Guardiannews 03-2013

Jane Goodall Institute Netherlands

Anzac & Jeje, new chimp ambassadors in the Chimp Guardian program

Jeje

JeJe is one of the two new chimp ambassadors in Tchimpounga’s Chimp Guardian program, Like most chimpanzees who come to Tchimpounga, in june 2012 Jeje arrived sick, malnourished and suffering from parasites. It took a great deal of time and veterinary care to make Jeje healthy again.

Staff at Tchimpounga not only need to worry about young chimps’ physical health, but must address their psychological health as well. Chimps like Jeje who come to the sanctuary as babies need constant contact to enable them to develop normally by developing strong emotional bonds. Chimps are incredibly social animals that thrive on constant interaction with others in their group, so a high level of physical contact at an early age is necessary for any chimpanzee’s well being.

Due to being separated from his mother at such a young age, Jeje was not given a chance to start eating wild fruits from the forest like a young chimp normally would. Because of this, his teeth have not experienced the usual wear-and-tear and instead remain very white and prominent, giving Jeje a comical appearance. Jeje now enjoys using those impressive teeth to bite into watermelons, his favorite food!

Jeje, with keeper Antonette and together with Anzac.

Anzac

When she arrived, Anzac was so small that the vet team had to weigh her using a food scale. She weighed a mere 2.7kg, making her one of the smallest chimps to arrive at the sanctuary. Anzac was confiscated in a town called Mossaka, up North along the Congo River. She was named Anzac because she arrived on Australia’s ANZAC day. Also, like many war veterans, she is missing an arm.

Anzac is progressing well at Tchimpounga. She’s growing and is eating lots of fruits and vegetables in addition to her bottles of milk. Anzac is a very outgoing and adventurous little chimpanzee. She’s not hindered by her missing limb and comes up with novel solutions for every circumstance that arises. In the mornings, Anzac loves to make grass angels, similar to the snow angels many human children make during the winter. She lies on her back, flapping her arms about and enjoying the feel

Collage of photographs of Anzac

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of the dew-covered ground. Anzac also loves to jump to the ground or sometimes on little Jeje from perches, like for instance the lid of a bucket. Shealso tucks pieces of food under her missing arm so that she can run and climb with the other babies and have a snack at the ready. Anzac is a star in making funny faces!

During her last visit to Tchimpounga Dr. Jane Goodall had the opportunity to go out into the forest with the nursery group, including our new chimp ambassador Anzac. Jane tried to softly caress the little chimp, but Anzac flipped over and jumped onto Dr. Goodall’s legs, tugging at her hair and leaving it tangled and wild. Dr. Goodall was very patient — she just laughed at Anzac’s antics and embraced her.

In Memoriam, Mika (1992-2013)

The remains of Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary’s alpha male, Mika, were found in the forest October 9th. Mika was estimated to have been born in 1992. He arrived at Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary in October 1998, after being rescued from an Egyptian Circus in Kampala, Uganda. Mika has been the Ngamba Island chimpanzee group’s alpha male for over ten years. He was reported missing on the evening of the 22nd of September, after not returning from the forest. Chimpanzees sometimes prefer to nest in the forest. The caregivers therefore thought that this was a normal occurrence.

However, they later realised it was no usual occurrence after Mika had not returned in the evenings with the others for more than two days and was not appearing at feedings either. ‘We went around the forest each day, as part of the protocol of dealing with such a situation, in the hope that we would have a glimpse of him but in vain,’ says Sanctuary Manager, Dr. Titus Mukungu.

After Mika had been missing for ten days, Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary management made arrangements for a search operation in the forest of the sanctuary. This was done in collaboration with Uganda Wildlife Authority. ‘For three days we woke up each morning with a determination to find him. We combed through 95 acres till we finally found his remains on the third day,’ CSWCT’s Executive Director narrates.

His body had started rotting but bushes around him were cleared showing that the chimpanzees had used them to gather around him and mourn. They had also covered his body with some leaves as a possible sign of a burying ritual. The cause of death still remains unknown. Samples were send to laboratories in Europe, when a post-mortem report from experts from Makerere University remained inconclusive. On november 6th, Mika’s remains were buried on Ngamba Island.

Searching for Mika

Representative from the ministry placing a plaque on the memorial stone; a tree was planted elsewhere on the Island

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For the last 10 years, Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary has partnered with the Max Planck Institute of Anthropology in Germany to carry out research on behavior and attitudes of chimpanzees in relation to humans.

Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary is now hosting two researchers; Ms. Katja Karg and Ms. Rebecca Koomen from the institute. ‘In our current study, we would like to find out whether chimpanzees possess, like humans, a “Theory of Mind”,’ says Ms. Katja Karg, one of the researchers. Theory of mind refers to the ability to attribute non-observable mental states to others, such as perceptions, intentions and goals. ‘More specifically, we will investigate whether chimpanzees are able to take the visual perspective of the experimenter, even if it differs from their own,’ she adds. The study will take about two months and we hope to find that chimpanzees prefer to steal food that is not visible to the experimenter, compared to food that the experimenter can see.

Research at Ngamba Island

Asega participating in the experiment set up by Rebecca Koomen

The research is non-invasive, done in the holding facility for a few hours during the day and the chimps are released back into the forest to avoid compromising their welfare.

Since the death of Ngamba Island’s alpha male, Mika, who passed on early this month, influential individuals in the group have been seen holding ‘political meetings’ to choose the next leader. ‘

Before Mika took over, Robbie was the leader but Mika allied with Eddie to over throw him. The ranking males like Tumbo, Umutama, Eddie and Robbie do not seem interested in the position, but often meet and seem to discuss whom to back,’ says Innocent Ampeire.

Caregiver Innocent further adds that at the moment the fight is between Kalema, Indi, Kisembo and Maisko. ‘This morning Kalema fought and beat Kisembo. The other chimpanzees also supported him.’

However Innocent is quick to point out that caregivers cannot conclusively declare Kalema as the alpha male now because today if he fights and wins, tomorrow might be a different story. He will have to consistently assert his position. The chimp must respect other members of the

Political meetings taking place on Ngamba Island; inset: Kalema

group, make alliances and befriend elder chimps. Although the caregivers claim they do not interfere in the chimpanzee politics, they closely monitor them to share the stories with us and the tourists.

Crocodile captured on Ngamba Island

Early October a crocodile was sighted near Ngamba Island. A combined team of CSWCT and UWA (Uganda Wildlife Authority) staff was able to catch the animal alive. At that moment the chimpanzee alpha male Mika was still missing so an X-ray was done at Entebbe Zoo to make sure Mika was not killed by the Crocodile. Fortunately the vet did not see anything in the croc’s stomach to indicate that it ate Mika.

The crocodile was taken safely to Murchison Falls National Park and set free.

Who will be Ngamba’s next Alpha Male?

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

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Chimp Guardian support for Ngamba Island & Tchimpounga

Sanctuaries are a critical component of JGI’s efforts to combat wildlife trafficking. We have found that in order to reduce trafficking you need three components in place: law enforcement (to apprehend traffickers and recapture chimps); sanctuaries (to house captured chimps); and environmental education to alert citizens about existing laws and well as the connection between chimps and humans.

The costs of running a sanctuary like Tchimpounga include such things as building, equipment, and other hard assets. With the ongoing operation to complete the infrastructure on the three islands in the Kouilou River, Tchibebe (completion this year), Tchindzoulou and Ngombe (focus islands for 2014) the amount of material needed is enormous. To make this task even a bigger logistical challenge the staff also has to deal with the damage by fires, such as the ones which broke out in July 2013.

This year JGI Netherlands contributed to these operations by organizing a transport of materials needed to complete the electric fencing like solar panels, batteries, three km galvanised wire, 25 kg u-nails and numerous types of insulators. The transport also included plastic cleaning shovels and 100 stackable crates of different depths to deal with the different foods they hold like cucumbers, eggplant, tomatoes, oranges, green leafy vegetables like endive, etc. Financial support for this transport also came from JGI-offices in Austria, Belgium, Germany and Hungary.

Collage of items purchased for Tchimpounga

Four pallets ready for transport to Point Noire, early november

Earlier this year, together with JGI Austria and the Max Planck Institute, we decided to sponsor the installation of several new solar panels and replacement of fifteen batteries at Ngamba Island. The batteries had served for six years and had grown old and weak. The work on the panels and batteries was finalized in september.

The next project on Ngamba Island which we will sponsor together with JGI Austria is the isolation room on the holding facility for the chimps. Help us to build this facility by making an extra donation to our bank account 3026.

New batteries for Ngamba Island

New solar panels for Ngamba Island