CONSERVATION STATUS
CITES: Appendix I (http://www.cites.org)
IUCN Red List: En A3cd (http://www.redlist.org)
The IUCN classifies all species of chimpanzees as endangered
(EN A2cd) indicating a population
size reduction of at least 50% within the next 10 years or three
generations, whichever is longer, due to a decline in the area of
occupancy, extent of occurrence and/or quality of habitat coupled with
devastating levels of exploitation.
With only 100,000 to 200,000 left in the wild and about 250 individuals
in zoos in the United States, chimpanzees are among the most threatened primates in
Africa for many reasons (Goodall 2001). Central chimpanzees are the
most numerous, with about 80,000 found in Gabon and Congo, eastern
chimpanzees number about 13,000 though the estimates from DRC are very
rough, and western chimpanzees are very patchily distributed with no
more than 12,000 remaining (Oates 1996). Several synergistic factors
have led to the decrease in chimpanzee populations across Africa and
some of the most salient threats include hunting, habitat loss and
degradation due to industrialized logging and human population growth,
and disease (Kormos 2003; Walsh et al. 2003; Poulsen & Clark 2004).
Even in Gabon and Congo, widely considered stronghold countries for
chimpanzees, populations are declining at a rate of at least 4.7% per
year (Walsh et al. 2003).
CONSERVATION THREATS & POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS
Threat: Human Induced Habitat Loss and Degradation
Deforestation in the tropics has multiple causes including agricultural
expansion, overgrazing, fuelwood gathering, commercial logging, and
infrastructure and industrial development (Rowe et al. 1992).
Particularly problematic in Africa is industrialized logging, which
compromises the habitat in which chimpanzees thrive, both directly and
indirectly. Direct consequences of logging include the loss of trees,
but the indirect threats are more far reaching and include soil erosion,
loss of biodiversity, climate change, desertification, watershed
degradation, landscape fragmentation due to roads, and facilitation of
access by settlers who convert logged forest into agricultural areas
(Rowe et al. 1992; Wilkie et al. 2000). The roads that are created are
particularly of concern because they provide access to once isolated
forests that can then be exploited for resources, both floral and
faunal.
Human population growth is another underlying factor of wild chimpanzee
vulnerability. With population growth rates increasing, food production
miserably inadequate, and political and economic insecurity a fact of
life, Africans are struggling to meet short-term needs at the expense of
chimpanzees (Butynski 2001). Demand for land for housing, development
of infrastructure, agriculture, and grazing animals indirectly threatens
chimpanzees because of forest loss. The need for forest products for
subsistence usage such as vines for basketry, medicine, collection of
food, and firewood also degrades chimpanzee habitat (Conserving the
Chimpanzees of Uganda 1997). As human populations explode so will the
development of infrastructure and habitat degradation will follow.
Currently, more than 70% of chimpanzee habitat is affected by
infrastructure and if current human population growth rates are
maintained, it is estimated that by the year 2030 less than 10% of
chimpanzee habitat will remain unaffected by development (Nellemen &
Newton 2002).
Potential Solutions
Some possible suggestions to mitigate habitat degradation due to logging
include responsible forest practices, including selective felling, use
of pitsaws rather than power saws, and restrict access for loggers to
only a few days per week (Endroma et al. 1997). Sustainable forestry
practices that include selective logging and limited extraction can not
only stop negative effects of logging on chimpanzee populations, but
actually improve population densities because of higher abundance of
fruits in successional plots and a decrease in mechanized logging
equipment (Plumptre and Grieser Johns 2001). Establishment of strict
protection areas in high priority conservation areas thereby precluding
logging activity is another possible mechanism to decrease habitat loss.
This solution is only possible, though, if alternative income
strategies are provided for the communities that depend on logging for
income.
Threat: Invasive Alien Species
As humans come into contact with chimpanzees more readily through
bushmeat availability and open-access logging roads, the spread of
zoonotic diseases such as
Ebola, a deadly hemorrhagic fever, threaten
both human and ape populations. In some areas, Ebola is a concern for
the viability of chimpanzee populations because of its acute deadliness
and misunderstood etiology (Walsh et al. 2003). Other infectious
diseases that threaten chimpanzees include the common cold, pneumonia,
paralytic poliomyelitis, tuberculosis, chicken pox, and influenza (among
others) (Butynski 2001). An epidemic of any of these diseases could
cause massive mortality within a small population and potentially cause
rapid extinction of subspecies and species. In 1966, multiple infants
were killed and many adults paralyzed in an outbreak of a paralytic
disease (probably polio) at Gombe (Goodall 1986). Frequent close
contact due to increasing human populations or even tourists, guides,
and park personnel may increase the risk of transmitting these diseases
to chimpanzees, and the problem could worsen.
