Tacugama

Category: Gaura, Tacugama | Date: Jul 28 2009 | By: 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!

Tags: Chimpanzee, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife

8 responses so far

Category: Gaura, Introduction, Quarantine, Tacugama | Date: May 08 2009 | By: tacugama

After such a sad week last week, we are pleased to be able to bring you better news this week.

It was finally time for young Bruno to leave quarantine and join the famous five: Gaura, Tombo, Mac, Bai Nyaa and Jessica! He could tell the day was different and seemed very happy to accompany Mama Posseh as she walked him over to the rest of the babies.

Happy Young Bruno
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Tags: Chimpanzee, EMCV, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife

5 responses so far

Category: Gaura, Quarantine, Tacugama | Date: Mar 25 2009 | By: tacugama

Congo - our wild chimpanzee visitor - continues to come to Tacugama with her daughters. Her older daughter - now almost five years old - is gaining confidence and becoming more independant of Congo. This is a typical view that we get of her as she watches activity at camp….
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4 responses so far

Category: Chimpanzee, Gaura, Tacugama | Date: Dec 22 2008 | By: tacugama

Gaura and Tombo have an important seasonal message for everyone…

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They’d also like you to know that if you’re stuck for a Christmas gift then there’s no need to panic. You can now visit our new pages on Wildlife Direct and adopt one of the Tacugama chimpanzees for your family and friends. We will do our best to email electronic copies of the adoption certificate and biography by return so that you have time to print them for Christmas Day while the rest of the adoption pack follows in the post.

Many thanks to Yvonne, Lucia, Christine, Mark and Maciej for their recent generous donations - Gaura and Tombo promise that these will be shared with all of the 92 chimps we now have at Tacugama.

From all of us at the sanctuary - as we complete our first full year of blogging - thank you for your continuing interest and support and we wish you a peaceful and happy holiday season.

Tags: Chimpanzee, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife

12 responses so far

Category: Chimpanzee, Gaura, Tacugama | Date: Nov 19 2008 | By: tacugama

Unfortunately in the last couple of weeks we’ve had some reports of hunters entering the Western Area Peninsula Forest Reserve carrying guns. While we’re not concerned about Tacugama chimps or visitor and staff safety (we work so closely with our local communities that there are lots of eyes and ears taking care of our immediate sanctuary area) its both illegal and unacceptable for the hunters to be in the forest reserve. Over the last few months we’ve enjoyed hearing wild chimps calling to our own with increasing frequency and only on Saturday five wild chimps were seen playing close to our local dam. It’s these guys and other forest inhabitants that we’re concerned about so our small patrol team are watching carefully and we’re in close contact with the enforcement authorities. We’re hopeful that the hunters will be apprehended and prosecuted before long.

Empty cartridges found by the patrol team
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Tags: , Chimpanzee, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife

6 responses so far

Category: Gaura, Tacugama | Date: Oct 06 2008 | By: tacugama

Last week saw the end of Tombo’s quarantine period and so finally we’ve been able to give Gaura a playmate. After a long wait, he was very excited to meet Tombo. With only a small hesitation on Tombo’s part, it took no time for them to bond together, so much so that Tombo wouldn’t let Gaura go at all. It was an amazing introduction that we’ve captured on a few video clips so that you can share the moment…..!
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Tags: , Chimpanzee, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife

10 responses so far

Category: Chimpanzee, Gaura, Tacugama | Date: Sep 04 2008 | By: tacugama

Congo, our lady from the wild, has a new brand baby. A tiny furry chimp with pinkish hands and feet holding tight on Congo’s belly….that’s all that we manage to get a glimpse of. What a wonderful surprise! Congo is impossible to get pictures of… she runs away at the sight of a camera, or at anything that points at her. …now she is even more distrustful and unfortunately this picture is the only one we can show you for now….can you see the tiny foot on the left side of Congo? We are keeping our cameras ready for the next opportunity.

Congo carrying her new baby and with her 4 year-old daughter behind
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Category: Blogroll, Chimpanzee, Gaura, Tacugama | Date: Jul 10 2008 | By: tacugama

Three days ago we received an urgent call informing us that a baby chimp was being sold at Lumley beach area in Freetown. Our informer was instructed to keep negotiating with the dealer until our arrival.

Willie, our head keeper, and Tommy, wildlife ranger were swiftly dispatched. On their way they picked up two police officers and with their help the baby chimp was confiscated without too much hassle.

The man, a woodcutter from Tombo village situated in the peninsula of Freetown, obviously explained a fancy story that he came across three adult chimps in the bush and when they saw him, they panicked and took off leaving the baby behind.

Tombo village is a gateway by boat to many provincial coastal villages, and we think this baby must have been capture in the south of Sierra Leone and transported into Freetown peninsula for a quick sale. The dealer was in a hurry as he was willing to sell the baby for a mere $25.

Tombo on arrival to Tacugama with Willie
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Category: Chimpanzee, Education, Gaura | Date: May 18 2008 | By: tacugama

Cheeta managed to nick the two way radio from Willie and was happily going around, showing off her new toy to the rest of her gang. We tried all sorts of ways to get it back but she was proving to be much smarter than us. She was getting excited hearing her name coming out of the radio and all the attention from the chimps and staff as everyone was following her. The entire Tacugama team was having a good laugh. I wanted to join in….but just the thought of buying another radio for $400 did not permit me. 48 hours gone, the battery has gone flat and the chances of finding the bloody radio in this thick forest is very slim! Cheeta wins! You can bet we’ll be looking at how to secure those radios better….

Cheetah holding her prize aloft, safely out or reach….
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11 responses so far

Category: Chimpanzee, Gaura, Introduction, Tacugama | Date: Apr 22 2008 | By: admin

Poor little Gaura….he has gone through his first knock down! Despite his tolerant nature towards medical procedures, he had to be sedated as we all know dental surgery can be very painful.

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6 responses so far