Guardiannews 02-2013

Jane Goodall Institute Netherlands

Updates from the Islands

Tchindzoulou

The dense forest of Tchindzoulou Island is now home to fourteen chimpanzees transferred from the original Tchimpounga sanctuary site over the last six months. Life has changed dramatically for these chimps. Today, they can roam freely, feeling the wet earth under their feet, smelling the scents from the lush vegetation, and listening to the island’s mysterious sounds while they explore their new surroundings.

On the island, there are a variety of trees that offer the chimpanzees large quantities of fresh, ripe fruit. To get to the fruit, the chimps often have to climb to great heights, which is a perfect workout for their muscles and brains as they balance on unstable branches. One day, some of these chimpanzees will be released in Conkouati-Douli National Park in northern Congo, so it is important for them to “practice” this type of climbing.

Difficult integration

Before their transfer to Tchindzoulou, these chimpanzees lived in two different groups at the sanctuary, Group Three and Group Four. Because they didn’t know one another and belonged to different communities, their initial integration on the island was difficult.

Bayokele, Fani Toueck and Lounama from Group Three were transferred after their counterparts from Group Four. When they first encountered the females from Group Four who had been living on the island for a few months, it was a tense and violent situation. The island’s dominant female, Silaho, didn’t accept the three new chimpanzees and attacked them repeatedly. Silaho and the others in her group then banded together and managed to expel Bayokele, Fani Toueck and Lounama from their territory.

As a result, the three new females decided to cross the fence that divides the island and live in an area uninhabited by chimpanzees. Now there are two groups of chimpanzees on Tchindzoulou Island: eleven chimpanzees from Group Four in the east and the three females from Group Three in the west.

A few sections of the Tchindzoulou Island fence need improvements, especially in areas where the ground is lower as some of the chimpanzees know how to use tools to dig holes under the wires and tunnel through to the other side. When the dry season arrives, the JGI team will be able to use cement to make the necessary repairs.

Lounama on Tchindzoulou Island

Silaho standing on a pole before her transfer to Tchindzoulou

2

Tchibebe

Ultimately, Tchibebe, another island in the Kouilou River, will become the home for Thirty-five chimpanzees from Group Three. These chimps remain at the original Tchimpounga sanctuary site and are in urgent need of transfer. All of the chimpanzees in this group are adults or sub-adults, and they need more room to roam.

Tchibebe is a long, teardrop-shaped island that has more than enough space to accommodate these chimpanzees. Preparing the island for the chimpanzees’ arrival has been no small task. The JGI-Congo team is in the process of building a dormitory and a food preparation building for the chimps on the island. These facilities will allow the staff to conduct veterinary interventions, as well as chimpanzee integrations. There have been some construction delays on Tchibebe due to the rough terrain on the uninhabited island and the humidity of soil so close to the river. But as soon as the cement and the soil are dried, the metal panels that make up the dormitory rooms and the food preparation will be put in place. The work should be complete in a few weeks.

Once again, Taronga Zoo in Australia has generously contributed the time and talent of Matt Green, the zoo’s technical advisor, to help during the process. Matt played a critical role in the construction on Tchindzoulou.

To complete the dormitory, JGI also has to engage a number of local workers who live in the villages near the islands. As a result, the construction process will help the local economy and, ultimately, the chimpanzees of Group Three.

Getting Ready for Timi’s Big Move

Group Three, at the Jane Goodall Institute’s (JGI) Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabiliatation Center in the Republic of Congo where chimpanzee Timi lives, has been very quiet for the past few weeks. Little does this small community know what awaits them. At the moment, the JGI-Congo team is working diligently to get Group Three ready for transport to Tchibebe Island, Tchimpounga’s expanded sanctuary site. The island lies in the middle of the Kouilou River and is forested with trees that produce wild fruits so important to the chimpanzee diet.

Before the chimps can move, JGI must build a dormitory on the eastern end of the island.

As soon as the cement and the soil are dry, the metal panels that make up the dormitory rooms will be put in place.

The work should be complete in a few weeks.

Location of Tchibebe and the two other islands

3

Timi

Timi and the rest of Group Three will soon enjoy exploring the island’s vast expanse of rainforest without the threat of poachers, predators, or other chimpanzees. Once on the island, the JGI caretakers will still monitor the chimps, providing them with food to supplement what they forage so that their diets remain similar their regime at the original sanctuary site.

