May 30, 2026Meet the hybrid monkeys of Gombe National Park Photo: Dr. Kate DetwilerYes, the Jane Goodall Institute’s Gombe Stream Research Centre is known for the world’s longest-running wild chimpanzee study, which Dr. Jane started more than 65 years ago – but researchers there study other wildlife, too.Just take Dr. Kate Detwiler as an example. For her, one of the most exciting moments came from studying the DNA of blue monkeys.“When I screened them for the mitochondrial marker for blue monkeys, every single blue monkey at Gombe had the red-tail marker,” she said. “All the blue monkeys that we see today are descendants from hybridization events in the past.”This fascinating research gets back to questions that scientists and naturalists have been asking for some time now – how are species defined, and how are new species created?With Dr. Detwiler and her team hard at work, we can’t wait to see what answers they get from Gombe’s hybrid monkeys – or how the legacy of Gombe continues.Explore Related Content From The Field, Learn About Chimpanzees & Other Great Apes, Other ContentNobody wants to be Patient Zero: How the team keeps chimpanzees safe and healthyMay 30, 2026 Read more From The Field, Learn About Chimpanzees & Other Great ApesFrom Fear to Forever Family: Tina’s Rescue StoryMay 30, 2026 Read more From The FieldHow Collaborative Conservation Drives ChangeMay 30, 2026 Read more
