Ugalla Wildlife Research ProjectFew studies have been conducted on chimpanzees living in dry habitats.
"Ecological Studies and Conservation of Fauna and Flora in the Greater Mahale" project is an research project of the Wildlife Research Project in Ugalla Area. Our research has been concentrated more on the topic of social dynamics of one species, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Chimpanzees exist across equatorial Africa . Most sites where they are studied are rain forests. Few studies have been conducted on chimpanzees living in dry habitats. Therefore, we are aware of the necessity of expanding our scientific scope wider and also would like to contribute more to the conservation of wildlife by including more studies on ecological aspects. Furthermore, we would like to make extensive surveys in greater areas of the western Tanzania to study and protect all wild animals. This project includes various approaches from different disciplines including ecology, behavioral ecology, primatology, anthropology, molecular ecology, etc. |
Project member
Gen'ichi IDANII started the ecological anthropology on traditional fishing in Okinawa at 1984. At the same time, I have been studying wild bonobos in Democratic Republic of the Cong (Zaire). I have also been studying wild chimpanzees and other mammals at the western Congo and the Ugalla area, Tanzania since 1991. On the other hand, I have been promoting welfare studies for captive great apes in Japan. I aim to understand sociality of wild animals through their ecology and ethology, and to create new fields of academic study in the natural science.
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Hideshi OgawaI am a professor of Chukyo University in Toyota City of Japan. I received my Ph. D. in social behaviors among Tibetan macaques from Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University in 1994. When I first went to Ugalla in 1994, I was impressed with the landscape of Ugalla. Since then, I have been studying wild chimpanzees in Ugalla and have visited Ugalla for more than 20 times. I went to many other chimpanzee habitats in Tanzania too. I am interested in the evolution of social intelligence in primates.
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Eriko g IIDARecently, many paleoanthropologists argue that human evolution in its early stage occurred in woodland not in open land. Some primatologists have been studying chimpanzees in woodland, Western Tanzania for this reason. In order to have better insights of human evolution through hominid adaptation in woodland ecosystem, it is also important to have better understanding of ecology and behaviors of other sympatric mammals which are less known compared to those of chimpanzees. In this study, I aimed to collect basic data on mammalian fauna at Ugalla, Western Tanzania, especially focusing on bush hyraxes (Heterohyrax brucei).
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