Guinea/Lola: the last chimpanzees of Bossou disappear in silence

The survival of Bossou’s chimpanzees now depends on just three individuals. We are in Bossou, a sub-prefecture located more than 1000 kilometers from Conakry, in the south-east of Guinea. This locality in the forest region is located in the buffer zone. It is an integral part of the Nimba Mountains Biosphere Reserve, known throughout the world for its chimpanzees and its sacred forest. Between destruction of their natural habitat, isolation and gradual disappearance of protective traditions, researchers, guides and residents are sounding the alarm.

At dawn, the mist still shrouds the green hills of this locality in Forest Guinea. Worldwide, the area is known for its chimpanzees with exceptional behaviors. Here, in a classified forest of around 320 hectares, a community of primates has lived for decades which fascinates many scientists. But today, silence has replaced the once familiar cries of Bossou's chimpanzees. There are only three left: Fawan, Ziré and Zézé. Two males and an old female unable to reproduce. There is concern about the imminent disappearance of this species, considered unique in West Africa.

As part of the ephemeral editorial of the Afri’kibaaru 2 Project on the occasion of the coverage of World Biodiversity Day, Africaguinee.com And Universsciences.comtraveled to the Bossou forest, alongside guides from the Nimba Mountains Biodiversity Research Institute. The challenge is to understand the causes of this decline and above all to try to answer a question that has become urgent: what initiatives to save the chimpanzees of Bossou?

Departure of the guides: a routine that has become a battle

It is a little after six in the morning when Gouanou Zogbéla prepares for a new day of research in the forest. Boots on his feet, pants reinforced against thorns, bag on his back, he carefully checks his equipment. In his hand, a pruning shear. “This secateurs, explains the forty-year-old, this is what we send to the bush. When there are closed tracks, we cut to open the passage. We don't use machetes because chimpanzees are afraid of machetes. When they see this, they think they are poachers. But the pruning shears, they know that sound. They know they are the guides”, he confided.

A guide for 22 years, Gouanou devotes his life to the protection of Bossou’s chimpanzees.

“Before, he remembers, we started work at 6:30 a.m. We followed the chimpanzees until they went to bed. Sometimes we left the forest at 7 p.m. It's our whole life. Everything I have today is thanks to chimpanzees. I feed my family with this work », he says with emotion. A few meters away, Jules Doré is also adjusting his equipment. For 32 years, he has been exploring the forest. In his bag, water, raincoats and some food for the day. He inherited this mission from his uncle, considered one of the first guides of Bossou. “We see chimpanzees as our ancestors, he begins enthusiastically. Their behavior resembles that of humans. It was the population that began to protect the chimpanzees even before the arrival of researchers », he relates.

 A grueling walk in a forest under pressure

In the Bossou forest, as the hours pass, progress becomes difficult. The trails sometimes disappear under thick vines and invasive grasses. The guides advance slowly, opening passages using their secateurs. The silence is heavy. In the past, they say, you only had to listen to hear the cries of chimpanzees echoing in the hills. “When there were a lot of them, the little ones shouted a lot because they were playing with each other. But the three who remain today hardly scream anymore”, explains Jules Doré.

Now the guides are tracking down clues. A handprint on the wet ground. Overturned leaves. Leftover fruit eaten. On the trails, we discover banana peels, pieces of pineapple and other traces attesting to the passage of primates. “We look for them through handprints and the remains of the food they eat”, continues Jules Doré.

Despite hours of walking, it was impossible to see the chimpanzees. The guides multiply detours, change direction, carefully observe the passages. In vain. “They can go two weeks without screaming. When they hear noise, they sometimes think it’s poachers and they run away.”, agrees Boniface Zogbéla, another guide from the Institute.

Unique chimpanzees in the world

The fame of Bossou's chimpanzees extends beyond Guinean borders. Since 1976, this community has been at the center of numerous international scientific research, particularly Japanese. According to Gbadieu Prosper Soumaoro, head of the primatology department of the Biodiversity Research Institute in the Nimba Mountains, these chimpanzees exhibit behaviors not found elsewhere in the sub-region.

“Researchers observed a unique behavior here: the crushing of palm nuts with stones. They use stones like humans”, says the specialist. According to his explanations, Bossou's chimpanzees also make tools for fishing for ants, use leaves as containers for drinking water and pound certain plants like a human being would do. “They can remove palm buds and pound them like humans”, confirms Boniface Zogbéla.

