Famous chimpanzee ‘eviscerates’ baby girl with tools

Jeje the chimpanzee, known for his mastery of tools, has murdered an eight-month-old girl, after snatching her from her mother, dragging her into the jungle, and ripping her to shreds. Seny Zogba was working the fields in Bossou, Guinea, when Jeju came out of the jungle, bit her, and snatched baby Yoh Hélène from her arms. Yoh Hélène was eventually found 3km away in the Nimba Mountains Nature Reserve, or at least what was left of her – Jeje had used his stone tools to eviscerate her and remove her organs.

Lead researcher at the Bossou Environmental Research Institute, Gen Yamakoshi, who has been studying the tribe of chimpanzees, said that the murder occurred because the chimps ‘no longer fear humans.’ However, he wasn’t sure the violent act was specifically anti-human. ‘It is similar behavior to how chimps treat one another,’ he said. ‘If they are excited they cannot control their behavior.’ Whatever the cause, this violent behavior is not an isolated incident, and the research center had recorded six attacks against humans this year already. It is thought that dwindling food supplies in the nature reserve is increasingly pushing the chimps away from their protected areas, and into contact with humans.

This explanation was not enough for the local community, who brought what was left of the baby’s corpse to the research center to point out this was more than just a fascinating study opportunity. The group then rampaged through the building, destroying computers, drones and hundreds of documents. As local elder Michael Gamada Koïba put it, the locals aren’t even sure anymore ‘what kind of chimpanzees they are.’