Goualougo Triangle Ape Project (GTAP)

Annual Report to the Indianapolis Zoo

Drs. Steve Ross, David Morgan, & Crickette Sanz
October 2018
 
 

The Indianapolis Zoo’s continued support of Lincoln Park Zoo’s Goualougo Triangle Ape
Project (GTAP) is ensuring a more sustainable future for Congo’s great apes. Thanks to
the generosity of partners like you, GTAP is continuing to improve the conservation
status of gorillas and chimpanzees through long-term applied research and local
capacity building efforts. This annual report highlights the progress GTAP has made in
advancing this critical work this year.

Field Research Informs Advocacy to Protect Great Apes

GTAP researchers continue to study great ape distribution and resource needs in order
to identify and lobby for increased protections of critical habitat. Over the last year,
GTAP survey teams resurveyed 54 km of transects in the Goualougo Triangle, within the
protected NNNP, where they estimated an abundance of 1.43 apes per km2. GTAP also
resurveyed 107 km of transects outside the park in the active Kabo logging concession.
There, ape abundance was estimated at just 1.05 individuals per km2. The lower density
estimate suggests that gorillas and chimpanzees are moving to areas of lower
disturbance. Since timber exploitation recently ceased, GTAP transect teams are
currently resurveying the area to compare ape abundances before logging resumes in
January 2019. The GTAP team predicts the latest transect surveys will reveal
abundances similar to baseline levels obtained before logging as the resident apes move
back into the region.
GTAP scientists have also identified detailed, baseline resource needs for gorillas and
chimpanzees based on thousands of hours of direct observation (5,571 hours observing
gorillas and 2,305 hours observing chimpanzees). Knowing which tree species the apes
prefer, and cross-referencing that information with the logging company’s tree
inventory data, allows the team to assess logging impacts in new and exciting ways. For
example, approximately 134.4 km of new roads were opened in the Kabo concession
from 2014 to 2017. GTAP’s analysis estimates that road development resulted in the
clearance of 199 individual tree stems in 2017 alone, including 11 key food species for
chimpanzees and 7 for gorillas. GTAP hopes to use this type of data to guide more “ape-
friendly” construction of future logging roads to mitigate negative impacts on these
important resources. This nuanced understanding of great apes’ needs will also allow
GTAP scientists to identify and lobby for increased protections of particularly valuable
ape habitat within the concession, before logging roads are ever constructed.

Health and Stress Monitoring

GTAP continues to assess how the increase in logging, research, and ecotourism impacts
wild apes’ health and stress levels, and is working with other researchers in central
Africa to develop protocols that will reduce the risk of disease transfer between humans
and wild apes.

GTAP’s two study sites, Goualougo and Mondika, provide a unique opportunity to
explore how different types of human disturbance impacts gorillas’ stress, and to inform
protocols for research and habituation, tourism, and logging. The non-invasive
collection of fecal samples from individual gorillas will enable the team to track stress,
parasites, and pathogens in these varying conditions. GTAP scientists collected and
analyzed hormones from 250 fecal samples last year. Results indicated that gorillas at
Goualougo have higher stress levels than those at Mondika. While more samples need to
be analyzed, these initial results support our hypothesis that gorillas who are more
recently habituated to humans have higher stress levels. 425 additional samples are
currently awaiting export to Lincoln Park Zoo for analysis, and another 420 samples will
be shipped to Emory University for parasite prevalence screening. Fecal sample analysis
will be paired with daily observational health and behavioral monitoring to provide a
more holistic view of great ape health and potential risks.

GTAP recently held a cross-site great ape parasite health training workshop at NNNP
headquarters. Seven participants from five sites representing five NGOs attended the 9-
day workshop. Research staff from all five study sites have agreed on standardized ape
fecal sampling protocols, and will participate in a collaborative ape health study based
on the results. The GTAP team will use these data to evaluate preventative measures to
minimize disease transmission events and stress associated with forestry, research
activities, and tourism. Findings will also inform specific International Union for
Conservation of Nature best practice recommendations for research and ecotourism,
and forest survey protocols that can be incorporated into national standards for timber
companies.

