Chimp News from Ngamba Island

Afrika being young and low ranking female in the community, when high ranking females were introduced to “Surivivor” they took over full care of the baby. Connie one of the dominate females took up full care and she is currently primarily providing all the best care. This involves carrying him from the holding facility to the outdoor enclosure and protecting him in case the other chimps intend to attack or grab food from him. Connie is very careful as she takes care of “Survivor”, she allows him to play with some other chimps that are already integrated including the baby’s mother, Afrika.

Survivor trusts Connie and believes in her ability to protect him in case of any dangers from the other chimps for example; one day Survivor was not happy with Nagoti who had grabbed a papaya which caregivers had intended for Survivor, the little chap gave Connie a bad guise. Connie watching, she strongly barked and made Nagoti to drop the papaya in fear that she would be beaten. “Survivor” is getting to understand the general hierarchies, individuals who are more influential and are capable of protecting him. This has been possible through training from Connie who is an adoptive mother and equipping the little boy with skills necessary for survival in a bigger chimpanzee community.

The Uganda National Forestry Authority (NFA) has a running Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Chimpanzee Trust aimed at promoting conservation of Central Forest Reserves that are rich in biodiversity and in particular, the endangered eastern chimpanzee species, Pan troglodytes schweinfurthi; with the Trust rendering its expertise to design and help initiate project activities relating to forest and chimpanzee conservation, including Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES).

The Chimpanzee Trust was awarded a grant by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, CEPF to implement the “Developing Payment for Ecosystems Services Scheme in the Bugoma Forest of Uganda” project, 2016-2017 in the Albertine graben. With this grant, the Chimpanzee Trust is developing a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) scheme as a means of contributing to the conservation of Bugoma Central Forest Reserve, a key biodiversity area of Uganda.

The Chimpanzee Trust through its “Change My Community” Education program developed a comic book entitled“Ikuru’s Journey to Ngamba Island”. The comic book was developed to help reach out to the young generation and set their mindset to become responsible citizens through promoting a reading culture, appreciating wildlife and animal welfare. The comic book was sponsored by Uganda Tourism Board under their School Program. The book tells the story of how “Ikuru”, was rescued, rehabilitated and integrated into the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee community. It also includes interactive activities for children with coloring pages and word puzzles.

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