National Park) Dr Okedeji Agboola Okeyoyin, CP (Conservator of Parks) Pepeh Kamaya, BSc, MSc (Research Officer) Taju Audu, Technical department (Kainji NP) Saidu Yohanna, BSc, Abuja, Research officer, National Park Service Off-site-Consultants Horst Hoppe, OStR, German, Oskar-von- Miller-Schule, Kassel (power-island, radiocommunication) Dr Maren Gumnior, Frankfurt Univ. / Gombe Univ. (vegetation mapping, remote sensing) Ana Luiza Freitas, Brazil / Portugal, (curator, contemporary art inspired by GGNP research) Prof. Callistus Akosim, Nigeria, FUTY, Yola (Dept. of Forestry and Wildlife Management) Dr Hazel Chapman, New Zealand (director, NMFP, Nigeria Montane Forest Project) Dr Peter Schauer, US-American, Institute of Archaeology, Univ. College London (webmaster) Reinhard Schmidt-Tuexen (Julius-Berger- Nigeria, radio-communication) Bello Omale (FCT Abuja Tourism Agency) Richard & Jane Barnwell, UK (Park Border Demarcation) Felix Merklinger & Lee Davies, UK (Royal Botanical Gardens Kew) Ian Redmond, OBE, UK (Wildlife Consultant) Amalia Pica, Argentina (Apestraction arts project) Completing PhD students David Inglis, 5th yr, Roehampton Univ. (baboon gestural communication) Kate Auckland, 3rd yr, Cambridge Univ. (chimpanzee genetics) Gonçalo Jesus, Portugal, BSc, MSc, 4th yr PhD stud. UCL (primate gregariousness) [*dates indicate time spent at GGNP]

11 20 Gashaka Biodiversity Project Report 2014 Gashaka Biodiversity Project Report Appendix 2 COMPLETED PHD STUDENTS Appendix 3 GASHAKA PRIMATE PROJECT, PUBLICATIONS Copy to be supplied (appendix2page20.docx) Sommer, Volker; Jeremiah Adanu, Isabelle Faucher & Andrew Fowler (2004). The Nigerian chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes vellerosus) at Gashaka: Two years of habituation efforts. Folia Primatologica 75: Arnold, Kate & Klaus Zuberbühler (2006) The alarm calling system of adult male puttynosed monkeys, Cercopithecus nictitans martini. Animal Behaviour 72: Arnold, Kate & Klaus Zuberbühler (2006). Alarm calls and organised imperatives in male putty-nosed monkeys. Pp in: A. Cangelosi, A. D. M. Smith & K. Smith (eds.), The Evolution of Language (Proc. 6th International Conference [Evolang]. World Scientific Publishing Company: Singapore Arnold, Kate & Klaus Zuberbühler (2006). Semantic combinations in primate calls. Nature 441: 303 Hohmann, Gottfried; Andrew Fowler, Volker Sommer & Sylvia Ortmann (2006). Frugivory and gregariousness of Salonga bonobos and Gashaka chimpanzees: the abundance and nutritional quality of fruit. Pp in: Gottfried Hohmann, Martha M. Robbins & Christophe Boesch (eds.), Feeding Ecology in Apes and Other Primates. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Weyher, Anna H.; Caroline Ross & Stuart Semple (2006). A comparison of gastrointestinal parasites in a crop raiding and a wild foraging troop of olive baboons (Papio cynocephalus anubis) in Nigeria. International Journal of Primatology 27: Schöning, Caspar & Mark Moffett (2007). Driver ants invading a termite nest why do the most catholic predators of all seldom take this abundant prey? Biotropica 39: Schöning, Caspar; Darren Ellis, Andrew Fowler & Volker Sommer (2007). Army ant prey availability and consumption by chimpanzees at Gashaka (Nigeria). Journal of Zoology 271: Warren Ymke; Bobbo Buba & Caroline Ross (2007). Patterns of crop-raiding by wild and domestic animals near Gashaka Gumti National Park Nigeria. International Journal of Pest Management 53: Fowler, Andrew; Yianna Koutsioni & Volker Sommer (2007). Leaf-swallowing in Nigerian chimpanzees: Assumed evidence for selfmedication. Primates 48: Fowler, Andrew & Volker Sommer (2007). Subsistence technology in Nigerian chimpanzees. International Journal of Primatology 28: Higham, James P.; Caroline Ross, Ymke Warren, Michael Heistermann & Ann M. MacLarnon (2007). Reduced reproductive function in wild olive baboons (Papio hamadryas anubis) related to natural consumption of the African black plum (Vitex doniana). Hormones and Behavior 52: Higham, James P.; Michael