More space for the gorillas
Category: Anne Sofie Meilvang, Cameroon, Chimpanzee, Gorilla | Date: Sep 06 2009 | By: limbewildlifecentre
We are now rebuilding our old chimpanzee enclosure. The chimpanzee enclosure is next to one of our gorilla enclosures with a group of four gorillas. Before the two enclosures were separated with fence and a corridor, but now we have build a wall between the two enclosures. This means, that the gorillas had their enclosure expanded with roughly 100 square meters a few days ago. It is not much, but for the gorillas it has been very exciting and very good enrichment.
The new area is quite muddy, and the silverback Arno has spent the last days jumping and rolling around in the mud - Having a great time. Every time he is feed, he brings the food to that part of the enclosure, so he can sit and eat with his back against the wall.
On the picture you see him covered in mud – he is normally quite black, but today he is brown from the mud.
The other gorillas have also been very interested in the new part of their enclosure. Especially Tinu, one of the females, love to bang on the new wall, making a lot of noise. When the chimpanzees return to their enclosure on the other side of the wall, I am sure that both the gorillas and the chimpanzees will have great fun communicating with each other banging on the wall.
Best wishes,
Sofie
Baby gorilla stolen
Category: Cameroon, Gorilla, Simone de Vries, endangered species | Date: Aug 03 2009 | By: limbewildlifecentre
This morning I thought I would go to the bank, arrange some paperwork for the car, answer emails etc. But it all went completely different. Baby gorilla Atinbi was not with her mother Akiba, because during the night Jumbo had stolen the baby. When Atinbi was born we were afraid this might happen, because Akiba was not a very high ranking female. But in the last 5 months Akiba has been an excellent mom, who always protects her baby very well. Until this morning.
Jumbo, here on the picture with Atinbi, is a very funny gorilla. She is always dancing, moving her body and shaking her arms. This morning she was even crazier than normal and she was giving Atinbi a roller coaster ride, jumping up and down and rolling from one side to the other. Atinbi did not appreciate it and called for her mom. Akiba was nervous, trying to get her baby back, then giving up and walk around. We observed it for a while, but it was clear that this problem was not going to be solved by the gorillas themselves. We decided to separate Jumbo from the rest of the group, so Bama could go in with her and try to take Atinbi away from her. Jumbo is not an aggressive gorilla, but it is always a bit risky to do something like this. Bama tried to grab Atinbi, but Jumbo would not let him. Bama asked me to come in and help, but to be honest that did not help at all. If there is anybody who can get things done from our gorillas it is Bama. I just made a picture of his efforts.
We had already given up and the vet team was preparing to sedate Jumbo, when Bama gave it one last shot. He yelled at Jumbo and acted like the perfect silverback. Jumbo was a bit impressed this time and let Bama take the baby. But as soon as Bama had the baby and headed towards the door, Jumbo came after him and did not want to let him out of the cage. It took quite some effort to get out without letting Jumbo out as well.Akiba is now inside with her baby and her friend Pitchou for company. We wanted to give them some rest, before going back into the group.
Atinbi is getting more and more adventurous, so we think that she must have wandered off a bit, when Jumbo took her. But she is still a baby that needs to drink milk and be with her mom. We will have to keep a close eye on Jumbo, so she does not do it again.
Best wishes, Simone
It is time for the holiday workshops!
Category: Anne Sofie Meilvang, Cameroon, Gorilla, education | Date: Jul 02 2009 | By: limbewildlifecentre
It has been a busy time for the education team in Limbe. Every year we have holiday workshops here at Limbe Wildlife Centre. Last week we had the first one this year, which were for secondary school students. This year’s theme is “Gorillas, research and conservation”. We decide to focus on gorillas, because 2009 is appointed as “Year of the gorilla”. Our holiday workshops are sponsored by Buschgarden Zoo in Florida, and they came up with the idea of focusing on research. The holiday workshops are free of charge, and it lasts for three full days. They are very popular among the children and adults in Limbe, and every year we see a lot of well known faces from previous workshops. This year more than 50 children signed up for the first workshop. 
