Chimpanzees of the Budongo Forest : Ecology, Behaviour, and Conservation

Zesta’s injuries 161

Right Foot

There were superficial lacerations over the palmar surface. There was also a deep puncture wound

at the P1/P2 junction of the fifth digit.

Left Upper and Lower Leg

There were two superficial lacerations over the cranial surface of the mid thigh over sartorius.

There was a 4 cm laceration over the cranial surface of the lower leg also. On the caudal surface of

the lower leg extending over the proximal two-thirds of the lower leg there was a deep defect 18 cm

long and 10 cm wide. This exposed two-thirds of the caudal tibia. All the superficial and deep

flexor muscles in this are were severely macerated.

Left Foot

There were multiple lacerations to the palmar surface of the heel and first digit.

As can be judged from the above, Zesta was most savagely attacked: his face was torn
apart and most of his body was bitten, ripped and lacerated. This attack was certainly the
work of several chimpanzees acting together.
Zesta’s cadaver was retrieved from the forest and the skeleton was beautifully cleaned
and prepared by our students, notably Donna Sheppard. Later, the skeleton was mounted
by Robin May and Wilma van Riel, two volunteers to our project, and is now located in
the BFP’s museum (Fig. 8.3). One of the phalanges of the left hand had been scraped by

Fig. 8.3: Skeleton of Zesta after mounting in the BFP museum (photo: V.R.).