Tacugama

Shortly after Tacugama started blogging through Wildlife Direct, Gaura arrived as a newly rescued, frail baby chimp; eighteen months later he is a strong, cheeky and loveable character. Sadly another seven young babies have arrived since then; Chippe being the most recent two weeks ago (another four older chimps have also come to us in the same time frame). As each of the babies has completed quarantine they have been gradually introduced to Gaura and his “gang” now includes Tombo, Mac, Bai Nyaa, Jessica and Bruno. Last week they were joined by Yoyema who has quickly settled in with her new playmates.

Yoyema checks out Tombo’s hammock for comfort!

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As we’ve mentioned in earlier blogs, the challenge we now have as these babies grow bigger is making sure that we have the enclosure space for them to be outside all day learning to climb, forage and socialise in preparation for a life outside of Tacugama in the future. Proposals have been submitted to donor organisations to raise the funds for two new forested enclosures (and one for Solo). These are urgently needed to allow our growing chimpanzees enough space to exercise and behave as much as possible as they would in the wild.

As Gaura’s group has grown in number we’ve looked at how we can create access to the outdoor enclosures for them. We’ve been gradually introducing 15 of our younger chimps from Simon’s group to a group of 10 juveniles (Joko’s group) so that there is room available in our infants’ enclosure for Gaura and co. It’s a slow process to make sure that the introductions go well. We’re now almost ready to introduce Gaura’s group to the remaining 7 infants from Simon’s group.

In the last couple of weeks Gaura and playmates have been spending a couple of hours a day in the enclosure with Mama Posseh but without the rest of the chimps so that they get used to the electric fence, using the tunnel in and out of the dens and just how much space they have to play.

Gaura is definitely the very young alpha male of the group and while he can be a bully, he does take care of his playmates when they really need support.

Gaura comforts young Bruno

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Jessica is the smallest and the most adventurous – she’s really enjoying having lots of new spaces to explore and leading the rest of the chimps as she climbs higher and further from Mama Posseh.

Jessica enjoys exploring

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Mac on the other hand is still not too happy moving away from Mama Posseh, hopefully he will be tempted to follow Jessica soon.

Mac sticks close to Mama Posseh

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Young Bruno is a shy but much loved member of the group with a very gentle nature. He’s getting happier to follow Jessica’s lead every day.

Bruno shows his prowess

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Bai Nyaa has the biggest appetite of the group and doesn’t miss any opportunity to steal extra food from the others at mealtimes!

Bai Nyaa takes a rest to think about her next meal

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Tombo’s biggest concern as she plays in the enclosure is making sure that Gaura is not too far away. Having been the first one to join Gaura she’s very possessive and not always happy to share him with everyone else.

Tombo carefully monitors Gaura’s movements

Mama Posseh encourages the chimps to explore while she’s in the enclosure and has been teaching them how to drink from our specially designed water fountains.

Learning to drink (from left to right):

Young Bruno, Bai Nyaa, Mac, Jessica, Tombo and Gaura

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After lots of excercise it’s time to come back into the dens for milk and a rest and let the rest of the infants go back out to play. It won’t be too long before the babies go into the enclosure without Posseh and then finally join in for full days with the others.

Bai Nyaa + Gaura (left) try to help Yoyema with her milk while Tombo (right) looks on

We’ll keep you in touch with their progress!