Funny pinatas to play…

This week we prepared some pinatas with old newspapers. We filled them with dried leaves and some pieces of fruits and sweet treats. The chimps loved them!

The paper pinatas
Misisi and Loia

Kalume
For Goma’s group we prepared 16 pieces of house pipe with honey and nice treats inside. They had a really nice time!

The pipes with treats

Ombeni giving the pipes to the chimps

Baheny

Gari and Kama

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!

Donations

Thank you for the donations we have recived the last few months, all the money will go towards getting the new enclosure built and the chimps in the forest where they belong. Your support means a lot to us, thank you!

Jordi C. - 90 USD

Jennifer M. - 50 USD

Alexa C. - 50 USD

Jill S. - 25 USD

Maiko (back), Misisi, Julius, Uvira, Mangay(back turned, hugging Misisi)

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-

Update on Butembo and Loia

Butembo

Loia

Butembo and Loia have integrated well into the nursery group, which now consists of 11 small chimpanzees! Butembo and Loia are together with Aketi and Mangay the smallest ones in the group. They like to play with the other chimpanzees, but still play a lot with each other. Butembo has a very outgoing and playful character while Loia is a bit more serious and cautious.

Loia

Butembo and Loia hugging

Misisi and Butembo

Misisi is doing well!

Misisi

Misisi was introduced to the nursery cage about one and a half months ago. From the first day she adjusted well and remained in the cage day and night. Misisi is now extremely dominant within the cage. She loves to play with all the other babies and needs constant attention from them all. She demands to be the first to have milk in the morning and the porridge at night.

Maiko with Misisi in the background looking for peanuts

-Andrea-

Update on Mangay

Mangay


Mangay is one of the babies who arrived with the Aketi 5 chimpanzees. When he arrived he showed some very abnormal behaviours such as laying on the ground and rotating his hands and he also was quite unresponsive and scared. These behaviours have slowly been decreasing, until last month when he only exhibited them when all the babies went into the dormitory to sleep. However, I am very happy to report that now the behaviours have stopped all together. Mangay seems like a different chimpanzee. He is happy, playful and well adjusted.

Mangay
Mangay hugging Misisi


-Andrea-

Misisi's Introduction a Success!

Misisi went into the cage with the 8 other babies with the support of her caregiver. She dropped to the floor immediately when she entered the cage and the other babies were extremely interested in her. There was a lot of hugging and sniffing from everyone involved. A few minutes later, Fizi decided to test Misisi by dragging her across the floor. Of course a lot of screaming resulted, but no damage was done. All in all, the introduction went better than we could have predicted. Misisi had a few small confrontations with Maiko and Fizi but she either stood her ground or submitted when she needed too. During the day she played and ate very well. When the other babies left her alone she would even go after them to make them play again.

She showed very little interest in her caregiver all day, and when the door to the dormitory opened for the babies to go to sleep, Misisi followed them inside. She lay down on the bedding and went to sleep and didn’t wake until the next morning. Because the introduction went so amazingly well and Misisi was so relaxed she remained in the cage.

The introduction occurred 10 days ago now and Misisi has gone from strength to strength. She has put on weight and now eats everything she is offered. She plays with all the babies in the cage. We could not have hoped for a better introduction. We are so happy Misisi loves her new friends.

Misisi is going well, and quarantine periode is soon finished!

Misisi is doing very well and will finish her quarantine period in 4 days. On the 20th of July she will spend her first day in the nursery cage. For the first few days – or until she is ready – her caregiver will also remain in the cage. Misisi will also sleep inside the house as she has for the last month, in the beginning days of the introduction.

Misisi is becoming stronger each day. She is still being treated for the mouth infection, however, it has almost healed. She eats well and has put on a lot of weight, but she still needs time for her muscles to regenerate.

Misisi is laughing and playing!

Misisi is doing better and better each day. On the morning of day 10 in quarantine she actually woke up and played for the first half an hour. This was the first time she had engaged in any kind of play behavior. She was laughing and rolling around as she was being tickled in bed. Since that first morning, she has not stopped playing. She is now a bundle of energy and laughs. She likes to run around the garden while being chased and then collapses on the ground in hysterical laughter for a tickle. It is wonderful to see how much she has changed, so quickly.

