Yvonne de Jong and Thomas Butynski are exploring eastern Uganda and western Kenya to study primates, supported by a grant from the National Geographic Society. See what they found on the higher altitudes of Mount Elgon. Baboons (genus name: Papio; Kiswahili: nyani) are the most widespread of Africa’s monkeys. Occupying most of Africa south of the Sahara, baboons...
Yvonne de Jong and Thomas Butynski are exploring northern Uganda to study primates, but that’s not all they’ve discovered. See what they found when they lifted their eyes to the skies. Beaudouin’s Snake-eagle During our survey of primates in February 2015, we were also on the look-out for raptors, as that is the time of year when many migrant...
During our field surveys to better understand the primate diversity of north-eastern Uganda, we seek the least traveled routes and those areas for which primates have never been surveyed. Our explorations often yield data for species other than primates, and get us into some interesting situations. Fire Season For two weeks in February 2015 we...
The magnificent Otzi Mountains of northern Uganda tower over the White Nile. No survey of the primates of the Otzi Mountains has ever been undertaken. In mid-February 2015—the end of Uganda’s long dry season—we spent four days in the Otzi Mountains on a primate survey. Our main focus was the eastern robust (or common) chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes...
Knowing which animals live where is critical to planning effective conservation. To help set up good programs in Uganda, we set out to confirm whether one particular subspecies of monkey, the Dodinga Hills guereza, was calling this country home. Here’s what we found. The Background Many “non-human primate” studies have been conducted in East Africa over the...
In our last blog post (Discoveries From Two Years With Kenya’s Warthogs) we provided an overview of the major findings of our Quest for Kenya’s Desert Warthog. Of course, we collected a considerable amount of information on other species as well. Here we present some of our findings about the primates of northwest Kenya. Of...
In December, 2012, we began our quest to better understand one of Africa’s least-known large mammals: the desert warthog (Phacochoerus aethiopicus). Over the following two years we shared the findings from our project here on the Explorers Journal blog, revealing observations not only of warthogs, but also of several other species. This project has now come to an end, so we present...
There are two species of warthog (Kiswahili name ‘ngiri’) and both occur in Kenya; the common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus) and the desert warthog (Phacochoerus aethiopicus). As mentioned in our earlier blogs (e.g., ‘Quest for Kenya´s Desert Warthog‘), our mission during this project is to better understand the biogeography and ecology of the desert warthog, one...
Yvonne de Jong is a National Geographic grantee working with team member Thomas Butynski to track down what may be Africa’s least understood large animal, the Desert Warthog. ——- The Huri Hills, a remote region of large lava cones, is located between the Chalbi Desert and the Kenyan-Ethiopian border in central-north Kenya. These hills rise about...
Yvonne de Jong is a National Geographic grantee working with team member Thomas Butynski to track down what may be Africa’s least understood large animal, the Desert Warthog. ——- The Huri Hills, a remote region of large lava cones, is located between the Chalbi Desert and the Kenyan-Ethiopian border in central-north Kenya. These hills rise about...
Yvonne de Jong is a National Geographic grantee working with team member Thomas Butynski to track down what may be Africa’s least understood large animal, the Desert Warthog. ——- Turkana is Kenya’s most remote district. Located west of Lake Turkana in the north-west corner of the country, Turkana District has been high on our list...
Yvonne de Jong is a National Geographic grantee working with team member Thomas Butynski to track down what may be Africa’s least understood large animal, the Desert Warthog. ——- Turkana is Kenya’s most remote district. Located west of Lake Turkana in the north-west corner of the country, Turkana District has been high on our list...
Yvonne de Jong is a National Geographic grantee working with team member Thomas Butynski to track down what may be Africa’s least understood large animal, the Desert Warthog. ——- Turkana is Kenya’s most remote district. Located west of Lake Turkana in the north-west corner of the country, Turkana District has been high on our list...
Yvonne de Jong is a National Geographic grantee working to track down what may be Africa’s least understood large animal, the Desert Warthog. ———- An extremely hot and dusty road leads us northwards along the Kenya-Uganda border. We are in West Pokot District, central western Kenya. Despite what appears suitable habitat, no warthog (Phacochoerus sp.)...
Yvonne de Jong is a National Geographic grantee working to track down what may be Africa’s least understood large animal, the Desert Warthog. ———- An extremely hot and dusty road leads us northwards along the Kenya-Uganda border. We are in West Pokot District, central western Kenya. Despite what appears suitable habitat, no warthog (Phacochoerus sp.)...