The Chimpanzees of Yeale, Nimba

The Kyoto University Primate Research Institute (KUPRI) international team of researchers and students has been studying chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in Yealé, Côte d’Ivoire, in the Nimba Mountains intermittently since 1993. These efforts were interrupted in 2002 for reasons of political unrest in the country and have only resumed more recently in 2008. Nevertheless, local assistants continued progressive habituation of chimpanzees in the region, rendering this site promising for future research. The Yealé site is located approximately 10 km southeast of Bossou and south of the Seringbara site, a more recently established field site on the Guinean side of the Nimba massif. Compared to the Guinean portion of the massif, the region of Yealé presents a unique topography. In addition, chimpanzees at this site are beginning to reveal a unique behavioral repertoire quite different from that of their neighbors. This chapter aims to compile our current understanding of the behavior and ecology of chimpanzees of Yealé and to highlight how this site may in the future valuably further our understanding of chimpanzees