The Figan Follow

Day 30: Hunting Baboons and Colobus — Waterfall Display

Date:	July 29, 1974
Start:	07:42
Finish:	18:00 (nest)
Duration:	10 hr. 18 min.
Observers:	Curt Busse and Kassim Selemani

“Peering through the foliage, Curt spotted a very small baboon — little more than an infant — high near the top of a dead tree thickly draped in vines. There was an adult male baboon feeding some thirty yards away, but he had taken no notice as Figan slowly climbed towards his intended victim.

‘Fig suddenly made a rush towards the infant. He nearly caught it, too. But somehow or other it escaped and leapt to the ground. It was amazing — it must have been at least forty feet, that leap. And then the little thing landed right between Faben and Goblin!’

‘Now I suppose you’re going to describe a horrible, gory kill,’ said Julie Johnson, another of the baboon team. ‘I don’t think I want to stay and listen.’

‘No, it was okay,’ Curt reassured her. ‘Just at that moment the male baboon finally arrived and there was a great commotion. The little bab got away.’ “ — Jane Goodall

Through a Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe, 1990, p. 61.

We followed Faben, Pallas, and Winkle to the mumanda tree north of Kasakela where Figan and Goblin were feeding at 0742. At 0838 Faben left the mumanda tree and Figan followed; pant-hoot-drum displays by Figan and Faben preceded travel to the north. During travel they met Satan and (ASR) they stopped to groom. Patti, Sparrow, Fifi, and Gigi arrived from the other mumanda tree and joined the group. Satan and Faben groomed as Figan rested. The A-troop baboons were present and they passed only a few meters from the chimps, but little interest was taken.

During quiet times, a two-year-old baboon rests on top of the drum in front of Pan Palace.

At 1007 the entire group (except Satan) traveled past AK1 for kitota. A-troop baboons were present as Figan fed, and twice Figan tried to catch young baboons. On his second attempt he came within inches of catching a young “wild bunch” baboon who leapt 15 m from a tree and landed right between Faben and Goblin just as an adult male baboon came charging in to break it up (see Predation Report).

Figan, Faben, Gigi, Goblin, and Fifi then traveled towards Camp. During travel Figan stopped under a low ngazi tree where an adult male and a mother-infant baboon were feeding; Figan watched for a minute then moved on following a Faben drum display at the Plum Tree Thicket drum. As Figan, Faben, and Gigi entered Camp at 1134 several baboons were present but the chimps took no interest. Figan groomed briefly with Hugo then left Camp to the east with Patti and Faben. Figan and Faben split up at the Dell to feed in separate ngazi trees.

Bolivar the Bushpig forages near Curt’s rondoval.

Figan fed for an hour then leapt to the ground in response to screams and eagle-wraah’s from Camp. Figan rushed to Camp with hair-out and found Hugo, Satan, Passion, Pom, Winkle, and Pallas all inspecting the large mound of grass on the border of Camp where Bolivar the Bushpig (photo, above) had made her home. Figan scattered the group with a drumming display, then carefully inspected the mound with hair-out for about two minutes. Twice he jumped back upon being startled. Figan then joined Hugo, Satan, Patti, and Fifi as they sat 10 m from Bolivar’s home watching it.

Figan was not happy with this snake that blocked the path to the waterfall. Mamba?

Figan followed Hugo and Satan out of Camp to the east then split away from them.During travel to the waterfall, the path was suddenly blocked by a long (6 ft) green snake with head-reared a foot off the ground (photo, above). Figan stopped 5 m from the snake and hoo’ed briefly. He then climbed 3 m into a nearby tree and waited for 5 minutes as the snake moved off.

As Figan moved on to one of his favorite ngazi trees, he found a colobus troop feeding nearby. Figan hunted off and on for ½ hour (see Predation Report) before returning to the Dell where screaming had been heard earlier. Figan passed Patti and Satan during travel and seemed to be traveling to Camp when he reversed directions to investigate upon hearing screams etc. from east of the Dell. Gigi, Gilka, Athena, and Atlas were present; Gigi and Gilka screamed and avoided a Figan arrival display. Gilka pant-grunted, full-open-grin, and presented to Figan who with hair-out and hunch extended an arm and inspected Gilka.

Figan then left this group and traveled back near the colobus troop and the waterfall where he found Satan and Faben feeding in a muguiza tree. Patti and Gilka arrived shortly afterwards. Figan fed for 1/2 hour before traveling to the waterfall; the colobus troop was vocalizing nearby; Figan looked frequently at them but apparently didn’t feel like making an unprecedented 3rd predation attempt in a day. Patti followed Figan to the waterfall where he did a great 5-minute waterfall and streambed display (photos below).

Figan initiated his waterfall display on Day 30 by pant-hooting, climbing up the north face, dangling from vines, and rapelling along the cliff wall for several minutes.

Figan dangles from vines (right) some 35 feet above the base of the waterfall.

Figan rapels along the cliff wall.

Figan then descended to the base of the waterfall, tossing rocks and charging bipedal up and down the stream for another minute or two. (National Geographic, May, 1979, p. 601. © National Geographic Society).¹

Figan then returned along the stream to lower KK4 where he, Faben, and Patti fed on kitota for 45 minutes. Upon climbing up the KK4 rocks the group found Satan feeding in a muguiza tree. Despite the fact that Satan had been seen only 1 ½ hours ago, he was very submissive to Figan before the group started feeding. The group also fed on nearby mnazi before nesting in scattered places between KK4 and KK3 at about 1800.

ASR Details. At 1532 Figan left Faben and Satan and traveled to the Kakombe waterfall. Patti followed Figan. At 1539 the falls was visible and Figan immediately started displaying. Figan displayed up the cliffs on the left and began rappelling from the cliffs at a height of at least 15 m.

At 1544 Figan descended the cliffs and continued his display at the base of the waterfall, kicking and throwing rocks, going bipedal several times. The display stopped at 1544, as Figan sat briefly by the stream before traveling downstream to feed on kitota.

Whether the chimps have any aesthetic awe of the waterfall is certainly an important and debatable point (read Jane’s discussion of waterfall displays here). Certainly the incorporation of a loud, powerful waterfall increases the effectiveness of a display. The waterfall can be used as an important aspect in maintaining status or when status conflicts are involved. Why then would Figan do a waterfall display in the presence of merely one female, Patti? Practice?

Nesting Details. On the ridge between KK3 and KK4, Figan, Faben, Satan, and Patti were feeding on mnazi when Faben descended the tree and grunted. Figan grunted in response and Faben went into a nearby tree to build his nest at 1734. At 1745 Figan descended the mnazi tree and traveled past Faben, rapid-grunting once. Figan left Faben and traveled 30 m away before grunting again.

Figan then traveled to KK3 where he built his nest 125 m from Faben. Patti and Gilka had followed Figan, but left the nesting Figan and traveled to the KK3 streambed to nest. Satan had been seen earlier traveling downhill. Figan had nested at least 75 m from all the others. Figan rapid-grunted as he rested alone in his nest at 1805, probably outside of earshot from Faben. Next morning Figan was not found in his nest, but was heard drumming 75 m away at the KK3 streambed where Patti and Gilka had nested.