For local populations, these animals are not simple primates. They embody a part of their history and their spirituality. “The chimpanzees of Bossou represent something that goes beyond the wild. They are considered the reincarnation of ancestors”, explains Doctor Agnès Sangaré, vice-dean in charge of Research at the Faculty of Science and Technology at the University of Nzérékoré. According to her, these chimpanzees even possess social behaviors that are rare in the animal kingdom. “They recognize their mother, their sisters and avoid incest. They don’t mate with each other like other wild animals.”, she specifies.

From twenty-three individuals to only three chimpanzees

The recent history of Bossou chimpanzees resembles a slow extinction. From 1970 to 2000, the community consisted of twenty-three individuals. Then the decline accelerated. According to data provided by the Nimba Mountains Biodiversity Research Institute, between 2000 and 2003, the population increased from twenty-three to eighteen individuals. In 2004, a flu epidemic decimated five other chimpanzees. In 2010, there were only seven remaining. Since the end of 2022, only three chimpanzees remain in the hills of Bossou: Fawan, Ziré and Zézé. Two males and an aging female. “The female is over 50 years old. She can't have babies anymore.", deplores Boniface Zogbéla. Today, the guide asks: “Our parents saw the chimpanzees, we saw them too. But maybe our children won't see them anymore.".

A forest increasingly threatened

 In the forest, which is supposed to be protected, traces of human activities are visible. Banana plantations, coffee fields, excessive logging and pepper gardens are perceptible.  In places, the presence of herbicides is visible near chimpanzee habitat. A practice that is nevertheless prohibited in this protected area. For researchers, these activities contribute to the progressive destruction of the ecosystem. “The reduction in the living space of chimpanzees is linked to anthropogenic activities”, explains Prosper Soumaoro.

The massive arrival of Liberian refugees in the 2000s would also have increased pressure on natural resources. « The population has become galloping in relation to resources. This has caused significant degradation of the hills which serve as habitat for chimpanzees”, adds the head of the Primatology department of the Biodiversity Research Institute in the Nimba Mountains in charge of the management of Chimpanzees.

“When they leave their protected area to look for food, they find themselves in spaces where they are no longer protected”, warns Dr Agnès Sangaré, who also defended her thesis on this special species. “The chimpanzees had their share of the crops”

In Bossou, several notables say that in the past, a form of tacit pact existed between the inhabitants and the chimpanzees. The population reserved part of the harvest for them. “When people farmed, they anticipated the chimpanzee share. And the chimpanzees respected the rest of the field”, says Dr Agnès Sangaré. According to her, this particular relationship naturally contributed to their conservation. But with social changes, pressure on land and economic difficulties, these practices have gradually disappeared. Today, some residents even consider the forest as an obstacle to their agricultural activities. “People insult us because they say we have to leave the forest so they can cultivate in it. », testifies Gouanou Zogbéla.

The Corridor of Hope

Faced with this ecological crisis, researchers are now banking on a solution: reconnecting Bossou to the Nimba Mountains. The idea is to restore a forest corridor between the hills of Bossou and the forests of the Nimba Mountains where many chimpanzees still live. « If we manage to restore the degraded spaces between the two ecosystems, we hope that some chimpanzees from the Nimba Mountains will be able to migrate to Bossou”, explains Gbadieu Prosper SOUMAORO.

For several years, reforestation campaigns have been carried out with local communities. Forestry and agroforestry nurseries are set up in order to restore destroyed areas while offering economic alternatives to local populations. “Communities are involved in plantations and reforestation activities”, the researcher explains helplessly. But the means remain insufficient.

An appeal to the State and NGOs

Researchers, guides and residents are now appealing to the Guinean authorities and international organizations. For them, the survival of Bossou's chimpanzees depends on rapid and concrete actions. “The State must enforce conservation laws and strictly protect areas where chimpanzees live”, believes Dr Agnès Sangaré. It also calls for the financing of income-generating projects for local populations in order to reduce their dependence on the forest. “NGOs and the State must support us financially to complete the ecological corridor and restore degraded areas,” she pleads. The guides are asking for more equipment and increased awareness against poaching.

At sunset, the guides return exhausted from their day of research. The chimpanzees remained invisible. Only a few traces still bear witness to their presence in the forest. In Bossou, many now fear that these mythical animals will disappear permanently in the coming years. And with them, a part of the ecological, scientific and cultural heritage of Forest Guinea.

This article was written by Paul Foromo SAKOUVOGUI and Mansa Moussa Mara for the coverage of World Biodiversity Day as part of the CFI Medias Afri’kibaaru 2 Project. It was edited by Sally Bilaly SOW.