Table Of ContentTHE CHIMPANZEES OF
RUBONDO ISLAND
APES SET FREE
Josephine Nadezda Msindai and Volker Sommer
The Chimpanzees of Rubondo Island
How did a random batch of chimpanzees come to populate a small island
in Tanzania where apes had never lived before? Combining information
gathered from feldwork, laboratory and archival research, this book tells
the unique story of chimpanzee babies taken from their forest homes in West-
Central Africa and sold to European zoos and circuses, to then be shipped
to Lake Victoria and set free on Rubondo Island. These founder animals
learnt what to eat, how to build nests, to breed and raise young – ultimately
forming a chimpanzee-typical fssion-fusion society that today is thriving.
The authors compare the ecology, behaviour and genetics of the Rubondo
population with communities of wild chimpanzees, providing exciting
insights into how our closest relatives adjust to changing environments. At
the same time, a reconstruction of the historical context of the Rubondo
experiment refects on its chequered colonial heritage, and the introduction
is viewed against current threats to the survival of apes in their natural
habitats. The book will be of interest to scholars and professionals working
in primatology, animal behaviour, conservation biology and postcolonial
studies.
Josephine Nadezda Msindai obtained a BSc in Biological Sciences from
King’s College London, UK (2005), an MSc in Primate Conservation at
Oxford Brookes University, UK (2008) and a PhD in Anthropology
from University College London (UCL), UK (2018). The Chimpanzees of
Rubondo Island is based on her doctoral work that included almost two
years of feld research in Tanzania.
Volker Sommer is Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at University
College London (UCL), UK. He obtained his PhD in Anthropology at
Göttingen University, Germany (1985) and has conducted extensive
primatological feld studies in India (since 1981), Thailand (since 1984) and
Nigeria (since 1999).
The Chimpanzees of Rubondo
Island
Apes Set Free
Josephine Nadezda Msindai and
Volker Sommer
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Josephine Nadezda Msindai and Volker Sommer
The right of Josephine Nadezda Msindai and Volker Sommer to be identifed
as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and
78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 9780367422196 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781032329178 (pbk)
ISBN: 9780367822781 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9780367822781
Typeset in Sabon
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
Contents
List of Illustrations vi
List of Tables x
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction xiii
1 Creating a Wilderness: The Making of an Island
National Park 1
2 The Founder’s Odyssey: Captured, Caged, Released 23
3 Rubondo Island: Weather, Forests, Wildlife, Humans 52
4 Bound to Be Wild: Sociality and Ranging 86
5 Embedded: Mastering a New Environment 115
6 Apes in the Anthropocene: Lessons from a Maverick
Release? 161
Bibliography 201
Appendix: Publications about Rubondo Island,
Its History and Wildlife 225
Index 233
Illustrations
Figures
1.1 View of Rubondo Island from a hilltop 1
1.2 S outh-western Lake Victoria region, Tanzania, East Africa 2
1.3 B ernhard Grzimek’s iconic TV series Ein Platz für Tiere
commemorated on a stamp of the Deutsche Bundespost
released for his 100th birthday in 2009 10
1.4 T anzanian President Nyerere and Bernhard Grzimek in 1963 14
2.1 A chimpanzee on Rubondo in her night nest – half a
century after apes were released on the island 23
2.2 C himpanzee Caroline (pictured with keeper Carl
Stemmler), kept at Zoo Basel, was one of the animals
acquired by Grzimek to be shipped to Rubondo 31
2.3 C himpanzees arriving at Dar es Salaam port make front
page news 33
2.4 R eleasing chimpanzees onto Rubondo. (a) Crates are
taken to shore. (b) Chimpanzee crate opened by Sinclair
Dunnett. (c) One of the frst chimpanzees set free, with
Sinclair Dunnett on top an empty crate 35
2.5 T eam members of the author’s research team (Jul13) 45
2.6 P hylogenetic relationships among chimpanzees and
bonobos, including haplotypes of the Rubondo chimpanzees 49
3.1 A erial view of Rubondo Island National Park’s coastal
area and forest cover 52
3.2 R ubondo Island National Park and important locales of
its main island 54
