J.A.C.K.

Now that baby Luna is in the nursery group, Tika, the “big brother” is over-protecting her but can’t leave Ekolo aside.

Tika with Luna (left) keeping an eye on Ekolo

Remember, before Luna was introduced, Tika was taking good care of Ekolo who had been badly sick, isolated for several months and then put back into Tika’s group.

Tika watching over Ekolo

Today, Tika has given himself a double responsability: to look after the two youngest babies of his group!

Tika hugging Ekolo

Not always easy! Luna is younger than Ekolo and is sometimes jealous.

Luna having a look on what is going on in Tika’s arms…

She doesn’t understand why Ekolo should share Tika’s arms too and she always tries to keep Tika’s attention onto her…

Luna looking straight into Tika’s eyes to have his attention

… or she even tries to get Ekolo’s hands off Tika….

Luna trying to get Ekolo’s hand off Tika who doesn’t appreciate what she is doing

But Tika doesn’t give up! There’s is enough space for the two little ones in his arms and in his heart and he does the best he can!!!

Luna arrived at J.A.C.K. in July 2011 and was less than 1 year old…

Luna arriving one night of July 2011

Today, one year later, she is enjoying life in the baby group and although her introduction took some time, we can now say it is a great success! The last time I was with her in the nursery group, she left my arms and this meant that she was ready to go with the others…

Luna leaving my arms

Luna joining her chimp friends of nursery group

Of course, all the youngsters were extremely surprised to see Luna walking around the place…

friends surrounding the newcomer

new friends, new group, new life, new start…

And when Tika, the dominant, arrived, she knew he would be the one that would from now on take care of her and she grabbed his back as if to say ‘OK, let’s go…I am a chimp too, but a very young one and I need you!”

Luna grabbing Tika’s back

Since that particular day of August, Tika has been over-protecting the little one and we are pleased and proud baby Luna is now among others of her own kind…

Tika & Luna

More pictures and updates to come soon!!

Good luck, Luna!

Thank you,

Roxane/J.A.C.K.

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Well, dear Friends, when LUNA (the newcomer) meets TIKA (the dominant of the nursery group)  everything is fine and the meeting generates emotions from both sides…

Luna discovering her future outside facility

The baby chimp really seemed trustful. I was with her when she met the big male for the first time and the only signs she showed was that she grabbed me very very tightly. Luna had already seen but not yet met the big preadolescent chimps we have in the main group of J.A.C.K. but it was actually the very first time she was in front of a chimp of the size of Tika…. Look at her face – Luna really looks impressed and wondering whether I’ll leave her or not with a big one like this!

Tika showing no sign of interest into Luna

Tika is a peaceful chimpanzee and is more like a ‘big brother’ than an alpha… at the beginning he didn’t pay attention at all to Luna… He was just happy to have Papa Augustin and me next to him – Tika loves us too much!

Tika playing with me instead of getting any interest in Luna

When he finally decided he would try to touch Luna, she became upset and shouted as if she were saying “stop! get away from me!”

Luna refusing Tika to touch her

Hopefully, Tika didn’t try to tease the little one that much and the first meeting was extremely positive.  He played around us but was very gentle – this is how Tika usually is!

Tika playing with Luna

More pictures will come soon as Luna has to go through more presentations to feel completely at ease in her new group!

Tika playing with me instead of getting any interest in Luna

Thank you all for following us!

Roxane/J.A.C.K.

Cliquez ici pour le blog en langue française

Dear All!

YES! Baby Luna met 5 youngsters of the nursery group and all went well! Remember, Luna arrived in July 2011 and because of her very young age it took quite some time before presenting her to other chimps.

Luna in July 2011

Papa Augustin and I decided beforehand which infants would be introduced first to Luna (the less bully ones!) so that Luna can slowly by slowly gain trust and confidence while being with others of her same kind.

APapa ugustin with Kimo, Lynn & Rosie - I've got Luna in my arms

Papa Augustin comes in with Kimo, Rosie & Lynn

Papa Augustin first brought Kimo, Rosie and Lynn and it obviously was Kimo who had the most attention on Luna.

