We are very sad to report the disappearance of 46-year-old Fifi — known to many around the world as a central figure in the wild chimpanzee community studied by Jane Goodall. Fifi's two-year-old daughter, Furaha, also is missing.

Researchers at JGI's Gombe Stream Research Centre in Tanzania have not seen Fifi or Furaha since late August. Initially, Fifi's absence seemed unremarkable, says Michael Wilson, co-director of research at the Centre. She had shifted her range to remote northern valleys at Gombe, and so was spotted infrequently. But worries mounted in mid-September when a graduate student saw a large group of northern mothers traveling without Fifi. Then, on 17 September, researchers saw Fifi's 6-year-old daughter Flirt traveling without her mother — surprising behavior for such a young female. The field staff and park rangers searched intensively for Fifi throughout October but could find no sign of her. "We don't know whether Fifi is still alive, or what happened to her if she is no longer living. As of yesterday, Flirt was still traveling without her mother," said Wilson on Nov. 12.

"It is deeply disturbing that Fifi has been missing for so long, and mortifying to think that she may be gone forever," he said. "We are still hopeful that Fifi may be alive, hidden in a remote northern valley, but as time continues to pass without any sign of her, the chances of her survival seem slim."

When last seen, Fifi appeared to be in good health. Also, it seems clear that the fires which swept through Gombe National Park in August were not a factor in her disappearance; researchers spotted her late in the month, after the fires were quelled.

Profound loss

Fifi is the last chimpanzee from Dr. Goodall's early days as a researcher. Jane watched her grow from a lively and curious 2-year-old to a high-ranking female and one of Gombe's most successful mothers. And the world watched too, thanks to Jane's books, National Geographic magazine and the many television films about Gombe. It is not uncommon for people attending Jane's lectures just about anywhere in the world to ask for an update on Fifi.

As a member of the "F" family, which included Fifi's famous mother Flo and notoriously aggressive son Frodo, Fifi was a central player in Gombe's chimpanzee group. She contributed greatly to Gombe research on mothering, sexuality, tool use and so much more. Her death would be a profound loss for researchers at the Centre and most especially for Dr. Goodall.

Fifi was a highly curious and fearless youngster, thriving under Flo's skillful mothering. Some of this spirit was captured in photographs by the late Hugo van Lawick, Jane's first husband and a wildlife photographer and filmmaker. In one image, a young Fifi is peering up under Jane's safari shirt hoping to find bananas. (This image would be used in the 1990s in an Apple "Think Different" advertisement.) In another, Fifi peers intently up into Hugo's camera lens, head cocked, studying her own reflection. Fifi also was featured in a recent Discovery film, Jane Goodall's Return to Gombe, and a 2003 National Geographic article titled "Fifi fights back."

As many young chimpanzees do, Fifi displayed signs of depression while Flo weaned her, but she rebounded and soon displayed her usual confidence and playfulness. When her little brother Flint was born, she was fascinated by him and desperate to have physical contact. "[When] Flint was not yet two months old, Flo had usually pushed Fifi's hand away each time she tried to touch Flint," Jane wrote in In the Shadow of Man. "[O]ften the only way in which the child had been able to momentarily touch the infant had been by solicitously grooming Flo, working ever closer and closer to those places where Flint's hands gripped his mother's hair. Intently Fifi had groomed around the hands, occasionally briefly fondling the minute fingers and then, with a glance at Flo, hastily returning to her grooming." When Flint was older Fifi was permitted to touch him, and eventually even to hold him, play with him, and carry him.

Flo was quite playful with her offspring and Fifi proved to share this trait. Jane even observed Fifi dangling her infant with one foot while tickling him — a unique play maneuver she had only see in Flo.

Fifi's grown daughters Fanni and Flossi and son Frodo have provided Fifi with at least 10 grandchildren, and Fifi's descendants together constitute more than one-quarter of the main study community.

Fifi's life was not without difficulty. In 1997, she became ill during a terrible epidemic of sarcoptic mange. She lost all of her hair, and sadly her son little Fred became sick and died. As soon as Fifi recovered and started growing her hair back, she came into estrus and immediately conceived. Daughter Flirt was born in July 1998.

Fifi's latest daughter, Furaha, was born 9 October 2002. In celebration of this amazing birth, JGI asked people to suggest names for the infant online. More than 650 people wrote Jane to suggest a name. Jane's choice of these entries, "Furaha," is Kiswahili for "joy" Although Jane stopped active field research in 1986 to focus on conservation, there seemed to remain a mysterious connection between Jane and Fifi. Year after year, when Jane returned to Gombe and entered the woods she knows so well, Fifi would appear, as if on cue — to the great delight of any accompanying film crew. Often Fifi would settle down nearby for a good while, making it a worthwhile reunion as she and Jane communed in silence.