Sign up for free Newsletters

Once a month get new photos and expert tips.

Sign Up

Search Results

Results tagged “Chimpanzee” from Great Apes Blog

At J.A.C.K (Jeunes Animaux Confisques au Katanga) chimpanzee sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the end of the day is always time for a little bit of milk and bedtime for the orphaned chimpanzees. The chimps go to their night enclosures at the end of the day to get their last milk of the day and to make their overnight nests. Sometimes they patiently wait for their milk, but on 7 January 2009 it was not calm at all.

To share with us the drama that unfolded that night, the people at J.A.C.K chose to post a couple of videos on their blog at WildlifeDirect. In the first video, the chimps are getting into their enclosures and the unfolding drama as milk and sleeping time approaches.

In the second video, watch as the chimps start to feed...

And finally, see the nice nest that Kala, one of the orphans, has prepared for the night.

kala.jpg

These chimps are in this sanctuary because they were confiscated from poachers and live animal traders. They would rather be in the wild but circumstances have forced them to be under the care of the good people at J.A.C.K. Please help J.A.C.K take care of these orphans by donating here.

Salva and Urgent Return to the Trees

Posted on December 9, 2008 | 0 Comments


Gorilla grooms Urgent

After a lifetime of bondage, a chimpanzee rescued and rehabilitated by the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Sierra Leone finally returned to the trees. To be the chimp that nature intended her to be. Urgent - for that is her name - was in the last days of November introduced to the forest enclosure at Tacugama where she can now climb trees with her fellow chimps.

Urgent-in-chains

Urgent was brought to Tacugama in July 2008 after spending all of 8-10 years chained to a tree. After months of rehabilitation, she is now ready to live in the forest enclosure and enjoy the closest experience to nature that Tacugama could avail. She was welcomed by Gorilla and Jetti with a guided tour of the enclosure.

Also taking the next step in his life in the last days of November was Salva. Salva had been brought to Tacugama with a tight wire digging into the flesh of her midsection. He was in a bad state and his survival was in doubt. He eventually recovered from the nasty woulds and even withstood a couple of bouts of flu to eventually complete his quarantine. In this next step of his rehabilitation, Salva joined Baba's group and his confidence is now growing. Not much can give away the trauma that he must have undergone during his time of squalid bondage.

Salva

The people at Tacugama are doing a great job rehabilitating this intelligent species of great apes. They have with them 89 rescued chimpanzees that would rather be roaming free in the wilds of Sierra Leone but due to human cruelty have to spend years in rehabilitation before they can go back to the wild - and hopefully survive human greed.

For Tacugama's 89 chimps, your donations matter a lot. They need every dime to take care of this large contingent of destitutes. Will you help?

Categories:

mapima-kimo.jpg

Mapima, the little baby chimpanzee that was rescued by rangers in Goma arrived at J.A.C.K in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at the beginning of December 2008. Hers has been a long journey but in the company of Faustin, the expert in chimp baby care, it was good.

Mapima is very young. You can tell that she is less than 1 year old because she has no canines. In fact, she is the youngest and smallest chimp J.A.C.K (Jeunes Animaux Confisques au Katanga/Young animals confiscated in Katanga) has ever had to look after. Given her traumatic experience at such a tender age, and having to adjust to a new environment all over again, she was understandably aggressive at the mamas who take care of the other chimps. Luckily Faustin was there, and she knows him.

Faustin has a way with baby chimps; they easily get attached to him. In August, Faustin accompanied Tongo to J.A.C.K. It was therefore an emotional reunion when he paid a visit to his first ever chimp baby. They just sat there and stared at each other. You could see the bond will last forever. Tongo was rescued in the Virunga National Park area.

Faustin had to leave on 4 December and now the new baby Mapima will be under the care of Josephine and one more keeper. Mapima has befriended Kimo, another baby that arrived in November and therefore she is going to be fine. Tongo and Jane, another baby rescued this year, will be leaving the quarantine ares to go into the main enclosure: to ride with the big boys. Tongo will be the smallest baby in the enclosure so there is some anxiety. Shasa, one of the grown female chimps is expected to take care of young Tongo. She's quite motherly.

Visit the J.A.C.K blog often to get regular updates as to how Mapima, Kimo, Tongo and the other 19 chimp destitute are doing. The good people at J.A.C.K want you to know that it costs an average of $150 per chimp a month to pay for food, medical assistance, staff salaries among other expenses. Please donate here to help them.

Rescuing Chimps in DRC

Posted on October 17, 2008 | 0 Comments

great-fun.jpg

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is arguably the world capital for great apes. They have gorillas and chimpanzees - the most known apes. What most people don't know however is that the DRC is the only country where you can find bonobos in the wild.

But the DRC is in trouble. There is fighting in the eastern parts of the country and the country is degenerating into lawlessness. That doesn't work well for the conservation of the gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos. As a matter of fact, the poverty that has been made worse by the fighting has increased the instances of ape poaching and the trade in live apes.

Some ape rescue centres have emerged in DRC. One of these is the Jeunes Animaux Confisques au Katanga - simply known as J.A.C.K - which rescues and rehabilitates young chimpanzees caught up in the illegal wildlife trade.

To keep the chimpanzees safe they have to construct enclosures for them and that is what J.A.C.K have been doing recently. They have been expanding their capacity by building additional enclosures. Of course, chimps like to play. The people at J.A.C.K have therefore build a very nice playground. The chimps seem to be enjoying their new play area.

You can follow the day to day progress of these chimps at J.A.C.K

About This Blog

WildlifeDirect Logo
These notes from field conservationists bring the latest news from the remote jungles of Asia, the Virunga National Park and the Congo rainforest to increase awareness on the perils of the world’s great apes. Donate now and help WildlifeDirect and National Geographic support these critical projects and the people who are saving our closest living relatives.

Read More About This Blog






Share This

Add to Technorati Favorites