Potential Solutions
Limiting human proximity to chimpanzees as much as possible will
decrease the likelihood of infectious diseases traveling between humans
and chimpanzees. In areas of high tourism, research activity, and where
interactions between chimpanzees and local communities are common,
stricter precautions are needed to protect chimpanzees from human
diseases as well as safeguard humans against novel chimpanzee diseases
(Butynski 2001). For tourists and researchers that come into close
contact with chimpanzees, certain regulations should be implemented and
adhered to including regular screening for and vaccination against
diseases such as tuberculosis and proper sanitation including
hand-washing, disinfectant footbaths, or surgical masks within a certain
distance of the apes.
Threat: Harvesting (hunting/gathering)
Though the trade of chimpanzees is restricted, the unstable political
situation and rampant corruption in many countries translates into
little enforcement (Ammann 2001). The increase in availability of
firearms over the last few decades has greatly increased poaching
efficacy. The prevalence of guns in poaching activity is 80% greater
than other weapons (including traps, spears, and harpoons) (Poulsen &
Clark 2004). Modern firearms make poaching these large, strong apes
much easier and more successful than when using traditional weapons.
For hunters that poach chimpanzees for commercial purposes, the use of
guns ensures a higher yield as well, so populations may be dropping
exponentially faster than if traditional weapons were used. Moreover,
because of their life history characteristics, chimpanzees are more
likely to go extinct due to hunting than other primates. Those primates
most vulnerable to hunting pressures are those dependent on old-growth
forest, that weigh at least 4 kg (8.82 lb), spend a significant amount of time on
the ground, are noisy and conspicuous, and live in areas of high or
increasing human populations that have a tradition of hunting primates
or where a demand for bushmeat exists (Struhsaker 1999). Especially
troubling is the problem of orphaned chimpanzees. Poachers are only
interested in adults for their meat, but killing an adult female with
dependent offspring ensures that those infants or juveniles will either
be sold into the pet trade or die because they lack the support of their
mother so integral to chimpanzee development.
Another factor that has made hunting easier is the spread of
industrialized logging. Commercial logging transforms roadless forests
into major thoroughfares which can be easily accessed by commercial
hunters. Poachers can find their own transportation or hitchhike on
logging trucks into the forests and loggers, after their daily
work, can stay to hunt before driving back to the village (Ammann 2001).
Not only does the infrastructure provided create ease of access to
forests for poachers (including restricted natural areas and parks), but
an influx of men working for logging companies drives up the demand for
bushmeat, which is much less expensive than other protein sources
available at markets in logging towns (Walsh et al. 2003). More than
just providing access to areas where chimpanzees are available, logging
companies provide guns, materials for snares, transportation to and from
hunting areas as well as transportation of carcasses to markets in large
cities. Employees of some logging companies are involved at every step
of the bushmeat process from the tools to make the guns to the
consumption of the meat (Ammann 2001).
Potential Solutions
If the bushmeat trade is to stop, there are some very important and
difficult objectives that must be achieved. First, the governments of
African countries have to implement sustainable use policies for the
natural resources in their countries and global institutions such as the
World Bank must begin to offer financial and political incentives to
implement environmentally responsible development projects that do not
include the unsustainable use of natural resources (Butynski 2001).
These projects should include the development of alternate food sources
for bushmeat.
Furthermore, logging companies should be held to corporate codes of
conduct and responsibility by western consumers. Logging companies with
leases to forests are usually from developed countries; certainly
international pressure on these companies could be great enough to
change some of their policies. Certification programs based on
sustainable techniques and extraction practices are another option to
decrease bushmeat hunting (Butynski 2001). Reviewed by independent
parties, the criteria of certification can involve control of the
bushmeat trade and maintenance of biodiversity as central parts of the
accreditation process. Education programs and materials at zoos and on
the internet can get the message across to western consumers that
purchasing uncertified tropical woods from Africa has deleterious
effects on biodiversity, chimpanzee habitat, as well as the people of
Africa.