This year the program was very busy. Within the three days, the students had several lectures about gorillas and conservation. They learned how to recognize gorillas from each other, and they did behaviour studies on the gorillas here. They went to a nearby forest to investigate if it was a suitable habitat for a gorilla group. We also had a gorilla researcher, Albert, from WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) here to tell about his job. He is Cameroonian and do research on Cross River gorillas. The children loved to hear his stories about counting gorilla nests and analyzing gorilla faeces. Buschgarden Zoo has holiday workshops at the same time as us, and our children always have a chat session with Buschgardens children in Florida. It is a very important part of the workshop, and this year the students discussed everything, from the weight of a tiger and the status of lemurs, to how often people do shopping in Florida and how big a Cameroonian family is. On the last day the children prepared posters showing what they have learned doing the workshop. They all have to present their poster and the ones how had made the best poster, and who did the best presentation got awarded. At the end all the participants are given certificates.
Everything went very well, and we are now looking forward for the next three workshops, one for primary school children, one for high school children and one for university students and other interested adults. We are very grateful that Buschgarden Zoo sponsors our holiday workshop, and that so many people are interested in learning about primates and conservation. Best wishes Sofie
Film of Akiba’s baby
Category: Cameroon, Gorilla, Simone de Vries | Date: May 08 2009 | By: limbewildlifecentre
In an earlier blog I wrote about Western lowland gorilla Akiba and her new born baby. Now I can show a unique little film about the birth and the first days of Atinbi. Akiba and Atinbi are doing great. If you would like to help take care of the baby, please send your donation through the paypall option on this page. Your support is much appreciated.
All the gorillas in the Limbe Wildlife Centre are on contraceptives, because it is not necessary to breed Western lowland gorillas in captivity. Atinbi’s birth was not planned, but for the group of gorillas this event is a great enrichment.
Best wishes,
Simone de Vries
Animal pictures
Category: Chimpanzee, Gorilla, Guenon, Simone de Vries, endangered species | Date: Mar 27 2009 | By: limbewildlifecentre
In the last months we have received a lot of money via this blog. We are really grateful for these donations and would like to thank everybody who contributed. The work we do would not be possible without you! Let me tell you about the animals that are doing really well thanks to your donation.
Gorilla Adjibolo (foto by George Logan), who was rescued in December 2007 when she was half a year old, is growing well. She still takes her milk in the morning and the afternoon, but for the rest she is just like a big gorilla. She is very happy with her two adoptive mothers Abby and Tinu and the playful Arno. Here also a picture of her moms.
And a picture of Arno. Ever since he has his own family you can just see him grow. Pretty soon he will develop as a silverback!
Preuss’s monkey Bobendina is now 8 months old and is growing as well, but she still sucks her thumb. She is in a group with the one-year-older male Bobo and four females.
Mayos is still the baby in our infant chimpanzee group, but she is already 14 months old. She is starting to be more assertive and when the boys bother her she just goes after them. Ilor, the oldest infant, is her biggest friend.
And finally, our youngest gorilla, born on 3rd March 2009 in the LWC, has a name! In memory of the two gorillas that died last year, we call her Atinbi, which means replacement. Atinbi is doing really well and the whole group of gorillas is very interested in her. Especially Chella, her father, is hanging around all the time to make sure she is okay.
And then something completely different: the Limbe Wildlife Centre has a new website. Please have a look at www.limbewildlife.org.
Best wishes,
Simone de Vries
Assistant Project Manager
Western lowland gorilla baby
Category: Cameroon, Gorilla, Simone de Vries, endangered species | Date: Mar 11 2009 | By: limbewildlifecentre
On 3rd March Western lowland gorilla Akiba gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Mother and child are doing well.
The Limbe Wildlife Centre has the policy not to breed with gorillas and chimpanzees, as we need all the space we have for the rescue of victims of the bushmeat and pet trades. This is why all the gorilla females get daily oral contraceptives. Akiba, with her 9 years old the youngest gorilla in the group, has been on the pil for several years now. Last year though she was seriously ill and we had to separate her from the group. One of our volunteers stayed with her 24 hours a day, trying to feed her and giving her medication. We had taken her off the pil, as it was already quite difficult to get her to take the necessary medications. Fortunately, she got better and started to grow again. We put her back on contraceptives and joined her with the rest of the group.
In the group she looked better and better, and she grew. At some point she looked quite healthy, but still she grew. Therefore we decided to do a pregancy test, which came out positive. We did a second test with the same result. Then we knew we had to start preparing for the birth of a baby. And although it was not planned, it was very hard not to be happy about it.
