I am a professor at the history museum
natural and work since a
twenty years with chimpanzees
in the rainforest and there is a
ten years I realized
account that chimpanzees and is
seriously threatened so we created a
association is so today I’m going
talk to you both about research and
of chimpanzee preservation and I
will tell you my story in link
with that of chimpanzees and I’m going
show you I hope it’s not
only mine that I’m going to
tell but it’s also your story
which is played with that of chimpanzees
so before anything as I imagine
that you do not revise your dog
not at home I will call you back a
few who are chimpanzees are a
of the 350 species of primates that exists
today on earth one of the six
species of great apes
today there are two species of
gorillas two species of orangutans
the bonobo and the so- called common chimpanzee
who you are going to see it is not so
commonplace that these are primates who
live in tropical forests and
today it is estimated that there remains
more than three hundred thousand win on
earth distributed in these orange areas
that you see there
three hundred thousand individuals this is
near the Angevin community except that
you are spread over 42 kilometers
squares and so you see them the
chimpanzees they are distributed in 21
african country
another very interesting point is that
your demographics in the 60
recent years has been multiplied
roughly by 50% has been increased
50 % that of chimpanzees decreased
70%
therefore it is urgent to take
measures to try to limit this
disappearance is so today the six
species of great apes are
considered to be in danger either
critical danger of extinction and all
are placed on the red list of
the international union for
nature conservation
chimpanzees are our closest
parents but even more interesting
we are their closest relatives
you may ask me what
is the difference
and well in fact chimpanzees are
closer to us than they are
Gorillas
it’s interesting because we are
monkeys nape apparently everything seems
to distinguish ourselves more specifically from
chimpanzees that gorillas and
chimpanzees
but their behavior reflects this
phylogenetic proximity indeed the
chimpanzees use tools have some
cultures
they show empathy they are
able to form alliances of
to have strategies to access
at the highest levels of the hierarchy and
you see here for example a young
female chimpanzee that limits uses
a wand to access a wide
fleshy carpenter bees
some of their traditions from their
crops are not advised food
and are not mediated by tools
Here you see a handshake at
above the head that is practiced by
some groups of chimpanzees but not
by all these traditions are not
universal and that’s what
defines the animal culture ie
that it is not tied to either the
genetics be the environment and that
each group that transmits individuals
in an individual within a single
generation and generation in
generation
some other behaviors uses
objects like for example here a
leaf but are not targeted
food here it’s a signal for
ask in a subtle way a
congeners a little grooming
so without heavily insisting some
of these cultures remain quite
mysterious for us researchers and
even if we remain dazzled before this
rain dance for example we do not know
not explain why in some
groups the adult males are going to get
throw in a rain dance
so this slow whale species that
gets ready
when the storm falls on the forest
all these traditions are transmitted from
the sea to the young and this
especially because the childhood
chimpanzee is very long
weaning food is to
the age of 3-4 but the chimpanzee is going
stay very close to his mother during
the first ten years of his life
in adolescence around 12-13 years old the
female chimpanzee will leave her
birth community to go
integrate into a neighboring group then
that hurt in the way of amounts of
our tanguy will usually remain
very close to their mother and therefore
cultures will pass on from the mother
to the child but also two males in
wrong
and when a female arrives in a
new community
she will probably need
to learn from the group in which she
is to be able to adapt his
environmental behavior to which
she has to deal with chimpanzees
are also very characteristic
since they are strongly
subservient to tropical forests and
that’s why our stories
are indeed related these forests
tropical resources
indispensable for us being human
since they are the regulators of
our climate they provide
feeding they provide
medicinal plants
they guarantee the humidity
the acquisition of drinking water for
many people and its forests
tropical are also a source of life for
about 80% of the people most
poor of the planet so back up
the great apes also means
save this wealth and this
diversity that forests represent
tropical
so we will now slip into the
skin of great apes and for me it’s
pretty easy that’s the proof
so another characteristic really
of these great apes
that’s the way they are trained
their four hands that allow them
to access both the undergrowth but
also to trees and therefore to use his
hands to go be useful take some
tools are also to take
possibly medicinal plants
and so it’s your turn to slip
in the skin of a great ape I you
let happen
the hand so that I can
take you to its rainforests
and explain to you the results of my
research and our observations
so my work is under the
museum of course but also more
Generally we aim
to raise awareness and therefore to use the
photography to convey our
observations and share the
as many as possible
times have changed since there are 60
years we discovered chimpanzees and
jane goodall on the picture
from the middle the first one described the
chimpanzees as being beings
capable of culture making war
you see that at that time the
camera lenses were
much smaller than the
researchers were very close to
chimpanzees
today it is no longer a question of
feed the chimpanzees we work
with wild chimpanzees and this
is only the proximity repeat without
physical contact keeping ten meters
of distance that makes chimpanzees
become accustomed to the presence of deer
researchers this can take eight to ten
years and in some cases it’s
impossible because everywhere
in the world actually practically the
people think of fields hunted for
their meat and therefore have a
very important fear of humans the
first theme that me
interested is whether the
chimpanzees uses plants for
improve their health
so we will try to decrypt
the pharmacy of chimpanzees
why it’s particularly
interesting not because we can
study three actors chimpanzees
pathogens the microbes and
the plants tried to leave in the forest
tropical to better know this
wealth in fact today we know that
only 10% of plants are known to
their biological activities and for
their chemical properties so
use the chimp as a guide is
go faster towards a goal and in
same time to be able to value these
resources by showing that they have some
potential medicinal properties
here is my first makokou guide that is
a chimpanzee so the national park of
