SLEEPING BABIES!!!

At the CRPL we have 12 chimpanzee infants who all live in a cage together. They range in age from about 1 to 3 ½ years old. In the wild, chimpanzees are very dependent on their mothers until they are quite old; because of this we have a caregiver in with the babies for 24 hours a day. This caregiver becomes the nurturer, cleaner, disciplinarian, protector and more to these little chimpanzees because they don’t have their mothers with them. Papy and Armani, our two caregivers both work rotating 24 hours shifts with the babies. Both Papy and Armani love the babies and are very good with them. They hug and play with them all of the time, but are also very good at encouraging them to grow and learn.

At about 5pm when it is getting dark and cold here in Lwiro the babies and their caregiver move into the dormitory attached to the cage. This is such a wonderful sight to see and probably one of my favorite times a day (although, it is hard to choose when you live and work here). The babies all march inside, sometimes walking with a friend, sometimes swinging in from a rope!

I have always been curious to see what exactly happened within the dormitory at night. I often ask the caregivers ‘who sleeps where’ and ‘with whom’! With these questions in mind I decided to send my camera into the dormitory for the night with Papy. I did wonder if I would ever see the camera again in one piece. The pictures below are the result. It seems that although there is room for everyone to have some space to him or herself, they like to sleep directly on top of one another. This no doubt gives them comfort and warmth!

Lulinga introduced to the others

Lulinga has now finished her quarantine period and 4 days ago she was introduced to the other baby chimps in the nursery group, witch means there are now 12 chimps in this group.

Luckily Lulinga has quite an independent and confident character and she coped very well with being introduced to the group. It is quite an overwhelming experience for the little ones, going into such a big group, as everyone wants to get to know them straight away. Little Lulinga did very well though and told them off if they were being too rough.

A few days later she seems to be turning in to a favourite among the slightly older females of the group, Maiko, Misisi, Monique and Ituri. They take turns carrying her around and wanting to hug her. She has also shown that she knows what she wants, defending her food fiercely against the other chimps, also the ones that are much bigger than her! We are very happy with the progress of Lulinga, and are confident she’ll be a well integrated member of the group very soon.


Everyone wants to meet the new arrival
Fizi saying hello

Maiko wanting a hug

Maiko, Lulinga and Misisi

Lulinga eating her corn


-Hilde-

New toys for the babies

Today the nursery group woke up to a nice surprise. Last night after they had gone to bed we had put up some new “hammocks” made out of fire hoses in their cage. They loved the new addition and only just had time to drink their morning milk!

We would like to thank Laura Riera and her team, and the Mona Foundation in Spain for the hammocks, the babies will have a lot of fun with them!

Fizi enjoying the new hammock

Updates on the nursery group

Here is an update on the members of the nursery group. Of course also Aketi and Mange has joined this group, but here is a long awaited update on the other 6!

Maiko: Maiko is growing bigger by the day. She is extremely dominant within the nursery group and takes on a mother like role at times. She is extremely intelligent and is always searching pockets for anything she can find. When a younger member of the group cries she always comes to help and hug them, even if they don’t want her too!
Maiko

Fizi: Fizi is the trouble maker in the nursery group. He is cheeky and bold. Although he taunts the other babies at times, he also likes to hug them. He is small in stature, but extremely well muscled and very strong.
Fizi

Julius: Julius is the quietest chimpanzee in the sanctuary; no one has ever seen him start a fight or anyone start a fight with him. He has grown so much since his arrival. He has a lovely personality, and all of the babies on the group like to be near him.
Julius playing with a football

Uvira: Uvira has become very happy and confident in my five months away from the sanctuary. In the past, he was always hanging off a keeper. But now he is always playing around the cage. He is currently going through a biting stage and chomps at fingers whenever they go near him-he then runs off laughing.

Uvira

Ituri: Like Kanshi, Ituri has changed so much in my time away. She has grown so fast, and now has an amazing body of hair, and very long legs. She is confident and happy. She plays with people and the other chimps all day.
Ituri

Monique: Monique arrived while I was away from the sanctuary so I don’t have pervious knowledge of what she was like. She is quiet and sweet and spends a lot of time playing in the hammocks of the cage.

Monique

Andrea

Second operation for Shumbi the baboon

Shumbi had his second surgery today to clean up the wound and have a closer look. The veterinarian bandaged the wound thoroughly, however a few hours later (with only his feet), Shumbi managed to free himself of the bandage. He is doing well at present and eating well. We now have to wait and see how he recovers.

Ituri and Uvira have integrated well into the cage with the four other babies, Maiko, Osso, Fizi and Julius. They have become very independent and all of the babies interact and play well with each other.

Banro is also doing well, and plays and runs around in the garden non stop. She is forever trying to escape into the area with the other babies. Her quarantine period will be over on the 20th of September, she will then be introduced into the nursery group also.

Andrea

The babies

A little update on the little ones, Osso, Maiko and Fizi.

They've finsihed their quarantine periode now and spend their days around the sanctuary and on little trips to our little forrest. They are still very young and the little space in the other chimp cages do that we won't introduce them to the others until we finish the new forrest enclosure. So they now form their own little group, that also Julius will join when he has finished his quarantine. But they are around the bigger ones and they can see and hear them.

They have all become very healthy and happy little chimps!

Fizi

Today a new chimp arrived at Lwiro. He was confiscated by a woman working for the UN in Uvira, from a poacher. The village he came from was Fizi so thats his name! He is about one year old, and very small and skinny. He has been in captivity for about four months! He has got a bad cold which Carmen is treating the best she can. We hope he'll soon be happy and healthy!