CHIMPANZEES
Ol Pejeta has been advocating for the plight of chimpanzees and other great apes since 1993 – when we first opened the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary. The Sanctuary aims to provide a refuge for chimpanzees rescued from the black market, and is the only place in Kenya where these fascinating animals can be seen.
SWEETWATERS CHIMPANZEE SANCTUARY
The chimpanzees’ natural home range spans from Senegal on the West African coast, through the central forested belt of Africa, to Uganda. They are not native to Kenya, but when a rescue centre in Burundi had to be closed due to the civil war outbreak in 1993 – Ol Pejeta opened its doors.
MORE ON CHIMPANZEES
The Chimpanzee (Chordata Hominidae), is a species of ape found across western and central Africa. Along with gorillas and orangutans, the chimpanzee is classified as a ‘great ape’, and is a wild cousin of the human – we share 98.6% of our DNA with them!
Like us, these chimpanzees laugh when they play with each other and hug to show affection, as well as walking upright, just like we do. Sadly, there are only around 150,000-200,000 chimpanzees remaining in the wild today, classifying them as Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (ICUN).
Ol Pejeta has been advocating for the plight of chimpanzees and other great apes since 1993 – when we first opened the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary. The Sanctuary aims to provide a refuge for chimpanzees rescued from the black market, and is the only place in Kenya where these fascinating animals can be seen.
Adopt Poco, Manno, or Max– all chimpanzees who were rescued and
brought to Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary to receive care, love, and
rehabilitate. From being a victim of the illegal bush meat trade, to abused
by their human ‘owners’, they have all found a safe home at Sweetwaters.
SWEETWATERS CHIMPANZEE SANCTUARY
The chimpanzees’ natural home range spans from Senegal on the West African coast, through the central forested belt of Africa, to Uganda. They are not native to Kenya, but when a rescue centre in Burundi had to be closed due to the civil war outbreak in 1993 – Ol Pejeta opened its doors.
The Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary was established with an agreement between the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and the Jane Goodall Institute. The aim – to provide lifelong refuge to orphaned and abused chimpanzees from West and Central Africa. Over the last decade, Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary has been compelled to keep accepting chimpanzees rescued from traumatic situations – bringing the total number of chimpanzees in the Sanctuary to 35. Many are confiscated from cramped and unnatural living conditions, and many arrive with horrific injuries sustained from abuse at the hands of humans. Here at Sweetwaters, they get a chance to start over.
Sweetwaters Chimpanzees
With 24-hour veterinary support and a stimulating quarantine enclosure, chimpanzees arriving at the Sanctuary are carefully nursed back to health. When they are ready, they are introduced into one of the two large groups at the Sanctuary, who live in vast natural enclosures separated by the Ewaso Nyiro River. The chimps have set feeding times, and return to their indoor enclosures at night – but other than that they spend their days exploring, climbing, socialising, and learning to be chimpanzees all over again.
Sweetwaters is a chartered member of the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA), an alliance of 18 sanctuaries in 12 African countries; currently caring for over 800 orphaned and/or confiscated chimpanzees. PASA’s role is to help conserve chimpanzees and other primates and their habitats through public education and lobbying for political goodwill.
ADVOCACY
Bo and Bella arrive from Guinea Bissau
The Saga of Manno – Background*
Great apes jilted at the CITES CoP 17
CITES decides not to report on illegal great ape trade
PEGAS attends the joint IPS/ASP Congress in Chicago, 21-28 August 2016
Dr. Jane Goodall and KWS Director General visit Sweetwaters
Uncovering the horrors of the great ape trade in Thailand
PEGAS exposes wildlife traffickers to the authorities – will they act?
At a tender age, they witness their entire family being shot. They are then forced into a tiny box and transported for days without food or water out of their jungle home, to an alien environment. Here, they are forced to perform unnatural acts like rollerblading, dress-up and even smoking – acts that are deemed entertaining to some humans. After they perform, they are shut back into a cold, dark box to await the next paying audience.
This is the life of so many young chimpanzees, snatched from the wild to fuel the illegal trade in great apes. This is decimating wild populations. This is slavery of our closest relatives.
The Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary is not only a rescue centre, but also a platform we use to raise awareness on the plight of chimpanzees in the wild. Inadequate information on the illegal trafficking of great apes has hindered efforts to enforce international laws designed to stop the trade, as well as limited the effects of active campaigns and advocacy.
Even if chimpanzees are lucky enough to be rescued, lack of space in many PASA-approved sanctuaries is a challenge, leaving many without a sanctuary to go to.
For these reasons, the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary has secured a three-year grant (May 2014-May 2017) to initiate the Project to End Great Ape Slavery (PEGAS) that is aimed at:
- Developing a better understanding of the illegal trade in great apes
- Ensuring appropriate dissemination of accurate information pertaining to specific instances of illegally trafficked apes
- Repatriating illegally obtained apes to African sanctuaries with adequate space, and
- Campaigning for current international agreements to be enforced and adhered to.
PEGAS aims to understand and document the illegal trade in great apes, map trade routes and identify individuals involved as well as use information emanating from the project to create a platform to lobby for enhanced law enforcement. Where opportunities exist to repatriate illegally exported chimpanzees to Africa, PEGAS will work with Ol Pejeta Conservancy and PASA to achieve this.
LEARN
Scientific Name: Pan troglodytes
Chimpanzees share 98.6% of their genetic DNA with humans. Watching the interactions and behaviour of the chimpanzees at Sweetwaters will reveal many uncanny resemblances to humans. Like us, chimpanzees are known to make use of tools – using rocks to crack tough nuts and long, thin twigs to fish for termites. They are the only primates to have developed tool use to such an advanced level.
Chimpanzees are part of the great ape family along with orangutans, gorillas and bonobos. Adult males stand at over a metre tall and weigh between 35 and 70 kilograms. Chimpanzees have long arms for climbing and nimble hands and feet with opposable thumbs to grasp objects and branches. They are omnivores, and while their diet mainly consists of ripe fruit, young leaves and seeds, they will eat insects, eggs, nestlings and occasionally hunt small mammals.
Chimpanzees are extremely sociable animals, living in complex communities of between 15 and 100. The groups are led by a dominant male (the “alpha” male) who establishes a hierarchy based on physical strength, age and intelligence. As in human politics, how popular you are, and who you know, are also vital factors in establishing chimpanzee hierarchy. Chimpanzees spend hours grooming each other – grooming is a sign of affection, submission, love and an important way of maintaining friendship and family bonds. At dusk, wild chimpanzees build nests 6-25 meters above ground (by pulling over branches to make a soft bed).
The life expectancy for a chimpanzee is between 40 and 50 years in the wild and around 60 years in captivity. Female chimpanzees become sexually active in captivity from 8-9 years of age. On average, chimpanzees in the wild have their first babies when they are approximately 11-12 years of age. Males become fertile when they are approximately 10 years of age in the wild and earlier in captivity. The gestation period is 7 ½ – 8 months and chimpanzee’s labour normally lasts only 40 minutes. The average time between babies is approximately 3-5 years. For the first six months of life offspring are in constant contact with their mother. For the first four months, the juveniles will suckle approximately every three hours. Independent travel and weaning occur at about five years of age. Solid food consumption starts from 4-6 months of age and increases as the suckling reduces.
