Aroide is a mother to both Arnold and Assala. She has very unique scared ears that stick up on her head and are easy to recognize. She has become more habituated over the last year and now spends more time with the main group. The family of Aroide are very close and the three are often followed alone as a sub-party for multiple days.

Diboti was first seen with the group along with Kira in November 2020 but joined permanently a few months later. At first, she was a little shy but now she is finding her place amongst the other females. She has a very unique face shape and is easily recognisable with her big ears and bald head.

Greta is a young subadult female that spends her time a lot with Bella. With her pale face and bald head, she is easily recognisable. Greta is quite shy in nature but is becoming increasingly more confident around humans.

Ivindo has now become an important member of our community. Daughter of Ikoulou and nine years of age, she is one of the most curious and exploratory individuals, who likes to play and interact with others. Physically, her most notable feature is her highlighted pink lips.

Mimi is a successful mother of three, Freddy, Moana and little Madiba.

Queliba is an orphan and has a severely crippled hand. She therefore spends a lot of time travelling bipedally. She is small for her age and very thin.

Suzee is a caring mother and spends all her time around her family. She loves playing with her offspring Sia and Sassandra. Her oldest son Thea is already grown up, but still spends lots of time with his family.

Assala is Arnold’s little sister and Aroide’s daughter. Conforming to the family characteristic, she too has large ears and pointed conehead. She is a quiet teenager, who spends all her time with her family, and hardly ever gets into inconvenient situations with the other members of the group. Soon she will have to migrate to another community.

Emmie is an adult female and has a young son called Ernest. She spends a lot of time without the main group and with the other females Bella and Spock. When she is with the main group, she is still very cautious around us. Emmie is however very popular with all the male chimpanzees in the group.

Ida is quite a shy and independent female. She spends most of her time with her adolescent son, Gump and her new adopted daughter, Olive.

Joy is the youngest of the adult females in the group. She’s one of the most popular females among the males and is groomed a lot.

Monkey is an elusive adult female who spends a lot of time with Spock. For a long time, the only information we had about her was from the camera trap footage. Recently she has been showing up more often with the main group. She is the mother of little Mbolo.

Roxy spends all of her time in proximity to Chenge. When she is separated from Chenge, or the rest of the group moves on, she has the tendency to start crying and doesn’t stop until another individual replies. Roxy is also a very vocal female and joins in on drumming displays with the males.

Wora is a true legend of the Rekambo community. She is very old and has a distinctive bald head and hairless body. We have only seen her very rarely in person and it appears she is partially blind given the way she moves through the forest. That being said she is a true survivor and somehow manages to stay out of dangers way.

Bella was originally identified and named from our camera trap data in the project’s early years. We only got to know her personality more recently when she became more habituated to human observers. Physically, with her large build, she can sometimes resemble a male chimpanzee from far away. When we do get to observe her, Bella is a very attentive mother to her young daughter Bantou.

Fanta is the newest young female who has joined the Rekambo community. She has a deep black fur and a darker face coloration. She is very lively and spends a lot of time within the main group.

Ikoulou is one of the most dominant females of the group and certainly one of the largest in size. Equipped with a strong and determined character, she is also one of the most loved females by the males of the group, in particular by Pandi and Chinois.

Kira also was first spotted with Diboti in November 2020; however, it took her a little longer to become fully integrated into the Rekambo community. One of her most distinctive traits is that she likes to perform loud exaggerated displays, which are quite rare in female chimpanzees.

Pai is one of our older females and spends quite a lot of time without the main group. She is mother to Ngonde and little Pastis.

Spock’s most recognizable feature are definitely her unique ears, which inspired her name. For many years she was a female that we only really saw on the camera traps but recently she has been seen more frequently with the main group.

Zoe is also a new-comer to the group along with Diboti and Kira. Physically her most remarkable trait is her white eye which is hard to miss. From the beginning, she has been incredibly calm in front of human observers, although by nature she is very shy and reserved. She is now finding her place amongst the females of the group but has the friendship of other newcomers this year to help support her.