Mitumba Chimpanzee Community

The Mitumba Chimpanzee Community is a group of wild eastern chimpanzees that inhabit a 10 kilometre square area of the Gombe Stream National Park which is situated near Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania.[1] This community borders the well known Kasakela community of chimpanzees. The Mitumba community became well known following the migration in 1996 of the female chimpanzee Flossi from the Kasakela community and become the first identified female chimpanzee in her mother's natal group to migrate. In 2010 the community numbered 25 members.[2] Mitumba males have occasionally been killed by males of the Kasakala community.[3]

F-family

This family group originates from the Kasakela community which was part of the pioneering study by primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall, and the family line continues with Flossi's integration into the Mitumba community in 1996.[4] Her younger sister Flirt later integrated into the Mitumba community in 2013.[4]

Flossi

Flossi (born 1985) is in the Kasakela community and is Fifi's second oldest daughter. Flossi has given birth to four offspring, the males Forest (1997–), Fansi (2001–) and females Flower (2005-), and a new infant born 2009. She is one of the top-two ranking females in the community.[2]

Edgar

Edgar (born 1989) joined with Rudi to kill Vincent (the then-alpha male of the Mitumba community and the only male to survive the 2004 epidemic). Edgar and Rudi battled with each other for alpha status; Edgar wins in early 2005. Edgar has since then been the "alpha male" although there are only two males. He had a younger brother, Eboney, who may have been killed by Rudi during the struggle for alpha status, and a younger sister named Eden.

References

  1. Stanford, C. B. (1998). Chimpanzee and Red Colobus: The Ecology of Predator and Prey. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674116672.
  2. 1 2 Goodall, J. (2010). Through a Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 9780547488387.
  3. Lawrence, M.L. (July 10, 2014). "Mitumba". Retrieved 2015-01-12.
  4. 1 2 Shah, A. & Rogers, F. (2014). Tales from Gombe. Firefly. pp. 319–320. ISBN 9781770854680.
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