The last month of her carriage, Akiba spent the night with just some quiet females, but in the end she gave birth during the day in the outside enclosure. The group was very interested and gorilla keeper Bama saw right away that something was going on. He opened the door and Akiba ran inside with a small bundle on her arm.
The first two days we have observed them carefully, but we did not see any suckling. This is why we decided to sedate Akiba and put the baby on the nipple. As soon as we did this the baby started drinking. Ever since the baby is drinking fine. Akiba and the baby are outside again and they are doing really well.
Best wishes,
Simone de Vries, Assistant Project Manager
Category: Cameroon, Gorilla, Simone de Vries, endangered species | Date: Dec 31 2008 | By: limbewildlifecentre
Although I wrote an optimistic blog last week, I have some very sad news this time. On the morning of Christmas day we found Izan sick again, passing loose stool. We started treating him again, but his condition became worse and two days later he died. We are all devastated.
This is the PASA press release that came out a few days ago:
Izan, a male Western Lowland gorilla that became an international symbol of illegal trade and African heritage as part of the so-called “Taiping Four,” died December 26 at the Limbe Wildlife Center in Cameroon following a lengthy illness.
An autopsy was performed following Izan’s death, and it is hoped laboratory tests in Europe will provide answers as to the cause. It is believed that stress and a lack of immunity to endemic pathogens may have contributed.
“We are all deeply saddened by the passing of Izan and our hearts go out to the staff of the Limbe Wildlife Center, which battled mightily to save him,” said Doug Cress, executive director of the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA). “Gorillas are fragile animals that are extremely susceptible to stress, and it could be that the ordeal of Izan’s original capture from the wild and his subsequent travels left him vulnerable.”
The Taiping Four gorillas were one male and three females that were illegally captured as infants from the wild in Cameroon in 2001 and smuggled across the border to Nigeria. From there, the gorillas were transferred under forged CITES permits to the Taiping Zoo in Malaysia. After the deal was uncovered, the Government of Malaysia confiscated the gorillas and sent them to the Pretoria Zoo in South Africa – despite repeated requests from the Government of Cameroon for the return of the gorillas. In support of Cameroon’s request, a consortium of animal conservation and welfare organizations lobbied aggressively for the repatriation of the gorillas, and the Taiping Four were sent to the Limbe Wildlife Center in late 2007. Their return was viewed as a national victory for Cameroon against the international wildlife trafficking menace that continues to threaten the species’ survival.
Last June, Oyin, another of the Taiping Four gorillas, died from intestinal problems similar to those that plagued Izan.Although the Taiping Four gorillas joined Limbe’s 12-member gorilla social group within months of their arrival in Cameroon, Izan was noticeably more shy and susceptible to stress than the others. He first became ill in July, and ultimately required treatment four times over the next five months just to maintain his health. Limbe officials were in constant contact with primate health experts in Africa, Europe and North America throughout Izan’s illness and treatments. “This is a terrible loss for us all,” said Felix Lankester, manager of the Limbe Wildlife Centre. “We did absolutely everything we could to save Izan and uncover the source of his illness, but by the end he was just too weakened to recover. We shall miss him very much.”Added Lankester: “The initial findings from the necropsy of Izan were similar to those found in the necropsy of Oyin, suggesting that there could be a common cause to these two deaths. We shall be sending tissue samples to labs in an attempt to ascertain the cause.”
PASA was formed in 2000 to unite the rescue and rehabilitation facilities across Africa that care for chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos and literally thousands of other endangered primates. For more information, please contact PASAapes@aol.com or visit www.pasaprimates.org.
Best wishes,
Simone de Vries
Assistant Project Manager
Gorilla habits
Category: Cameroon, Gorilla | Date: Dec 21 2008 | By: limbewildlifecentre
As you can read in the blog of 24th November, five gorillas have moved to a new enclosure. It is interesting to observe the behaviour of this new group.
The first to go out in the morning is Arno. He is a nine-year-old male, who is very happy to have his own family now. To say he is a playful animal would be an understatement. It seems like he always has too much energy and needs to jump around and play wrestle with someone. The new enclosure is next to the chimpanzees and as can be expected the chimpanzees were very excited and noisy when they first met through the fences, while the gorillas were curious but relatively calm. But Arno behaved like a proper silverback: pacing along the fence, making himself as big as possible, as if he was trying to make up for his lack of capacity to make noise.