Another step for African governments is to turn so-called "paper parks"
into legitimate protected areas. Enforcement of protected areas and the
laws regarding the trade of chimpanzees would also affect the number of
chimpanzees killed for bushmeat. Guards and park patrols are needed to
deter hunters from entering protected areas in search of chimpanzees.
Finally, sanctuaries for orphaned chimpanzees are necessary to
rehabilitate the infants and juveniles and save them from an unnatural
life in a home. Chimpanzee orphanages, while not ideal for developing
chimpanzees, could ensure a relatively normal socialization and learning
period, and eventually orphaned chimpanzees may be returned to the wild
or be used in captive breeding programs, if necessary.
For more reading about the bushmeat crisis and commercial logging:
Peterson D. 2003. Eating apes. Berkeley, CA: Univ Calif Pr. 320 p.
http://www.bushmeat.org
http://www.karlammann.com
Threat: Accidental Mortality
Across much of their range chimpanzees are threatened by snares set by
poachers and farmers. Though snares do not kill adult chimpanzees
immediately, wounds caused by snares can become infected or snares can
disfigure chimpanzees to the point that they can no longer obtain and
eat food (Endroma et al. 1997; Quiatt et al. 2002; Reynolds et al.
2003). In Kibale, snares injure chimpanzees at a rate of 3.7 percent
per year, and though chimpanzees have learned to recognize snares, they often
are caught when their attention is distracted (Wrangham 2001).
Potential Solutions
Guards and patrols in parks and protected areas that survey and disarm
snares and traps could decrease accidental mortality. Habituated
chimpanzees in field research groups could receive basic medical
treatment, including antibiotics, for infected wounds, if necessary,
though immobilization of chimpanzees for veterinary treatment is often
difficult and dangerous (Wrangham 2001).
Threat: Persecution
As alluded to above, where chimpanzees coexist with humans that practice
agriculture, these apes may be considered pests,
raiding crops, and in a
few, very rare instances, killing children (Endroma et al. 1997;
Wrangham 2001; Reynolds et al. 2003). Pest chimpanzees are often killed
by farmers and then sold for profit or fed to their hunting dogs
(Wrangham 2001).
Potential Solutions
Given the growing human population across Africa, it is unlikely that
human-chimpanzee conflict will decrease. Therefore, the best solution
to increase tolerance of chimpanzees and decrease their persecution in
areas where humans and chimpanzees coexist is to make them valuable to
the local people through ecotourism and research (Wrangham 2001).
Though neither solution is perfect and both have risks and benefits,
both offer an opportunity for local people to fiscally benefit from the
presence of chimpanzees and thereby increase their tolerance of
crop-raiding behavior. Either directly through employment or generating
revenues to reimburse people for crops lost to chimpanzees, ecotourism
and research programs change the attitudes of people towards chimpanzees
and increase their acceptance as these apes begin to "pay for
themselves."
Threat: Changes in Native Species Dynamics
Though it is not well documented, the potential exists for
parasitic or
pathogenic infections to cause massive mortality in chimpanzee
populations (Butynski 2001). Over 100 parasitic diseases, including
protozoal and metazoal pathogens, affect the great apes and they are
fatal or cause morbidity with severe consequences for behavior and
reproduction. Often mortality results from a secondary infection in
lesions caused by the primary pathogen (Toft 1986).
Potential Solutions
In some field sites where chimpanzees are habituated, it is possible to
administer antibiotics for these and other diseases, which may mitigate
the effects but do not eliminate the source or prevent recurrent
infections (Goodall 1986).
Threat: Intrinsic Factors
Some intrinsic factors, shaped by human-induced environmental changes,
threaten chimpanzee populations. High juvenile mortality and sex
differences in mortality threaten recruitment slow population growth
rates (Hill et al. 2001). Factors that contribute to high mortality in
wild chimpanzees include poor nutrition, lack of regular veterinary
health care, and natural hazards such as predators and conspecific
aggressiveness. Moreover, because of their long lifespan and
reproductive characteristics, a female chimpanzee is expected to produce
only .8 daughters, on average, in her entire lifetime (Hill et al.
2001). This is well below the population replacement rate, and even a
slight change in population composition, caused by diseases, habitat
fragmentation, or poaching could negatively affect growth rate, causing
extirpation.
