An angry mob has attacked a nature reserve after a world-famous chimpanzee attacked and killed an eight-month old baby.
Jeje, an adult Western chimpanzee who is part of a local group known for their advanced tool use, is believed to have abducted the child from a field in Bosseu, Guinea, while her mother worked nearby.
The little girl’s mutilated body was found 3km from the Nimba Mountains Nature Reserve, with witnesses claiming she had been eviscerated – and it feared the chimp may have used his tools to maim her.
Chimpanzee expert Gen Yamakoshi told The Times that the tragic killing came as no surprise, as the chimps in the region ‘no longer fear humans’.
‘It is not clear if the accidents are as a result of food or excitement’, he told the publication. ‘It is similar behaviour to how chimps treat one another. If they are excited they cannot control their behaviour.’
Following news of the tragedy, angry locals directed their rage towards the Bossou Environmental Research Institute, who have been studying the chimpanzees for decades.
Bringing the baby’s corpse to their door, the mob ransacked and destroyed the facility, setting fire to equipment including drones, computers and over 200 documents, the centre’s managers said.
Joseph Doré, a young member of the group from Bossou, said ‘it’s the way she was killed, that’s what angered the population’.
The Bosseau chimpanzees, of which seven still remain, are known for their high intelligence and proficiency with tools, and have been studied by research teams for decades.
Their exceptional use of technology to process food has made them world-famous, and they have been observed using stone hammers and anvils to crack open nuts- the most sophisticated act ever observed of humanity’s genetically closest relative.
But in order to effectively study the chimpanzees, the troop had over time become boxed into a 16sq km pocket of forest, and while their familiarity with humans and their genetic and geographic isolation has made them ideal subjects for study, they have been cut off from potential mates living over the hills.
Although the apes and villagers had lived peacefully together for many years, the chimps ‘over-familiarity’ with humans and shrinking forest space have seen them make more frequent trips into built-up areas in search of food in recent years, which has increased the likelihood of attacks.
The research centre said it had recorded six chimpanzee attacks on humans within the reserve since the start of the year.
Moussa Koya, a youth leader at the reserve, said ‘It was not their will [to be violent] but it has become the habit of the chimpanzees.’
In 2022, the oldest member of a chimpanzee tribe, Fana, died in solitude age 71, leaves behind two sons, Foaf and Fanwa.
The chimp who carried out the attack is thought to be 27-year-old Jeje, whose mother, born in 1958, is one of the two surviving females.
A plan to plant a new green corridor to connect the Bossou chimps with other groups over the mountain has also displaced farmers from their land and left both animals and humans short of food, which has further inflamed tensions between the villagers and researchers.
‘An isolated population is hard to manage,’ Yamakoshi told The Times, adding that he hoped to re-establish relations with the local people during an upcoming trip to Bosseau.
‘We perhaps should have thought more about the possibilities and risks of habituation 20 years ago,’ he added.
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