3.3 A nnual rainfall 1900–2006 at meteorological stations on
Lake Victoria. Top line Entebbe (Uganda), bottom line
Mwanza (Tanzania) 55
Illustrations vii
3.4 W eather on Rubondo, 2004–14. (a) Yearly values. (b)
Averaged across 11 years 58
3.5 T otal annual rainfall over the 18-yr period 1996–2013 59
3.6 I nterior forest on Rubondo. (a) Section with trees of
smaller diameter. (b) Trees with tangling lianas. (c) Open
growth with buttressed trees 62
3.7 D iameter at breast height (DBH) of transect trees 64
3.8 F ruits and fowers of transect plants on Rubondo 69
3.9 F lowering schedule of transect plants (Jan–Dec13) and
annual rainfall 71
3.10 F ruit-bearing transect plants (Jan–Dec13) 73
3.11 T ransect plant fruiting schedule (Jan–Dec13), expressed
as a comparison between (i) fruit index and (ii)
percentages of fruiting transect plants 73
3.12 P roportions of primate and non-primate frugivores as
assessed from feedings remains under transect trees 74
3.13 L arge animals on Rubondo Island: (a) Nile crocodile; (b)
hippopotamus; (c) guereza; (d) vervet monkey; (e) otter;
(f) elephant; (g) sitatunga 75
3.14 Illegal and legal fshing on Rubondo. (a) Poachers with
their catch apprehended by TANAPA rangers (1994). (b)
Tourists with their catch (2012) 77
4.1 Rubondo chimpanzee female 86
4.2 Phylogenetic relationships amongst the Hominini 88
4.3 The genus Pan: Geographical distribution of chimpanzee
subspecies and bonobos 90
4.4 Two main study regions in the island’s north, with trail
grids for chimpanzee surveys and straight-line botanical
transects (Chapter 3) 94
4.5 Chimpanzee party sizes (Apr12–Mar14). (a) Day party
frequencies. (b) Night party frequencies. (c) Annual
distribution of day parties. (d) Annual distribution of
night parties 97
4.6 Locations of evidence for chimpanzee presence (Apr12–
Mar14). (a) Tree night nests (n = 1,224). (b) Ground night
nests (n = 22). Daytime sightings (n = 146) 108
4.7 Home-ranges calculated via a minimum convex polygon
(MCP), adjusted to exclude Lake Victoria 109
4.8 Main areas of chimpanzee activity as discerned during
different study periods: 1966–84, 2002–08, 2012–14 111
viii I llustrations
5.1 N est, roughly one month old, built by a Rubondo chimpanzee 115
5.2 N est types on Rubondo. (a) One of the rare ground nests
(2013). (b) Three arboreal nests (indicated by arrows)
built in the same tree 118
5.3 H eight distribution classes of arboreal nests during three
study periods: 1994, 2002–07, 2012–14 120
5.4 N ight nest height as a function of tree height (n = 690) 122
5.5 N est tree DBH (diameter at breast height) as a function
of tree height (n = 803) 122
5.6 S hares of preferred species of nesting trees compared
against their occurrence on random transects (Chapter 3) 126
5.7 A ltitude at which nests were built (n = 801) as a function
of monthly rainfall 127
5.8 M ean (+/– SD) density of tree and liana fruit patches on
Jan–Dec03 transects in relation to rainfall 131
5.9 G rouping of obtained DNA sequences of the ciliad
Troglodytella abrassarti in chimpanzee subspecies
and bonobos 142
5.10 Q uantifcation of beta diversity in chimpanzee
microbiomes via PCoA plots. (a) Weighted Unifrac
distances. (b) Unweighted Unifrac distances 147
5.11 B oxplot of weighted Unifrac distances for chimpanzees,
based on pairwise-calculated distance values 148
5.12 P otential cultural traits of Rubondo chimpanzees.
(a)A-frame grooming with overhead hand-clasp. (b)
Consumption of a sitatunga antelope; note pattern of
hide. (c) Buttress-beating with rock; note mark on trunk
of Ficus tree, and rock lying at base. (d) Discarded grass
stems used for insect-fshing 156
6.1 R ubondo chimpanzee 161
6.2 D evelopment of great ape numbers kept in sanctuaries
across Africa 165
6.3 C aretaker feeding orphaned chimpanzees at Tacugama
Sanctuary in Sierra Leone 167
Box Figures
B1.1 Gustl Anzenberger watching a burrow of a carpenter bee 19
B1.2 Markus Borner 21
B2.1 Monica Borner with one of her children 41
B3.1 Guido Müller – on yet another rainy day on Rubondo 60
Illustrations ix
B3.2 J ames Leonard with Josephine N. Msindai 65
B4.1 M ichael A. Huffman on Rubondo 93
B4.2 L iza Moscovice with her team of trackers, including
Joseph Mgwesa 98
B5.1 K lara Petrželková during feldwork 150
B5.2 Mwanahamisi Issa Mapua (r., holding a child), with feld
assistant Giulia Graziani (m.) and parl warden Hobokela
Mwamjengwa (l.) 154
