2,742Grants to

1,709(Sub)Species

Mohamed bin Zayed Species project number 11252562

Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation (Project No. 11252562) - chimpanzee - Awarded $12,000 on December 31, 2011

The mission of the Budongo Conservation Field Station (BCFS) is to conserve the population of chimpanzees living in the Budongo Forest Reserve, Uganda. Our objectives are to keep daily records of the chimpanzees, facilitate research on them, provide conservation education for local people, remove snares and traps from the forest and surrounding areas, and increase our veterinary capacity to deal with chimpanzee health, injuries, diseases and mortality. The BCFS was established in 1990. We cover the Budongo Forest Reserve in Masindi District, Western Uganda. Target species is the chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii, and in addition we conserve three forest monkey species, the blue monkey (Cercopithecus mitis), the red-tailed monkey (Cercopithecus ascanius) and the black and white colobus monkey (Colobus guereza). Besides these primates, we co-ordinate research and conservation activities on small mammals, birds, amphibians and arthropods in the Budongo Forest.

The present phase of the project funded by MBZ is to find a solution to the shortage of sodium faced by the Budongo chimpanzees. This problem has arisen because of the destruction of Raphia palms in the forest by local tobacco farmers, who use the leaves of Raphia to make string, used for drying and curing their leaves. Previously, the chimpanzees obtained sodium from the decaying pith of dead Raphia palms but the supply of these has now dried up. We are monitoring the alternative ways chimpanzees are using to obtain sodium. And we are engaging with the local tobacco growing community, and senior staff in British American Tobacco, the main tobacco growing company in the area, to dissuade farmers from using Raphia and to switch to using cotton string. This work is ongoing at the present time.



Project 11252562 location - Uganda, Africa