kibale and where I work since a
twenty years
and who was limping that day I was following
makokou he stopped sat down at
ground while the entire group a
twenty other individuals mounted
in a big fig tree and at the
consume fleshy fruits during
all day I decided to
follow and let my assistants from
search continue with the other group
and I saw that he only consume the
very bitter leaves of a plant that
is called cheat there are ruby suns and that
the assistants did not know like
part of the diet
chimpanzees
for this reason I harvest them and
then I worked in chemistry
on this plant she showed
excellent antimalarial activities
and I was able to isolate two molecules that
here you see cheating rubina has
and b with good antimalarial activity
so good that she is more active
that the reference substance that is
chloroquine on the malaria agent
in culture so makokou had held his
promises and had guided us to a
interesting plant
my second guide that I present to you
today and that limits the same as
the one who used the chopsticks all
on time and when this young
female I followed for three
days that had an alternation of
diarrhea and constipation that
had greens in his stool a
started to insert this big trunks
of trees while his brothers and sister
and his mother was sitting next
it
I wondered what was the
reason if there could be good
activities and there immediately my
research assistants told me but
we use these barks of the same
way just chewing them she has
vermifuge properties this plant
you absolutely have to work
so that was a good idea
took two years to successfully put in
day the molecules that you see here
who are his nosy skin substances
who foam and who then they too have
revealed good properties
anticancer drugs on the cells of the
cancer of the throat and more so of
deworming activities that explained
Why
probably he put there had found
good health two days after the
consumption of these plants so whatever
relatively interesting thing
since these few examples you
shows that we can by following the
chimpanzees lead to discoveries
interesting and also validated lusage
and recovery of plant usaj
by chimpanzees and doctors
traditional but quickly in fact
we
we are struck by the reality of
field and we saw that eventually
this coexistence between men and big
monkeys was not so obvious is that
even though we were close even though
we shared certain habitats and
well the survival of great apes
were threatened so since a
ten years we work in
this area north of the same park that
is called her bed beats and this area
has a feature you see here
surrounded in black the home range so
the territory of chimpanzees
studies they are about 80 and everything
around in fact here are songs
eucalyptus plantations of
maize plantations and the density of
population is among one of the strongest
in the world
the human population 300 inhabitants
square kilometers and what is
incredible is that here we also have a
the largest populations knew
impose on the world
are these two cousin species
are able to coexist how and
for how long is that what
today interests me
particularly
we know that in the forest that sweeps
so on 50 hectares of this forest
has about 800 plant species
when we go to the other side of the
border of the park one falls on one of
monocultures especially
monocultures of tea and so we no longer
only one species like his name
the indicated tea mainly which in
more to keep this monoculture is
sprayed with pesticides so we’re facing
at a reduction of about 50% of
all animals 80% of the birds
butterflies 90% of all
mammals and 100% of great apes
what are the results and well
sure the community we follow is estimated
that a quarter of chimpanzees have
facial malformations
you see here a female who has a beak
hare we also have the biggest
number of chimpanzees suffering from
malformations that have an absence of her
nasal probably an infection
congenital that is due to the
consumption and exposure to
pesticides
so these are questions that we
is still exploring but
this is the most likely assumption
so the chimpanzees pretty bit read like
in the world face troyes threat
fragmentation of their habitat and so
the loss of the rainforest each
year 10 million hectares
disappear poaching either for the
bush meat as I have you
spoken previously or even for
the live animal trade about
3000 great apes are used each
year in amusement parks or
well diseases up to 90% of
great apes can disappear
when ebola goes into a habitat
why it’s important to preserve
the great apes and that it’s not a
the only species that we protect because
that if we protect a chimpanzee on
the length of his life namely 60 to 70
years on the whole of its territory 50
hectares are tests that are
hundreds of species that we are going
protect and of course there is much more
generally appreciated to protect a
chimpanzee like this one tell you
we will protect the python who lives
its forest or the digestive parasite
who are in his stool so
we can all act we are all
concerned because we have
ways to ensure that
only the forests but also the
great apes and our future
improves the coop 21 years has
interested in climate today we
is moving towards the preservation of
biodiversity especially the
ecosystem restoration at the level
of consumers there are a lot of
things that can help
preserve the forest in particular
recycled and sort out his waste a lot
of our consumer products
become tropical forests so
by limiting our consumption of these
products
we protect both the forests the
great apes and the 80 % of people
the poorest who depend on it
by choosing in the jungle logos
organic products we also ensure
despite all that the ecosystem is
not spray by these famous pesticides
and so the wildlife we hear
little talk is not reached by
diseases that we will discover little to
little of course we can we too
act on the ground as
researcher is there our role is also
crucial we set up at
museum for example a donations campaign
and we were able to remove 400 trap that
to avoid
this type of mutilation you see here max
who was trapped on both feet who
so been severely maimed of course
there are periods of discouragement
as in the penelope cade that has
been rude and that was eaten
this summer but awareness is a
important way you had one of these
awareness objects the hand of the
gorilla and that’s fine work with
local communities through
songs of traditional dances
that can allow to initiate actions
so as to preserve on the ground
and also for us the future at once
forests of great apes and not
not let disappear in
indifference our closest cousins
because there is still time to act
thank you very much and I also wanted to
thank our supporters because
of course nothing would be possible
without these actors as they we
help to subsidize our daily
field work and of course in
particular to private donors which
also allow us to conduct
anti poaching campaigns
thank you very much
[Applause]
[Music]
”
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