Tinu often follows Arno into the outside enclosure. After a quick walk around she finds some browse and starts chewing on it. She tears the Afromomum apart, so she can eat the inside of the stem. Tinu is the one who plays most with Arno, but she is also very interested in baby Adjibolo. She would be a great mom for Adjibolo if Abby would let her. But Abby is dominant over her, so she doesn’t get much chance.
When Abby comes out, she takes Adjibolo with her on her back. Abby is a very confident gorilla, so it was no surprise that she took upon her the care for the baby gorilla. Adjibolo is now one and a half year old, so she starts to be more and more independent, eating her browse too, but she likes to ride on other gorilla’s backs.
The last to come outside is Izan, the second male in the group, who came from South Africa last year together with Abby and Tinu. Izan is a completely different character then Arno, a bit nervous and very modest. He has been sick several times in the last months but now he is okay and eating everything he can. We hope that Izan will settle in soon and that his confidence will grow a little.
We wish all our readers a merry Christmas and a great 2009!
Simone de Vries
Assistant Project Manager
The ‘Taiping’ gorillas move in to their new enclosure: Limbe Wildlife Centre: Felix Lankester
Category: Bush meat, Cameroon, Felix Lankester, Gorilla, endangered species, illegal trade | Date: Nov 24 2008 | By: limbewildlifecentre
The famous western lowland gorillas, known as the ‘Taiping gorillas’, who were returned to Cameroon from South Africa a year ago continue to keep everyone at the Limbe Wildlife Centre extremely busy. The integration with the resident gorillas at the LWC did not go as well as was hoped and in recent months, whilst the resident gorillas have remained healthy, they have suffered repeated bouts of sickness. It was apparent that stress was a probable factor in their ill health and in order to relieve this stress it became clear that the gorillas needed their own space in which to live. However this posed us with a conundrum: with no land available in the grounds of the LWC to build on how were we going to create a new enclosure in which they could peacefully live? Additionally time was of the essence yet the building of a new enclosure is typically measured in years, not weeks, and with their deteriorating health we felt that we needed to make a change and soon. Fortunately we were just coming to the end of a three year construction project to build a new chimpanzee enclosure and so the decision was taken to move one whole group of chimpanzees into this new enclosure ahead of schedule. The plan being that the vacating chimpanzees would leave behind an old enclosure space which, with some rapid renovations, could be transformed into a dedicated gorilla enclosure.
Work began in October and in a matter of days the roof was rebuilt, walls knocked down, mesh panels welded, a pool built and new gorilla strength climbing structures erected. Transforming, what was an old chimpanzee enclosure, into a newly refurbished home for gorillas.
Once work was completed we planned to move the three Taiping gorillas plus another young male, called Arno, who had also had problems integrating into the LWC resident group. Additionally the infant Adjibolo, who had been fostered on to the female Taiping gorilla Abbey, would join the group. The only problem was how to get the gorillas in to their new home. Typically when moving large animals from one enclosure to another we have to anaesthetise them so that they can be carried whilst asleep. However this can be very stressful especially when the animals have been sick. Therefore we devised an audacious plan whereby the gorillas to be moved were encourage to ‘escape’ out of their enclosure and into their new home by means of a thick rope that was placed over the 4 metre high wall separating the two enclosures.
The first concern was how we could entice the gorillas to climb the new mystery rope: to encourage them we recruited the LWC’s Head Keeper, Jonathan Kang, who climbed the rope a few times in full view of all the gorillas keenly watching what was going on from the night house. We hoped that, having seen Jonathan disappear over the wall, they would follow him over curious to find out where he had gone.
The second problem was preventing the gorillas from simply climbing back in to the old enclosure from where they had come. To solve this we tied the far end of the rope to a fixed climbing structure in the new enclosure, leaving the near end unattached dangling over the wall in the old enclosure. Once in their new home, if the gorillas tried to climb back over the wall they would simply pull the unattached end of the rope on top of themselves.