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Professional Development of Congolese Research Staff
GTAP continues to advance the professional development of its Congolese staff by
supporting opportunities for them to present and publish their research, and pursue
advanced degrees. Three senior GTAP research assistants presented posters on their
research at the International Primatological Society meeting in Nairobi, Kenya in August.
Earlier this year, GTAP Research Assistant Mr. Wen Mayoukou completed and defended
his Master’s degree in protected area management from Senghor University, Egypt. GTAP
also supported former Research Assistant Mr. Sydney Ndolo in his pursuit of a PhD,
which he is set to defend this month. Mr. Ndolo continues to collaborate with GTAP and
is the project’s first Congolese scientist to publish a first author manuscript. His second
first-author manuscript about ficus species in the region was published in the Edinburgh
Journal of Botany recently.

GTAP supports its Congolese staff’s professional development through individualized

training opportunities as well. Over the last year, all GTAP research staff members
received individualized training on a variety of research methods, data collection
techniques, analytical tests as well as presentation training. Site Managers led daily
training sessions which focused on collecting, downloading and summarizing Animal
Observer App data, SMART data and fecal collection and identification sampling. In
total 11 Congolese staff received individualized training between the two sites and
associated studies outside the protected areas. Mr. Mayoukou spent three months
training GTAP Research Assistant Mr. Claude Abedine in collection of standardized ape
nest and elephant sign transect surveys. Currently, Mr. Mayoukou is evaluating Mr.
Abedine in his first mission leading a transect survey. Dr. David Harris of the Edinburgh
Royal Botanical Gardens led additional training on conducting botanical plot surveys
with three GTAP research assistants.

Publications
In 2018, GTAP researchers have published or submitted the following manuscripts to
peer-reviewed journals:
1. “Annual cycles dominate reproductive phenology of African tropical trees,”
published in Biotropica;
2. “Guns, germs, and trees: key factors influencing the density and distribution of
gorillas and chimpanzees in Western Equatorial Africa,” published in Science
Advances;
3. “Uncertainty and self-monitoring in the commons: A common-pool resource
experiment framed around bushmeat hunting in the Republic of Congo,”
published in Ecological Economies;
4. “African apes coexisting with logging: Comparing chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes
troglodytes) and gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) resource needs and responses to
forestry activities to Biological Conservation,” published in Biological
Conservation;
5. “Ficus species in the Sangha Trinational, central Africa,” published in Edinburgh
Journal of Botany.

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Recognition of Support
GTAP and Lincoln Park Zoo were pleased to acknowledge the Indianapolis Zoological
Society’s generous funding in the following ways this year:
 Listing on Goualougo Triangle Ape Project website
 Listing on Lincoln Park Zoo’s website (GTAP Project Page)
 Listing in Lincoln Park Zoo’s Annual Report
 Inclusion in academic presentations of GTAP’s conservation and research
activities
 Included as core supporter in GTAP funding proposals
 Included as core supporter in reporting to Congolese government

Summary of Indianapolis Zoo 2018 Grant Expenditures 

The support of partners like the Indianapolis Zoological Society is critical to GTAP’s
continued success. Again, thank you for your renewed contribution to this important
work in 2018.  

Total funds expended: $25,000 

 
Field Supplies and Worker Salaries: $22,165 
Funding supported salaries and food rations for GTAP’s field research and tracking
teams and was used to purchase supplies necessary to maintain their year-long scientific
and conservation presences at GTAP’s Goualougo Triangle and Mondika sites, including
field camp equipment such as tarps, tents, and storage materials.
 
Communications: $1,262 
Funding contributed to purchasing critical communications equipment that facilitates
the scientific and conservation activities of GTAP’s research and tracking teams,
including batteries and SIM cards for the Thuraya satellite communications systems
employed by GTAP staff in the forest. 
 
Travel: $1,573 
Funding was also used to facilitate one international flight for site manager Juan Ortega
Peralejo, including baggage fees to ship supplies to Congo.

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