Sylvain Nyandwi

My work promotes wildlife conservation through research, and educating local communities and students about the importance of biodiversity conservation. 

As an undergraduate student at the University of Rwanda, I designed my first research study which assessed the impact of human activities on how wild chimpanzees use their habitat in Gishwati forest reserve in Rwanda. This population of chimpanzees was not habituated, and no conservation organization was actively protecting this forest reserve despite the diverse plant and animal species that it hosts. The findings from my study highlighted the magnitude of the threats that illegal human activities pose to chimpanzees and served as a foundation for other research studies that followed. Upon completion of my study, the international conservation organization, Great Ape Trust of IOWA, initiated a conservation program for this invaluable forest reserve, and I was hired as a chimpanzee researcher. I continued promoting conservation efforts through research and staff training, which benefited the Gishwati wildlife and local community. As a result of my efforts and other researchers, Gishwati forest reserve was later gazetted as one of Rwandan National Park known as “Gishwati Mukura National Park”. I look forward to continuing using knowledge gained through my education and research to promote biodiversity conservation and well-being of nonhuman primates on local and global levels.

In 2021, I was privileged to receive funding from the Explorers Club Discovery Expedition to conduct research on chimpanzees in Rwanda. For this research project, I assessed how habitat fragmentation affects female chimpanzee behavior and reproduction, which is critical to conservation and population viability. I compared chimpanzee dispersal, sociality and reproductive success in two fragments (Gishwati and Cyamudongo) in Rwanda, which differ in proximity to a chimpanzee reservoir (Nyungwe National Park) and food availability.

The results of my study highlighted that finer-scale consideration of local ecology, and behavior, can reveal specific risk factors associated for non-human primates living in forest fragments. During this expedition, I successfully developed field techniques that allowed me to collect, transport and store chimpanzee urine samples that I later analyzed for C-peptide, one of the important health biomarkers. The results of this study provided data that is shaping and informing current conservation efforts in Rwanda.