Misisi has also discovered the thrill of climbing trees again. She disappears up a nice leafy tree, builds a nest and has a nap quite often. She is so at home among the branches.

She is putting on weight and is eating well. The antibiotics have worked wonders on her mouth infection which has almost completely disappeared. There is still a lot of healing to occur in the mouth; however she seems to experience no discomfort now. When her one months quarantine is over, she will join the chimpanzees in the Goma Group.
Andrea
Misisi day 12
Misisi day 10 playing
Misisi day 10 laughing

Update on Misisi

Misis has been with us now for four full days. Her health is improving; the smell is confined to her mouth only and does not surround her whole body. The infection is definitely lessening in her mouth. When you look inside you see less puss and more pink gum. However, now we can see where the infection has eaten away the flesh of her tongue and gum. This should regenerate very quickly though, after the infection is cleared up.

She is eating a lot of food, but all the same type of food. Her favorites are bread, mangos, passion fruits and zinzibare (a local forest fruit). Slowly, she will start to eat other foods, but at the moment we are just happy that she is eating. She refuses milk, baby cereal and bananas which is quite strange as most new chimpanzees love these things.

Misisi still has not played, smiled or laughed. However, today we had a small break through where she chose to lay on my knee for ½ an hour. Although she has sat on my knee before, I have always initiated it. And she always gets off after 10 minutes. Today she seemed comfortable enough to approach me and have a real cuddle. It is a big thing that she is letting down the walls and beginning to trust again.
Andrea

Misisi's story

Misisi was confiscated by the police in Fizi about a month before she arrived in Lwiro. The police had questioned her ‘owner’ and taken notes which they sent with her for us to read. These notes tell of how the owner had purchased Misisi from a pygmy man, to keep as a pet. In the statement he says that he never saw her mother and does not know what happened to her. We can assume however, that Misisi’s mother was killed by the poachers, as were some of the others in her group. The adults were most likely sold as bushmeat, and any other babies sold for pets like Misisi, or died before this could happen. Misisi is the name of the village in which she was confiscated.

New arrival, Misisi

Misisi, day after arrival in Lwiro

On Saturday the 20th of June at 6:30pm we were settling in for a quiet and early night at home. We knew all of the animals were fed, safe and sound asleep. However, we had someone knock on our front gate. Carmen went out to talk to these three men who insisted they must see her. When she went outside, she was surprised to see a chimpanzee in the back of the taxi the men had come in. Immediately, she picked up the chimpanzee and then began talking to the men. Sometimes, people come to our door or the sanctuary to ‘sell’ us wild animals -such as baby chimpanzees. Of course it is highly illegal to buy or sell any wild animal. Therefore, if we can take physical possession of the animal before discussions about money start, the people have less to bargain with – as we already have the animal in our arms. As it turns out, these men had driven all the way from Fizi which is many kilometers north of Lwiro. We have other chimpanzees who originated from this area – Pablo and Fizi. The men were from both a government department and an NGO– and although they were not seeking payment for the chimpanzee, they were asking for compensation for the travel costs. This is something that falls outside our jurisdiction, so Carmen informed them that they must return the next day to speak to someone from the government. Thankfully, they agreed, and left the chimpanzee in our care.

We estimate ‘Misisi’ is about 3 ½ to 4 years old. She is quite large, but extremely skinny. She has very large swellings under both her eyes which is caused by malnutrition. She also has deep scars around her waste, from where she was at one time held on a rope. The very first thing we noticed about her was the putrid smell. We could not find the site of the obvious infection to begin with. However, she was so excited to be offered food that she vocalized with a lot of energy, and that is when we realized that the smell was coming from her mouth. She was given an injection of antibiotics, but it wasn’t until the next day that we got a good look at the severity of the infection. It covered the bottom jaw on the left side of her mouth. That whole side was green and white with puss.

Misisi also has burns to the right side of her face. It starts from under her eye and continues down to her lip. She also has a burn on her left arm. We do not know how she got these burns. When she sleeps both her right eye and the right side of her mouth can not close fully due to the burns.

Misisi is severely depressed and withdrawn. She vocalizes on occasion if she is particularly excited about an item of food, but other than that, she is quiet. She has not yet laughed or played. All of this should come in time with gentle coaxing, but it is very sad to see a chimpanzee in this state.

Misisi, day after arrival in Lwiro

Andrea