HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

A blog co-written by Harvard researcher Ian Gilby, working in Uganda's Kibale Forest, makes vivid the family lives of chimpanzees - and the daily life of a field scientist. (Photo by Jean-Michel Krief)

Ian Gilby was following a chimpanzee through Uganda's Kibale Forest, observing behavior and testing revised data collection methods. Gilby had done his doctoral dissertation on chimpanzees in Tanzania and was studying long-term data about male chimp interactions.

But on this late January morning, it was the elephant that got his attention.

"[The chimpanzee] seemed very cautious, and sat quietly for several minutes, staring into the undergrowth. Suddenly, we heard a crash of vegetation, and a low rumble, and realized that an elephant was standing not more than 15 meters away," Gilby recounted later. "It raised its head and started to slowly sway back and forth. ... In a minute or two, it started moving toward us, and we moved away quickly at a 90-degree angle. ... We soon found a trail and stopped to listen. It was hard to hear over our panting and nervous laughter, but all seemed quiet."

Gilby's account of the elephant encounter is contained in a Web log, or blog, of his trip to the Kibale Forest in January. The blog, on the Anthropology Department Web site, provides an unusual glimpse into the daily life of a field scientist.

The blog was the brainchild of Alex Georgiev, a graduate student in anthropology who was working with Gilby last fall to update the Kibale Chimpanzee Project's Web site. Georgiev argued that the Web site ought to have changing features that bring people back again. The blog was one way to do that, Gilby said. Web site statistics through March 9 show that the site has been viewed some 2,800 times.

In addition to drawing people to the Web site, however, Gilby said the blog is a new way for scientists to communicate to the public. Details of the life of a field scientist are typically missing from the scientific papers summarizing research findings. An account of what chimpanzees are like when you're sitting next to them may give readers an entirely different feeling about the animals than they would get from reading about the latest discovery of chimp behavior or anatomy.

"It's important for chimpanzee conservation, even though that's not the primary goal of our research," Gilby said. "If a reader suddenly feels like they made a connection, maybe that's one more reason for them to give money to an organization that protects chimpanzees."

Gilby's own work on chimpanzees began in nearby Tanzania, where he did his doctoral dissertation on hunting and meat-sharing behavior among the chimpanzees in Gombe National Park. He has been a postdoctoral fellow in biological anthropology at Harvard for the past year and is analyzing long-term data about male cooperative behavior.

His current work does not require him to spend as much time in the field as his doctoral work did. Ugandan research assistants do much of the new data collection, and Gilby also relies on extensive records from years of observation of the Kanyawara chimps.

Ian Gilby (left) observes as Francis Mugurusi, a Ugandan field assistant, records data on the Kibale Forest chimpanzees.

The January Kibale trip was Gilby's first visit to the research site. His goal was to introduce new data collection sheets and brief the field-workers on the changes. He also wanted to observe how the workers collected data while in the forest and familiarize himself with the chimps in the Kanyawara community.

Gilby's blog was typed on a laptop at the field station, e-mailed to Georgiev in Cambridge, and posted shortly after that.

The blog entries begin as Gilby gets ready for the trip in his Foxboro, Mass., home, digging through his basement for the gear he hadn't used since concluding his fieldwork in Tanzania's Gombe National Park three years ago.

The blog details his actions and thoughts as he arrives back in Africa, visits a chimpanzee sanctuary on an island in Lake Victoria, and heads out to the Makerere University Biological Field Station in Kibale National Park, where the Kibale Chimpanzee Project, founded by Ruth Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology Richard Wrangham, is based.

Gilby's days typically began at 5 a.m. with a quick breakfast and a 5:30 a.m. departure into the forest. Researchers reached the trees where chimps had woven branches into overnight nests by 6 and sometimes had to wait as long as an hour for the apes to stir.

After the chimps woke up, the researchers collected urine to check hormone levels by hanging a plastic bag from a stick under the nests. While some were doing that, others followed the chimps - who have become accustomed to the researchers' presence - through the forest as they headed to fig trees for breakfast, a beehive for a honey snack, or a meeting with other members of the community.

Gilby detailed one such meeting in a Jan. 21 blog post:

"After feeding with Outamba and her family for a couple of hours, Kakama suddenly descended and traveled rapidly to the west. Japan (one of the field assistants) and I quickly followed him as he melted through the undergrowth. He traveled without stopping for 30 minutes, periodically pant-hooting and buttress drumming.

"Soon his calls were answered by several others, and suddenly we were surrounded by chimps! Kakama displayed into the thick vegetation, and there was much commotion as chimps screamed and scattered in his path. It was hard to tell who was there until a few minutes later, when all was calm. We found Kakama grooming with two other males, Big Brown and Stout, with 10-year-old Bud lying nearby. Several females, including Quinto, a new immigrant, rested a few meters away.

"After a short reunion, the males moved on, and soon joined several others, including the alpha male, Imoso. He made several impressive charging displays, reminding Kakama that he still outranks him.

"The party settled down and many fed on Ficus natalensis fruits. Outamba and family joined us, followed by Francis and John, the field assistants who had been with them since the morning. We spent the rest of the day with this party. I tried my best to learn the new faces, and discussed data collection methods with the field assistants. It was nice to be with a big group of chimps again! It was so familiar, the smells, the sounds, and sensations of following chimps, yet there were subtle differences that I'm sure I will continue to notice."

Gilby plans to continue blogging from Kibale on his next trip in June, though it will be shorter, perhaps just a week at the field site. His biggest memory of the January trip was how nice it was to be back in the field. And, though his main interest was and continues to be the chimpanzees, being chased through the forest by an elephant certainly sticks out in his mind.

"It's a high point, after the fact," Gilby said. "At the time I was wondering if that moment would be my last."

alvin_powell@harvard.edu