Chimps and gorillas: The best of neighbours

Though Bwindi may be best known for its 600 mountain gorillas, they are not the only great ape found in the dense, ‘impenetrable forests’.

The Ugandan National Park is also home to a substantial chimpanzee population, and learning more about them could help us further improve our understanding of the gorillas and increase the effectiveness of conservation efforts.

In 2025, researchers carried out the most recent count of Bwindi’s gorillas. The results were hugely encouraging. The population had grown from 459 in 2018 to 604 today. On the back of that, researchers decided to carry out the very first chimpanzee census. They counted around 430 individuals, all of them unhabituated to human presence and many occupying the same spaces as the gorillas.

Data key to saving close cousins
While research into gorilla-chimpanzee relations remains in its early stages, there is plenty of evidence to indicate the two great apes do interact and may even form lasting bonds. A 2022 study carried out in the Republic of Congo discovered instances of younger, more outgoing individuals from both species feeding and even playing together.

The Gorilla Organization’s projects manager for Uganda, Dr. Samson Werikhe, knows the Bwindi forests better than anyone. He welcomes efforts to formally integrate chimpanzees into conservation plans, alongside the better-known gorillas.

“The more research we do, the more we see that Bwindi is a complex ecosystem where the great apes don’t compete, but instead live in harmony,” he says. “These findings reinforce the need to use data to manage protected areas and avoid ape-human conflicts, especially in light of growing competition for land and other natural resources.”