Update Your Address Books - JGI Office Moves to Toronto
We’re thrilled to announce that we are entering into a new partnership with the University of Toronto that will see our national office located within the University’s Centre for Environment in Toronto from the beginning of February onwards. This new partnership will allow us to collaborate on academic projects, and to involve U of T students and faculty in our Canadian and international programs.

New address: P.O. Box 309, Station P, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2S8

Stayed tuned for new contact phone numbers, but in the meantime, you can still reach us by calling 1 888 882 4467 or 514 369 3384.

Newsletter Update
In order to become more efficient and save on the costs of production, your future Chimp Guardian updates will be coming as an attachment to the general JGI Canada newsletter that is produced twice a year, usually May and November. Keep your eyes open for that new format and if you have any comments on the CG Updates or suggestions of things you’d like to hear more about, please let us know!

Monthly Giving Helps Even More!
If you are not already a monthly Chimp Guardian, we'd like to ask you to consider making regular monthly donations. Monthly giving is a very convenient way to manage your donations, and it helps us even more by cutting down on our administrative costs. Monthly giving is currently available through your credit card, but will soon also be available by direct debit from your bank account. Unfortunately the monthly giving option is not yet available on-line, so to sign up, please give us a call or send us an email at info@janegoodall.ca, and we'd be happy to fax you a form.

Ongoing Tchimpounga Renovations
Over the past five years, Tchimpounga has received 30 new chimpanzee residents! This means that upgrading and expanding the facilities is an ongoing process. Significant renovation is needed in the next year, including the addition of a vet treatment room, the construction of new dormitories and enclosures and the installation of a reliable water storage and filtration system. Currently, the drivers pump water each day from a local well – a process that takes seven trips for two people and an entire day to accomplish.

Food for the Hungry
At Tchimpounga in the Republic of Congo, the keepers are faced with the task of feeding 123 chimps each day – requiring more than three tons of fresh fruit and vegetables per week! This can be tricky in a country with long dry seasons and sandy soils where farming is not the main economic activity. Our approach has been to work with local communities to encourage agricultural development – the result is that they help the chimps and help themselves, enriching their own diets and boosting local incomes.

Brainy Chimps Ace Cognitive Tests
From June to September 2006, all the chimps at Ngamba Island and Tchimpounga took part in a series of tests conducted by the Max Planck Institute of Germany that assessed their cognitive abilities. The keepers reported that the chimps loved taking part in what they saw as games, and were delighted to find that they scored higher on the tests than chimpanzees in zoos or laboratories – important evidence that JGI’s African sanctuaries provide a higher quality of life for captive chimps.

New Arrivals

Kawuka, less than a year old, arrived in at Tchimpounga in July. Kawuka's new “mum” is Diane and he has done extremely well during quarantine and integration into the nursery group.
Wuleng, a four to five-year old male, arrived at Tchimpounga on October 4, 2006 from Brazzaville, in very poor condition. He was quarantined for one month and then was integrated into Group Five. Wuleng in quarantine
		Diane with Kawuka riding on her back
Kudia arrived at Tchimpounga on October 5, 2006. This female infant was rescued in Pointe Noire from a group of men who were trying to sell her. She had the typical wounds around her waist where a cord had been tied tightly to restrain her. She was emaciated and depressed, but since arriving at the Sanctuary has had a huge appetite – so was aptly named "Kudia", which means "food" in the local dialect. She is now forming a friendship with Wuleng and with her keepers. Kudia on the day she arrived

Petit Prince - Tchimpounga

Petit Prince is now six years old. He came to the Sanctuary in very poor shape at just two months old, emotionally and physically scarred by his ordeal. He has recently been integrated into a new juvenile group (Group 4), and has adjusted relatively well, although he misses his close companion Bouetoussa from the infant group. Petit Prince's confidence has grown since his exposure to daily forest walks. He has been demonstrating dominant characteristics not previously observed while in the infant group, but is not the only young male of his group vying for the Alpha male position – going head to head with Kefane and Petit Pere in displays of dominance.

Petit Prince has been in perfect health over the past six months, but the keepers say he is still a loner. Out in the forest, Petit Prince isolates himself in the tree canopy, coming down only when a food drop takes place. The other chimpanzees eat their food on the forest floor near the source of the food drop, but Petit Prince comes down to collect his food and then retreats back into the trees where he eats in solitude.

Timi - Tchimpounga

Timi is now eight years old. He has been at the sanctuary since 2002, and was transferred from the juvenile chimpanzee group to an adolescent group about nine months ago. He has been having some difficulties adjusting, partly because several of his close companions from the juvenile group didn’t graduate to the new group with him.