Inbreeding necessitated by habitat fragmentation could also pose a
threat to chimpanzee conservation. Strategies of inbreeding avoidance
are evident in the mating behavior of female chimpanzees; they often
seek extra-group copulations and actively avoid mating with close
community members. Habitat fragmentation could isolate female
chimpanzees and either force them to mate with community members that
may be related to them or even inhibit successful dispersal from their
natal communities (Gagneux et al. 1999). The potential problems
associated with inbreeding are particularly devastating in small
communities and include inbreeding depression and genetic drift (Marsh
2003).
Potential Solutions
Intrinsic factors which threaten chimpanzees that are compounded by
human influence such as inbreeding depression due to habitat
fragmentation and high juvenile mortality due to zoonotic disease
transfer should be the focus of conservation programs. Creating habitat
corridors to increase gene flow between populations and increasing the
number protected areas could help decrease the possibility of inbreeding
while providing supportive veterinary care to sites where habituated
chimpanzees are found may alleviate undue suffering from diseases
transferred from local human populations.
Threat: Human Disturbance
Much time and energy has been devoted to habituating chimpanzees at some
research sites in Africa. Where they have been studied for great
lengths, chimpanzees are accustomed to humans, and while this is helpful
for researchers, it also poses a risk to the apes' health. Moreover,
where chimpanzees have not been habituated to human presence but
researchers have tried to habituate them, the most common response is
curiosity and trust of humans (Tutin & Fernandez 1991; Morgan & Sans
2003). Chimpanzees that are accustomed to humans or are not afraid of
them on first contact are vulnerable to poaching and diseases.
War and civil unrest is, unfortunately, relatively common in
post-colonial Africa. The effects of political instability and conflict
on wildlife, especially chimpanzees, should not be underestimated. In
Rwanda, for example, civil war starting in 1990 directly affected the
chimpanzees because of landmines and mortars in the forests, while the
indirect consequences were habitat degradation due to the massive number
of people seeking refuge in protected forests and withdrawal of funding
for conservation projects and research (Plumptre et al. 2001).
Potential Solutions
It is enormously important that research, including direct observation,
continues on chimpanzees. Current field research practices are
non-invasive and there is little evidence that field workers' presence
disturbs chimpanzees' social or physiological patterns, still the risks
of exposure to disease and trust of humans may threaten chimpanzees. If
chimpanzees are habituated at a field site, much effort should be
focused on physically protecting that area and keeping it free of
poachers as well as precautionary measures to ensure the subjects are
not exposed to infectious diseases.
While intractable ethnic divisions lead to instability and conflict in
many African nations, there are a few things that can be done to
minimize damage to protected areas and conservation projects during
future times of instability. When possible, researchers should maintain
a presence of committed staff at the project site, ensure continued
funding through continued research, plan ahead for unsafe conditions,
train junior staff thoroughly, maintain neutrality, and provide good
communication systems between field sites and elsewhere (Plumptre et al.
2001).
The threats to chimpanzee survival are closely linked and it will take
much effort to create solutions to these problems. The economic
atmosphere in many of the chimpanzee range countries serves to fuel
hunting and logging (Wilkie et al. 2000). Unfortunately, the problems
of scarce economic opportunity, political strife, and civil unrest, are
too complicated to be solved before chimpanzee populations are
annihilated. Ecotourism is not a viable income-earning alternative
because of the civil conflict in certain regions of Africa. Because
ecotourism is not a reliable solution to the continuous decline of
chimpanzee populations, conservationists should invest in massive law
enforcement campaigns to guard parks and other formally protected areas
from poachers (Walsh et al. 2003). Other options are to focus on areas
where high densities of chimpanzees occur naturally and human
populations are currently scarce, for example, the swamp forests of
Congo. In these areas, chimpanzees utilize swamp forests during the dry
season and terra firma during the wet season, but human population
density is low because of the difficulty of access, low timber values in
the area, and few agricultural possibilities (Poulsen & Clark 2004).
Protection of swamp forests would be simple and effective during the wet
season and because of the limited access to gathering areas during the
dry season, it would be easy to protect large numbers of chimpanzees at
other times of the year.
