A Successful Integration
By Mirjam Schot and Sheri Speede, DVM
April 2002
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| Gabby |
On this last day of 2001, In Defense of Animals’ Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center in Cameroon began the integration of six maturing baby chimpanzees, ranging in age from 2.5 to 4.5 years, into a stable existing group of five adults and one youngster.
All of these babies were recent orphans of the illegal bushmeat trade, and were taken from hunters, or from individuals or businesses who had bought them from hunters.
The adult chimpanzees
The adults range in age from 20 to 38 years. All were orphaned years ago and had languished for many lonely years in small cages or on chains at hotels or amusement parks before being rescued by the Center.
These adult chimpanzees, all with various emotional scars and behavioral abnormalities from years of isolation and strict confinement, had only learned to live socially with one another during the last two years.
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| Bouboule |
The larger group
We were anxious to integrate our group of older baby chimpanzees into the existing adult group. The youngsters had become a handful for both caregivers and volunteers, and space was needed in the nursery for the youngest babies. It was time to allow these older babies some adult chimpanzee guidance. We hoped that our emotionally damaged adults were up to the task.
The adults had easily accepted five year-old Caroline ten months before, but we were all nervous about introducing six youngsters, five of whom were rambunctious boys, all at the same time.
However, we did not want to break up the group of babies, who had grown to love and rely on one another. So on the morning that we began the integration, all humans and chimpanzees were filled with excitement, curiosity, and anxiety. What would the adults do? Would they be to rough with the babies and hurt them?
The introduction
The adult group lives in a forested, five-acre electric enclosure, with two other satellite enclosures composed of metal mesh at its periphery. The six youngsters to be introduced were placed in one of the three compartments of the main satellite enclosure. They were separated from the adults by mesh, but they could see them, and touch them - if they dared.
As the babies were carried into the satellite enclosure, the adults and Caroline all watched intensely from the forested enclosure. The adult males, Jacky and Pepe, displayed by stomping and throwing sticks around for a few minutes before they settled down and started beckoning for the youngsters to approach them.
The babies’ reactions
Initially the babies were very afraid and stayed in the farthest corner of their enclosure, but within an hour, Bikol and Mado showed some courage and came closer to watch the adults more carefully.
The last time they had seen an adult chimpanzee was when their mothers were killed and they were taken from the forest. From the nursery they had been able to hear this adult group calling out during feedings and times of excitement, but this was the first time they could see, smell, and touch them.
Before the day was over, Bikol and Mado were playing with the adults Jacky, Pepe, and Nama, and all of the babies but one, handsome little Bouboule, were running up to the mesh for quick touches.
Caroline was allowed into the satellite enclosure with the babies on the second day and was happy to be back with her old friends. She had spent several months with this baby group before being moved over to the adult group. It seemed to be a happy reunion for all.
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| Caregiver Rachel with Hope |
The groups get along!
By the end of the first week, all of the babies were playing with all of the adults, and there was a lot of kissing, hugging, and grooming. So the next step was to introduce the animals to the adults individually or in pairs into the satellite enclosure with the babies.
Alpha female Nama served as a gentle protector, and Pepe and Jacky were introduced in pairs with her. In total, the primary integration process took three and a half weeks, ending successfully with the release or the babies into the forested enclosure with the adults.
Today, Jacky, current alpha male of the group, is always willing to play gently with the youngsters, softly caressing their small heads with his big hands. Jacky had been in a small cage at a hotel for 30 years, and we wondered if he would ever be able to live socially. He has surprised us all.
Pepe, the biggest male, often lets the babies ride on his back, and he sometimes carries on on his back and one hanging from his abdomen.
Dorothy is the grandmother - she plays with them, grooms them, shares her food with them, and above all, she loves them. Nama is the mother of mothers and remains a very strong protector.
The only adult that cause problems with the youngsters is Becky. She likes to mate with the bigger boys Bikol and Njode (she usually seems annoyed by their performances!) and is alternately mothering and aggressive with everyone else. The babies mostly stay clear of her. Maybe it takes all kinds to make a chimpanzee family!
All in all, the babies seem very happy. There is always someone big or small with whom to play or walk through the forest. Mado, who came from a virology laboratory and was so afraid of people, is now the princess of her chimpanzee family, a favorite of the adult males, and very self-confident.
Moabi and Gabby, the two youngest in the group, get all the gentle and playful attention that they deserve. Bouboule, Bikol and Njode seem to adore their big male role models, and Bouboule is especially loving with his grandmother Dorothy.
It is amazing how chimpanzees, even those who have faced unfathomable abuses can adapt and recover if given the opportunity. The group of 12 chimpanzees now live as if they have always lived together. It is hard to think of them as two separate groups.
Watching them together at the periphery of their tract of the forest and imagining that the solar-powered fence is not there, one can imagine one has just encountered a group of wild chimpanzees in the forests of Central Cameroon.
IPPL has assisted the Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center through our small grants program.