Heistermann, Caroline Ross, Stuart Semple & Ann MacLarnon (2008). The timing of ovulation with respect to sexual swelling detumescence in wild olive baboons. Primates 49: Higham, James P., Ann MacLarnon, Caroline Ross, Michael Heistermann & Stuart Semple (2008). Baboon sexual swellings: information content of size and color. Hormones and Behavior 53: Higham, James P. & David M. Bennett (2008). Perspectives on wildlife, and wildlife consumption, in Eastern Nigeria. Gorilla Journal 36: Wilkinson, Roger (2008). Some recent records of birds from Gashaka Gumti National Park and Ngel Nyaki, Nigeria, and the Gotel Mountains, Cameroon. Malimbus 30: Arnold, Kate & Klaus Zuberbühler (2008). Meaningful call combinations in a nonhuman primate. Current Biology 18: R Warren, Ymke (2008) Crop raiding baboons and defensive farmers: a West African perspective. West African Journal of Applied Ecology 14: 1 11 Sommer, Volker (2008). Schimpansenland. Wildes Leben in Afrika. Munich: C. H. Beck. 251 pp, 8 plates. [ Chimpanzeeland. Wild life in Africa ] Higham, James P.; Stuart Semple, Ann MacLarnon, Michael Heistermann & Caroline Ross (2009). Female reproductive signals, and male mating behavior, in the olive baboon. Hormones and Behavior 55: Higham, James P.; Ymke Warren, Jeremiah Adanu, Buba N. Umaru, Ann M. MacLarnon, Volker Sommer & Caroline Ross (2009). Life on the edge: Life-history of olive baboons at Gashaka-Gumti National Park, Nigeria. American Journal of Primatology 71: Higham, James P.; Ann MacLarnon, Michael Heistermann, Caroline Ross & Stuart Semple (2009). Self-directed behaviour and faecal glucocorticoids are not correlated in wild female baboons (Papio hamadryas anubis). Stress 12: Price, Tabitha; Kate Arnold, Klaus Zuberbühler & Stuart Semple (2009). Pyow but not hack calls of the male putty-nosed monkey (Cercopithecus nictitans) convey information about caller identity. Behaviour 146: Sommer, Volker (2010). The anthropologist as a primatologist. Mental journeys of a fieldworker. Pp in: Jeremy MacClancy & Agustín Fuentes (eds.), Centralizing Fieldwork. Critical perspectives from primatology and biological anthropology in the lens of social anthropological theory and practice. Oxford: Berghahn Kateřina Pomajbíková, Klára J. Petrželková, Ilona Profousová, Jana Petrášová, Svetlana Kišidayová, Zora Varádyová & David Modrý (2010). A survey of entodiniomorphid ciliates in chimpanzees and bonobos. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 142: Sommer, Volker & Caroline Ross (eds.) (2011). Primates of Gashaka. Socioecology and Conservation in Nigeria s Biodiversity Hotspot. (Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects 35) Springer: New York. 531 pp Sommer, Volker & Caroline Ross (2011). Exploring and protecting West Africa s primates. The Gashaka Primate Project in context. Pp (Ch. 01): in Volker Sommer & Caroline Ross (eds.), Primates of Gashaka. Socioecology and Conservation in Nigeria s Biodiversity Hotspot. Springer: New York Barnwell, Richard (2011). To save a wilderness: The creation and development of Gashaka Gumti National Park, Nigeria. Pp (Ch. 2) in Volker Sommer & Adanu, Jeremiah; Volker Sommer & Andrew Fowler (2011). Hunters, fire, cattle. Conservation challenges in eastern Nigeria, with special reference to chimpanzees. Pp (Ch. 03): in Volker Sommer & Nyanganji, Gilbert; Andrew Fowler, Aylin McNamara & Volker Sommer (2011). Monkeys and apes as animals and humans. Ethno-primatology in Nigeria s Taraba region. Pp (Ch. 04) in Volker Sommer &