LINKS TO MORE ABOUT CONSERVATION
CONSERVATION INFORMATION
CONSERVATION NEWS
- Scientists work to save endangered chimps (UPI, March 24, 2008)
- Rwanda Conservation Effort To Link Isolated Chimps To Distant Forest (ScienceDaily, March 20, 2008)
- Chimps in hats are endangered too (New Scientist, March 13, 2008)
- Villagers Resist Environmentalists Around Guinea's Mount Nimba (Voice of America, January 30, 2008)
- Hungry Tanzania refugees eat chimps and wild game (Reuters Africa, January 22, 2007)
- Chimpazees declining in parks - official (New Vision, Uganda, November 18, 2007)
- Sierra Leone steps up efforts to save chimpanzees (AFP, October 2, 2007)
- Best Practice Guidelines for the Re-introduction of Great Apes (IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group, 2007)
- Tanzania's chimps are just like family, only hairier (Miami Herald, August 10, 2007)
- Partnering for Primates (Plenty Magazine, April 17, 2007)
- Q and A: 'Humans have the responsibility to protect habitats' (Times of India, January 23, 2007)
- Of Chimps And Humans (Lakeland Ledger, December 28, 2006)
- Wilder shores (The Australian, November 25, 2006)
- Ugandan chimpanzees fall prey to witchcraft - report (Monsters and Critics, September 24, 2006)
- Chimp's TV career may violate law (Japan Times, September 18, 2006)
- Rare chimpanzees face extinction (IPP Media, September 14, 2006)
- They're just like family, only hairier (Los Angeles Times, July 16, 2006)
- Expert explains dangers to chimpanzee population (ABC, Australia, July 14, 2006)
- Ape guru develops coffee certification scheme (Independent Online, South Africa, February 20, 2006)
- Bush-meat traders threaten Nigeria's chimps (Georgia Straight, Canada, November 3, 2005)
- Woods Hole Research Center scientist part of international initiatives to save the great apes (EurekAlert, October 11, 2005)
- Conservationists seek to protect apes (Associated Press, July 27, 2005)
- U.S. Ambassador Makes Chimpanzee Protection a Priority (Environment News Service, June 6, 2005)
- Expert highlights mobile phone threat to great apes (Australian Broadcasting Company, March 10, 2005)
- Captive chimpanzees' release declared a success (New Scientist, February 28, 2005)
- Study links Ebola outbreaks to animal carcasses (EurekAlert, February 14, 2005)
- Chimps to the general, by special delivery (Guardian, UK, December 6, 2004)
- Not much hope left for Africa's great apes (Mail & Guardian, South Africa, October 31, 2004)
- Conservationist Jane Goodall Has Hope for Chimpanzees, Humans (Voice of America, October 31, 2004)
- Goodall Warns World Chimpanzee Population Plummets (Scoop, New Zealand, February 17, 2004)
- Fences 'can help apes' survival' (BBC News, May 5, 2004)
- African apes being eaten into extinction (Sunday Herald, UK, October 11, 2003)
- African `bushmeat' trade raises health, conservation fears (Taipei Times, August 25, 2003)
- Ape alarm in West Africa (BBC News, September 17, 2002)
- Census finds 5,000 chimpanzees in Uganda (South African Independent, January 21, 2003)
- Eating apes imperils species, spreads AIDS (ABC Science Online, Australia, September 15, 2003)
- Great apes in peril (BBC News, May 20, 2001)
- Growing demand for 'bushmeat' threatens great apes (CNN, August 11, 1999)
- Hanging in the balance (Telegraph, UK, December 13, 2003)
- Last chance to save great apes from extinction (Guardian Unlimited, May 21, 2001)
- Logging Sets Off an Apparent Chimp War (New York Times, May 13, 1997)
- Massive Die-Off of Great Apes Reported in Africa (National Geographic News, February 6, 2003)
- The last of their kind (Chimps in the Goualougo Triangle in Congo, Smoky Mountain News, January 22, 2003)
- The plight of the great apes (ABC Science Show, May 27, 2002)
- News links for all species
ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED IN Pan troglodytes CONSERVATION
Content last modified: April 13, 2006
Written by Kristina Cawthon Lang. Reviewed by Elaine Videan.
Cite this page as:
Cawthon Lang KA. 2006 April 13. Primate Factsheets: Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) Conservation. <http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/entry/chimpanzee/cons>. Accessed 2008 May 16.
