Chimp famous for using tools uses them to kill and butcher an 8-month-old baby girl

A chimpanzee who became famous for using tools has killed its first human - an eight-month-old baby girl, who she snatched from her mother's arms. The chimp butchered her and harvested her organs, and it is believed that it used tools to maim her.

The little girl's body was found three kilometres from the Nimba Mountains Nature Reserve. The incident happened when the mother, Seny Zogba, was working in a cassava field in Bossou, Guinea. The chimp, reportedly named Jeje, sunk his teeth into the woman so that she would let go of the baby, named Yoh Hélène.

The Bossou Environmental Research Institute faced the wrath of the angry mob who brought the baby's dead body to the building. The scientists here have been studying the animals, particularly chimps, for decades.

They vented their anger on institute property, ransacking the building and destroying and setting fire to equipment. Several drones, computers and over 200 documents were destroyed in the process, the centre's managers said.

'Chimps don't fear humans'

The Times reached out to chief researcher Gen Yamakoshi, who told the outlet, ringing warning bells, that the tragic killing happened because the chimps "no longer fear humans".

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The research centre says that at least six chimpanzee attacks on humans have been recorded within the reserve since the start of the year.

Meanwhile, a local ecologist cited food shortage as the reason for the attack. Alidjiou Sylla said the food supply has been dwindling in the reserve and this is why the animals are coming out of the protected area, triggering such attacks.

Youth leader Moussa Koya believes that the chimps are not deliberately being violent, "but it has become the habit of the chimpanzees."

Adding to whether it was merely chimp behaviour, Yamakoshi said that this could either be because of food or simply because of excitement when "they cannot control their behaviour."

Guinea's Bossou forest currently has only seven chimps and the region is near the subsistence farming communities of the Nzerekore Region. The chimpanzee tribe, Fana, lost its oldest member in 2022 when it died in solitude at the age of 71.

Notably, the apes living in the reserve use stone hammers and anvils to crack open nuts. This is the first time that chimps were observed performing such a sophisticated act.