Fifi (1958 - 2004)

Fifi was the last surviving chimpanzee from Dr. Goodall's early days as a researcher. Jane watched her grow from a lively and curious 2-year-old to a high ranking female and one of Gombe's most succesful mothers. Thanks to National Geographic documentaries, Fifi became even better known around the world than her mother, Flo.

Like Flo, Fifi was an excellent mother, as well as a high-ranking and assertive member of her community. She had a relaxed relationship with the adult males and was just as sexually popular as her mother before her. Indeed, when Fifi was a 10-year-old adolescent she was so preoccupied with the new experience of sex that Jane thought she was something of a nymphomaniac!

Fifi gave birth to nine offspring — a Gombe record. Her first infant, born in 1971, was, quite naturally, named Freud! Five years later, son Frodo was born. Five years after that, she bore daughter Fanni, and four years later came daughter Flossi. Four and a half years after Flossi was born, Fifi gave birth to Faustino, and only three and a half years later she gave birth to Ferdinand. As a result of unusually early (and very harsh) weaning, Faustino remained small and weak for many years. Ferdinand was four years old when Fred was born.

Disaster struck for the first time in Fifi's life as a mother in 1998. Fifi became very ill during a terrible epidemic of sarcoptic mange. She lost all of her hair, and sadly little Fred became sick and died. As soon as Fifi recovered and started growing her hair back, she came into estrus and immediately conceived. Daughter Flirt was born in July 1998. Fifi's latest offspring — her ninth — is daughter Furaha, born October 2002.

Fifi was also a grandmother. Fanni lost her her first son, Fax, but later gave birth to two sons, Fudge and then Fundi. Flossi, to our surprise, after visiting the males of the Mitumba community in the north several times during estrus, decided to make her home with the northerners. She gave birth to her first infant, Forest, in 1997 and her second son, Fansi, in 2001. Flossi and Forest are important members of their new community.

Sadly, Fifi disappeared in the Fall of 2004 and is now presumed dead.

Researchers at JGI’s Gombe Stream Research Centre in Tanzania have not seen Fifi or Furaha since late August of that year. Initially, Fifi’s absence seemed unremarkable, says Michael Wilson, co-director of research at the Centre. She had shifted her range to remote northern valleys at Gombe, and so was spotted infrequently. But worries mounted in mid-September when a graduate student saw a large group of northern mothers traveling without Fifi. Then, on 17 September, researchers saw Fifi’s 6-year-old daughter Flirt traveling without her mother — surprising behavior for such a young female. The field staff and park rangers searched intensively for Fifi throughout October but could find no sign of her.

“We don’t know whether Fifi is still alive, or what happened to her if she is no longer living. As of yesterday, Flirt was still traveling without her mother,” said Wilson on Nov. 12.

“It is deeply disturbing that Fifi has been missing for so long, and mortifying to think that she may be gone forever,” he said. “We are still hopeful that Fifi may be alive, hidden in a remote northern valley, but as time continues to pass without any sign of her, the chances of her survival seem slim.”