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Sanctuary update
The five Sudanese babies left quarantine in October and are now happily part of the ‘baby camp’. They were released once Zac, a male rescued from Angola, had completely settled into this group.
This enclosure is now home to ten chimps, seven of whom are youngsters.
No prizes for guessing which enclosure attracts more ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’!
“The baby camp is really busy, and is a big success story,” says sanctuary manager, Phillip Cronje. “None of the guys – Cozy, Joao and Zac – has ever had experience of infants, and male chimps are not normally involved in looking after babies anyway. They have all proved to be extremely gentle, despite their difficult backgrounds. Old Joao pats the babies’heads when they get close to him.
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Zena and Cozy. Photograph by Francois Theron |
“Each of the babies has a protector,” he says. “Zena, for example, runs to Cozy while Nina and Thomas look to Zac for protection.
“It’s a wonderful scenario – and not quite what we expected. I think part of the success was their slow introduction. While it may have seemed unfair to keep the babies inside for any longer than necessary, the gradual introduction has really paid off.”
There are now seven chimps in the main enclosure, with Jinga being the last to join the Abu/Nicky/Amadeus group. When first released, she became very frightened when alpha male Abu performed and slapped her around a bit.
Sanctuary manager Phillip Cronje introduced her to her new family group really slowly and she now happily joins them in the enclosure each day.
“She’s now become great buddies with Abu which is helpful,” says Phillip.
Josephine has only recently begun her quarantine period at the sanctuary, and it is hoped that she will be joined very soon by the two chimps currently in safekeeping in Angola.
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