JGI staff members are looking forward to the chimps’ move to the island. The enclosure currently housing Group Three is suffering from overuse and is becoming devoid of natural forestvegetation. On the island, however, Timi and the rest of Group Three will finally get a chance to improve their forest-living skills in an enriching environment.

The entire Tchibebe Island project could only be completed with the help of JGI’s donors and partners. On behalf of Timi and his friends, thank you for your efforts to improve the lives of the Tchimpounga chimpanzees.

An Unexpected Guest: Seven-Foot Python Visits Chimpanzee Enclosure!

At Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Center in the Republic of Congo, our adult chimpanzees spend their days roaming around a wild forest patch, foraging for fruits, socializing, and swinging from the trees. We bring them in at night for their dinner and to inspect their health. It’s rare for their routine to change. Therefore, you can imagine our surprise when the head caregiver at the dormitories called Dr. Rebeca Atencia, director of JGI-Congo and Tchimpounga’s lead veterinarian, about a surprise visitor: One of the chimpanzees had a python!

Rebeca ran down to the night house, and sure enough, Matondo, one of our largest adult females, had a 7-foot python draped over her shoulder like a sash. Initially, we feared the python was dead, but shortly after we arrived, it started to slither off Matondo’s back. Matondo carefully removed the python from her shoulder and placed it in her lap as if caring for a child.

Over the next two hours, we watched in wonder as Matondo played with the snake and protected it from the other chimps in the enclosure. We couldn’t leave the snake with the chimps overnight because of the potential danger: It could either hurt one of the chimps or be harmed or even killed. Fortunately, as the sun was setting, we managed to coax Matondo out of the night house without the python. Before leaving, she carefully tucked her new reptile friend into her nest, making sure it was safely hidden from the other chimps.

With all the chimps out of the night house, we were finally able to enter and retrieve the snake. Rebeca assessed the python for wounds and was shocked to find it completely unharmed! We took the snake to a nearby forest patch and released it back into the wild as the sun set beyond the horizon.

Needless to say, it took two of us to pry the snake off Rebeca’s arm! What a lucky snake! What an amazing adventure!

Guardian News is published by Jane Goodall Institute Netherlands, POBox 2251, 6802 CG Arnhem - email: info@janegoodall.nl - www.janegoodall.nl

4

Medina find solace in art

Parents acquire energy saving skills

As part of the conservation education program that we code named ‘Change my community’, Ngamba Island partnered with Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, to expand the Energy Saving program that we had begun in schools in Hoima District.

Ngamba Island’s education team together with three technical personnel from Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development trained 150 parents and five teachers in energy saving, construction and maintenance of the Lorena energy saving stove. This was to boost their knowledge and engage more parents in the program.

On the other hand, more children were trained by their teachers in the same and tasked to duplicate the technology in their homes.

Women making an energy saving stove

Science has proved that the chimpanzee is man’s closest relative, rating it at 98.7% DNA similarity. This fact sets the chimpanzee apart from any other known primate.Perhaps this similarity points out what we witness as an outstanding character in Medina, a chimpanzee that was rescued along with four others in southern Sudan and given a new home at Ngamba island Chimpanzee Sanctuary.

Medina is an extraordinary artist.Whereas many have described art as a distinct human ability only exclusive and unique to our specie, Medina has shown ability to paint.

Seated quietly with her paint brush and a couple of colored paints, she strokes away on a manila paper; bringing to life a pattern of colors, each unique. The expression on Medina’s face as she does her paints is that of serenity and composure. She is clearly satisfied and delighted as her last stroke of the paint brings to life a whole new piece of work.

One would be right to say this is one way that Medina enriches herself after the traumatic ordeal with her captors.

Dr. Jane Goodall releases parrots

Mid august Dr. Jane Goodall released 17 African Grey parrots at Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary. These birds were confiscated from Bulgaria in April 2010.

“I am excited to be here and pull the string that has given these parrots their freedom back to fly out,” said Dr. Jane Goodall.

The parrots have been under quarantine in an aviary at the sanctuary for the last four months.

They had been illegally shipped from Lebanon but confiscated from the Sofia Airport in Bulgaria.