The big day arrived, the rope had been placed, Jonathan had done his show and all that remained was to selectively let out from the night house only those gorillas that were to be transferred. The sliding doors were opened and as soon as the gorillas were let out they all tentatively approached the mystery rope. Like a bunch of school boys daring each other to see who was the bravest they tested the rope, climbing a few metres and then jumping back down. After a few attempts, however, the young male Arno finally reached the top.
Now sitting on the dividing wall he could see how the rope led into an interesting looking place filled with Aframomum melegueta plants strewn about enticingly. Gorillas love to eat this plant and so, perhaps buoyed by his success so far, Arno carried on down the rope and in to his new home. Encouraged by Arno the females, watching below, soon followed him over the wall. The plan had worked.
Within an hour all the gorillas except one, the nervous young male ‘Izan, had successfully transferred themselves by escaping in to their new home, saving themselves the stress of an anesthetic dart.
One week later I can report that all of the gorillas have settled into their new home and are now able to go outside every single day, as opposed to every other day which was the case in the old enclosure. We shall see in the coming months what impact having their own dedicated enclosure space, away from the attention of the other gorillas, will have on their long-term health. We now hope that they will settle in to their new home and that this will be the last move that these well travelled gorillas will need to make for quite a while.
The care of the all of the gorillas at the LWC is an ongoing concern for all at the project. Funding is always needed to pay for their food, medical and enclosure costs and any assistance with these continual costs will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your help.
Felix Lankester
Tags: bushmeat, Cameroon, conservation, Felix Lankester, Gorilla, great ape, Limbe Wildlife Centre, Taiping
Gorilla stories
Category: Gorilla, education | Date: Nov 15 2008 | By: limbewildlifecentre
Yesterday LWC presented the book ‘Gorilla Stories’, which is going to be used in conservation education in all the schools in and around Limbe. The Cross river gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli), that lives in the South West Province of Cameroon, is critically endangered, with only around 250 gorillas left in the wild. It is therefore very important to educate the people of this province about these gems in their forests. The book is a tool to discuss the Cross river gorilla, its needs and the threats it is facing.
‘Gorilla stories’ is developed by the Czech Radio, with money that came from their project Odhaleni (Revealed). This gorilla project, which started with a gorilla version of the television show ‘Big Brother’, filmed in Prague Zoo, is very popular in the Czech Republic. Now the Cameroonian students will meet with the Czech Zoo gorillas and will learn about the life of gorillas both in the wild and in the zoo.
The principles and teachers of fifteen schools were present for the book presentation, which was covered by the Cameroonian Radio and Television and some local radio stations. Miroslav Bobek, one of the writers of the stories, and Jana Jiritova, were over from the Czech Republic to assist with the presentation and start the distribution of the books. All school representatives were very pleased with the donated books, which are very nicely illustrated with lots of gorilla pictures. Like everybody in this country, the Cameroonian schools are always struggling to make ends meet, so it is very difficult for them to build up a library. This book donation is for most schools a valuable gift, that can be used in all sorts of classes, from conservation education to comprehensive reading, drawing, etc. The Limbe Wildlife Centre will use the books as well in both the outreach program and the Saturday Nature Club.
Best wishes,
Simone de Vries
Assistant Project Manager
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This is the blog of Simone de Vries and Anne Sofie Meilvang, managers of the Limbe Wildlife Centre. Simone has worked at the LWC since 2006 and became the manager in April 2009, when Sofie joined the team as Assistant Project Manager. -
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Donations Received
- Nov 11th Cynthia G. USD250.00
- Nov 9th David S. USD100.00
- Nov 8th Matthew T. USD32.00
- Nov 2nd Gwendolen R. USD20.00
- Oct 27th Anne-marie F. USD16.50
- Oct 19th Brigitta S. USD10.00
- Oct 8th Matthew T. USD32.00
- Oct 2nd Gwendolen R. USD20.00
- Sep 27th Anne-marie F. USD16.50
- Sep 19th Brigitta S. USD10.00
- Sep 18th Patricia G. USD200.00
- Sep 8th Matthew T. USD32.00
- Sep 2nd Angelika H. USD100.00
- Sep 2nd Gwendolen R. USD20.00
- Sep 1st Wanda H. USD25.00
- Aug 27th Anne-marie F. USD16.50
- Aug 23rd Theresa S. USD27.50
- Aug 19th Brigitta S. USD10.00
- Aug 17th David B. USD500.00
- Aug 17th Lars M. USD110.00