Timi is now one of the youngest males in the group, and is intimidated by the higher-ranking males -- Kitoko, Kola, Tabonga and Oyo. When there’s trouble, he stays well away with his arms wrapped around his drawn up knees, and sometimes gathers straw to wrap around himself.

The keepers are hoping his confidence will improve now that he has access to more freedom. In the summer and fall, the group didn’t have an opportunity to venture far because the fences of their outdoor enclosures were being strengthened. Adolescent male and female chimpanzees are eight times stronger than humans and their outdoor enclosures must be strong enough to contain them while unsupervised and deter humans who might wander in. Now completed, the enclosure spans a couple of acres.

Grégoire - Tchimpounga

At 66 years of age, Gregoire is the oldest living chimpanzee in captivity, yet his incredible vigor continue to amaze everyone. He can now only see through one eye, and has to bring objects close in order to see them properly. He doesn’t have much hair left – the result not only of age but also the years of malnutrition he experienced at the Brazzaville Zoo – but his skin condition is good and his muscle definition is exceptional for a chimp of his age.

Gregoire and his partner, La Vielle, have recently been integrated into the “Mama Group”, which includes three mothers with infants of just over a year. This gives Gregoire an opportunity to interact with the infants, something he has always enjoyed, and make the most of his gentle nature. He is still very playful with the caregivers who visit with him every day – and encourages them to chase him by holding out a hand or foot and then withdrawing it and dashing away. He continues to take great interest in the world around him, and will even do display charges at the other adult male chimps, which can be alarming given how much younger and bigger they are.

A special celebration of Gregoire’s birthday is held in October every year. He continues to be much loved and respected by the Congolese people, some of whom remember seeing him years ago at the Brazzaville Zoo. Many will make a special trip to the sanctuary, just to see this grand old man.

Baluku – Ngamba Island

The cheeky and playful Baluku has had another good year. He was part of the integration of juvenile chimpanzees into the adult group that took place in the summer of 2006, and has held up well. Despite the frequent aggression of the adult chimps, he is one of the few juveniles to visit the forest every day, and is often seen sitting with the adult males.

He continues to be very helpful to the keepers, and enjoys returning porridge bowls, ropes or other items made off with by his fellow chimps, usually with the expectation of some reward in return! Previous tests had already demonstrated Baluku’s intelligence, which shone through again in tests conducted by Max Planck Institute. The tests involved working with a partner to use a rope that would provide access to a food tray. Baluku’s unique trick was to return the rope to the keepers after the trial, earning an extra reward in the form of bananas and groundnuts.

Ikuru – Ngamba Island

Ikuru had a very difficult past prior to coming to Ngamba, and it continues to affect her health and interactions with other chimpanzees. She has had trouble with the ongoing integration process, and has endured several bites and scratches from other chimpanzees. Her confidence has suffered as a result, and she has lost some weight and is reluctant to interact with the other chimps.

This lack of confidence seems to have motivated Ikuru to develop some highly skilled tool use, however, and she has become much more adept than other members of the group at using tools to get to food that lies beyond the electric fence that encloses the chimps. Food is thrown to the chimps over this fence each day, but sometimes it falls on the wrong side. In order to get to these morsels, Ikuru carefully selects long dry sticks from the forest to use to drag them to her side of the wire where she can easily pick them up. In one instance, two other chimps, Pasa and Nakuu, tried to imitate her in an effort to secure a tomato that lay beyond the fence, but ended up squabbling and getting shocks while Ikuru made off with the food.

Nani – Ngamba Island

The five-year-old Nani continues to charm both animals and humans at Ngamba Island. Her self-confidence and tomboy style have helped her to handle the integration to an adult group very well. Her health is good and she often goes to the forest with the adult chimpanzees. She feeds among other chimps and at porridge time, is not afraid of holding a bowl even when high-ranking chimps are close by.

Nani has developed a close bond with Kyewuunyo, another young chimp, and they are frequently seen together. Recently Nani ended up in a fight with Kyewuunyo. It was evening, and the chimps were returning to the holding facility. Kyewuunyo’s mother Katie was walking behind the two youngsters. As they entered the holding facility, Kyewuunyo started teasing Nani, eventually hitting her with a rubber toy in the face. When Nani retaliated by stamping on Kyewuunyo’s back, Katie came to the rescue, and Nani immediately rolled on the floor, pleading for pardon. The two soon made up, however, with Kyewuunyo refusing Katie’s ministrations and going to her friend to assure her that “everything was ok!”