12 22 Gashaka Biodiversity Project Report 2014 Gashaka Biodiversity Project Report Appendix 3 (continued) GASHAKA PRIMATE PROJECT, PUBLICATIONS Koutsioni, Yianna & Volker Sommer (2011). The bush as pharmacy and supermarket. Plant use by human and non-human primates at Gashaka. Pp (Ch. 05) in Volker Sommer & Caroline Ross (eds.), Primates of Gashaka. Socioecology and Conservation in Nigeria s Biodiversity Hotspot. Springer: New York Bennett, David & Caroline Ross (2011). Fulani of the highlands: Costs and benefits of living in national park enclaves. Pp (Ch. 6) in Volker Sommer & Zinner, Dietmar; Umaru Buba, Stephen Nash & Christian Roos (2011). Pan-African voyagers: The phylogeography of baboons. Pp (Ch. 7) in Volker Sommer & Warren, Ymke; James P. Higham, Ann M. Maclarnon & Caroline Ross (2011). Crop-raiding and commensalism in olive baboons: The costs and benefits of living with humans. Pp (Ch. 8) in Volker Sommer & Caroline Ross (eds.), Primates of Gashaka. Socioecology and Conservation in Nigeria s Biodiversity Hotspot. Springer: New York Ross, Caroline; Ymke Warren, Ann M. Maclarnon & James P. Higham (2011). How different are Gashaka s baboons? Forest and open country populations compared. Pp (Ch. 9) in Volker Sommer & Ey, Elodie & Julia Fischer (2011). Keeping in contact: Flexibility in calls of olive baboons. Pp (Ch. 10) in Volker Sommer & Arnold, Kate; Yvonne Pohlner & Klaus Zuberbühler (2011). Not words but meanings? Alarm calling behaviour in a forest guenon. Pp (Ch. 11) in Volker Sommer & Caroline Ross (eds.), Primates of Gashaka. Socioecology and Conservation in Nigeria s Biodiversity Hotspot. Springer: New York Sommer, Volker; Jan Bauer, Andrew Fowler & Sylvia Ortmann (2011). Patriarchal chimpanzees, matriarchal bonobos. Potential ecological causes of a Pan dichotomy. Pp (Ch. 12) in Volker Sommer & Caroline Ross (eds.), Primates of Gashaka. Socioecology and Conservation in Nigeria s Biodiversity Hotspot. Springer: New York Fowler, Andrew; Alejandra Pascual-Garrido, Umaru Buba, Sandra Tranquilli, Callistus Akosim; Caspar Schöning & Volker Sommer (2011). Panthropology of the fourth chimpanzee. A contribution to cultural primatology. Pp (Ch. 13) in Volker Sommer & Caroline Ross (eds.), Primates of Gashaka. Socioecology and Conservation in Nigeria s Biodiversity Hotspot. Springer: New York Hughes, Nicola; Norm Rosen, Neil Gretsky & Volker Sommer (2011). Will the Nigeria- Cameroon chimpanzee go extinct? Models derived from intake rates of ape sanctuaries. Pp (Ch. 14) in Volker Sommer & Morgan, Bethan; Alade Adeleke, Tony Bassey, Richard Bergl, Andrew Dunn, Elizabeth Gadsby, Katy Gonder, Elizabeth Greengrass, Denis Koutou Koulagna, Grace Mbah, Aaron Nicholas, John Oates, Fidelis Omeni, Yohanna Saidu, Volker Sommer, Jacqueline Sunderland-Groves, Joseph Tiebou & Liz Williamson (2011). Regional Action Plan for the Conservation of the Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzee. IUCN/ SSC Primate Specialist Group, Gland, Switzerland and Zoological Society of San Diego / CA, USA. 48 pp. [French: Morgan et al. (2011). Plan d action por la conservation du chimpanzé du Nigeria-Cameroun (Pan troglodytes ellioti). IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group, Gland, Switzerland and Zoological Society of San Diego / CA, USA. 48 pp.] Reeder, Natalie M.M.; Tina L. Gheng, Vance T. Vredenburg & David C. Blackburn (2011) Survey of the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis from montane and lowland frogs in eastern Nigeria. Herpetology Notes 4: Lehman, Julia & Caroline Ross (2011). Baboon (Papio anubis) social complexity a network approach. American Journal of Primatology 73:1 15 Ellis, Jacklyn; Ann MacLarnon, Michael Heistermann & Stuart Semple (2011). The social correlates of self-directed behaviour and faecal glucocorticoid levels among adult male olive baboons in Gashaka Gumti National Park, Nigeria. African Zoology 46: Sommer, Volker (2011). Kulturnatur, Naturkultur. Argumente für einen Monismus. Zeitschrift für Kulturphilosophie 5: 9 40 Gumnior, Maren & Volker Sommer (2012). Multi-scale, multi-temporal vegetation mapping and assessment of ecosystem degradation at Gashaka Gumti National Park (Nigeria). Research Journal of Environmental and Earth Sciences 4: Pascual-Garrido, Alejandra; Umaru Buba, George Nodza & Volker Sommer (2012). Obtaining raw material: Plants as tool sources for Nigerian chimpanzees. Folia Primatologica 83: Peter Vallo, Klára J. Petrželková, Ilona Profousová, Jana Petrášová, Kateřina Pomajbíková, Fabian Leendertz, Chie Hashimoto, Nicol Simmons, Fred Babweteera, Zarin Machanda, Alexander Piel, Martha Robbins, Christophe Boesch, Crickette Sanz, David Morgan, Volker Sommer, Takeshi Furuichi, Shiho Fujita, Tetsuro Matsuzawa, Michael A. Huffman & David Modrý (2012). Molecular diversity of entodiniomorphid ciliate Troglodytella abrassarti and its coevolution with chimpanzees. