Great Apes

In late May, authorities confiscated an 18-month-old male named “Zola” in Imphondo, which is a town found in the north of Congo. Imphondo is located along the Ubangui River, which flows into the Congo.

Little Anzac, a recent arrival at Tchimpounga, is one of the many victims of the illegal commercial bushmeat trade.  Congolese authorities confiscated her from a poacher before turning her over to the caregivers at the Jane Goodall Institute’s sanctuary.

In the mornings, Anzac loves to make grass angels, similar to the snow angels many human children make during the winter months.  She lies on her back, flapping her arms about and enjoying the feel of the dew-covered ground.

Over the past six months, Tchimpounga has received six more orphaned infants.  As a result, each caregiver is taking care of three or more chimpanzees, which is overwhelming to say the least.

Lemba, a young chimpanzee whose legs are paralyzed from polio, acts as the adoptive mother.  Unlike the caregivers who have 24-hour responsibilities, Lemba’s duties only require that she play with the babies and keep an eye on them during the day. 

As our 4WD trudges along the last stretch of road into the Jane Goodall Institute’s Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Centre, one hour north of Pointe Noire in the Republic of Congo (Congo), it is the sound of hooting chimpanzees that first announces our arrival. The centre is situated on a hilltop, overlooking a patchwork of forest and swampy plains, just a few kilometres from the Atlantic Ocean. As with most visitors to the sanctuary, it took me a couple of weeks to begin to understand the complexity and dedication required to care for and rehabilitate chimpanzees.

During Glitter’s first week with her new baby (born May 30, 2012), she was quite elusive, hiding with her newborn and avoiding encounters with other chimps, particularly her mother, Gremlin.  It normally takes time before a female chimpanzee fully introduces her baby into community life.  Glitter, however, was nervous and unwilling to trust other chimps, seemingly an effect of having lost her first baby to her mother.  Now that she is getting more comfortable with her mother and the other chimps, we have been enjoying the newest addition to the G-Family.  The baby

JGI’s Deus Mjungu reports on the Gombe chimpanzees’ latest adventures.

The chimpanzee diet includes a great deal of fruit. For the past two months, however, the fruit supply in the Kasekela chimpanzees' range has been far from plentiful. As a result, the chimpanzees are traveling in small groups or on their own to minimize competition for food.