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 148: Sommer, Volker, Umaru Buba, Gonçalo Jesus & Alejandra Pascual-Garrido (2012). Till the last drop. Honey gathering in Nigerian chimpanzees. Ecotropica 18: Allon, Oliver; Alejandra Pascual-Garrido & Volker Sommer (2012). Army ant defensive behaviour and chimpanzee predation success: Field experiments in Nigeria. Journal of Zoology 288: Tranquilli, Sandra; Michael Abedi-Lartey, Fidèle Amsini, Luis Arranz, Augustus Asamoah, Ogunjemite Babafemi, Nsengiyunva Barakabuye, Geneviève Campbell, Rebecca Chancellor, Tim R.B. Davenport, Andrew Dunn, Jef Dupain, Christina Ellis, Gilles Etoga, Takeshi Furuichi, Sylvain Gatti, Andrea Ghiurghi, Elisabeth Greengrass, Chie Hashimoto, John Hart, Ilka Herbinger, Thurston C. Hicks, Lars H. Holbech, Bas Huijbregts, Inaoyom Imong, Noelle Kumpel, Fiona Maisels, Phil Marshall, Stuart Nixon, Emmanuelle Normand, Léonidas Nziguyimpa, Zacharie Nzooh- Dogmo, David Tiku Okon, Andrew Plumptre, Aaron Rundus, Jacqueline Sunderland- Groves, Angelique Todd, Ymke Warren, Roger Mundry, Christophe Boesch & Hjalmar Kuehl (2012). Lack of conservation effort rapidly increases African great ape extinction risk. Conservation Letters 5: Pascual-Garrido, Alejandra; Umaru Buba, Oliver Allon & Volker Sommer (2013). Apes finding ants: Predator-prey dynamics in a chimpanzee habitat in Nigeria. American Journal of Primatology 75: Boulton, Rebecca A. & Caroline Ross (2013). Measuring facial symmetry in the wild: a case study in olive baboons (Papio anubis). Behavioral Ecology & Sociobiology 67: Alberts, Nienke; Stuart Semple & Julia Lehmann (2013). The effect of filtering on animal networks. Pp in: Xing Ming Tu, Ann Marie White & Naiji Lu (eds.), Social Networking. Recent Trends, Emerging Issues and Future Outlook. Nova Science Publishers Lodge, Emily; Caroline Ross, Silvia Ortmann & Ann M. MacLarnon (2013). Influence of diet and stress on reproductive hormones in Nigerian olive baboons. General and Comparative Endocrinology 191: Tkaczynski, Patrick, Ann MacLarnon & Caroline Ross (2014). Associations between spatial position, stress and anxiety in forest baboons Papio anubis. Behavioural Processes 108: 1 6 Tranquilli, Sandra; M. Abedi-Lartey, K. Abernethy, F. Amsini, L. Arranz, A. Asamoah, C. Balangtaa, N. Barakabuye, S. Blake, E. Bouanga, T. Breuer, T. Brncic, G. Campbell, R. Chancellor, C. A. Chapman, T. Davenport, A. Dunn, J. Dupain, A. Ekobo, G. Etoga, T. Furuichi, S. Gatti, A. Ghiurghi, C. Hashimoto, J. Hart, T. Hart, J. Head, M. Hega, I. Herbinger, T. C. Hicks, L. H. Holbech, B. Huijbregts, H. S. Kühl, I. Imong, S. Le-Duc Yeno, J. Linder, P. Marshall, J. Mba Ayetebe, P. Minasoma, D. Morgan, L. Mubalama, P. N Goran, A. Nicholas, S. Nixon, E. Nku Manasseh, E. Normand, L. Nziguyimpa, Z. Nzooh-Dongmo, R. Ofori-Amanfo, B. G. Ogunjemite, C. Petre, H. Rainey, S. Regnaut, O. Robinson, A. Rundus, C. Sanz, D. Tiku Okon, A. Todd, Y. Warren & Volker Sommer (2015). Protected areas in tropical Africa: Assessing threats and the impact of conservation activities. PLOS ONE 9(12): e114154, 21 pp. (doi: /journal. pone

13 Registered Charity Number Registered Company Number North of England Zoological Society Caughall Road Upton by Chester Chester CH2 1LH Tel: Fax: Chester Zoo is licensed under the Zoo Licensing Act, In the interests of conservation and educational study, this report may be freely copied without alteration or amendment and stored by electronic means without formal permission. It is also available to download from our website. The NEZS is happy to assist anyone with special needs obtain a copy in the appropriate format. Published July 2015 by the North of England Zoological Society.