Kimo interested in Luna

Luna seemed really too shy when Kimo came into my arms for a hug and Luna hid herself in my scarf…

Luna hiding in my scarf

Then Augustin brought Maïka and Tommy. Immediately, Maïka went to see Luna and even dared touching her.

Maïka sniffing Luna

Maïka likes grooming – so, she thought maybe Luna would accept a grooming session but Luna actually got cross and slapped Maïka… I’m sure next time grooming session will be fine!

Maïka & Luna

I can say that the first meeting went on well. Of course the others were extremely curious. But Luna did great as she didn’t show any signs of stress .. and this is already a good start!

Maïka touching Luna

I’ll come back to you for the next step; when Luna will meet some of the bully ones!

Luna meeting new friends

Thank you for reading

Roxane/JACK

Dear Friends,

Some of you already know Lynn was transferred from our house to te sanctuary the other day.

Lynn transferred to the Sanctuary

She had indeed arrived several weeks before and had been kept at our place for 2 main reasons: (1.) our quarantine facilities were too cold (it is still winter here in the Southern hemisphere)  and (2. ) a terrible flu outbreak started when Lynn arrived. 

Papa Marcel & Lynn

Last Friday was D-day for little Lynn. Papa Marcel did all his best to comfort the baby chimp as Lynn really didn’t understand what was going on…

Lynn's crate in front of the nursery group

Once at J.A.C.K., Lynn’s crate was set in front of the nursery group which was extremely surprised to see the new arrival!!!

nursery chimps surprised

Marcel staying close to Lynn

Lynn was scared and begged Papa Marcel to stay close to her.

Lynn keeping Papa Marcel close

Everyone was fed as usual. Lynn also got her milk, but this time, she was alone with Papa Marcel in one of the nursery facilities to discover her new environment…

1st milk at J.A.C.K.!

 Then, the gates were opened and 3 infants of the nursery (who we know are very pacific and love newcomers!) were allowed to come in: Santa, Kimo and Vida. Santa is extremely maternal and hugged Lynn on post. Shortly after, she had to know whether Lynn was a boy or a girl… so, Lynn accepted to be “inspected” by Santa…

Santa : "are you a boy or a girl???"

This little group had great fun in the morning and later on in the afternoon, Lynn was introduced to another 3 friends: Maïka, Rosie and Bapu and all went well! Lynn is very sociable, loves contact and that is why it was high time she entered the nursery group. We usually have 90 days of quarantine. But, this time, because the newcomer was so healthy and so desperate to be alone, Franck & I along with Vet Jean-Claude decided to shorten Lynn’s isolation period, to do health checks and to introduce her…

Lynn(left) with Santa, Kimo & Vida

On Saturday, I took her all alone in the outside facility so that she could discover her future environment. Lynn was happy to go from trees to trees !!

Lynn in de trees discovering the outside facility

On Sunday, all the gates were opened and Lynn joined the nursery group outside! Papa Marcel of course was with her and was extremely protective! All went well! Tika as usual behaved as the big brother of the group and understood a new female had been introduced which made of him the happiest chimp of the group!

Tika and Lynn in Marcel's arms

Lynn at first wouldn’t leave Marcel’s arms when seeing so many chimpanzees around her…

nursery group

But it was Tommy who stayed close to her and hugged her most of the time… Tommy has become Lynn’s guide and Lynn’s best friend. At night, he even shares his food and nest with her. Isn’t that Friendship???

Tommy (behind) sharing food & nest with Lynn

Lynn is now adjusting very well and her mates of the nursery group do help her a LOT!

Papa Marcel, Tommy (left) & Lynn

Before I end I wish to add one more thing which is very important to Franck and I: if little orphans stay at our place, it isn’t because we want to make pets out of them but because they need full attention that we can’t actually  provide at the complex because we don’t have that many facilities nor so many keepers. Chimps are not pets! We aren’t their mothers and fathers and they aren’t our kids!We do our best to give them a second chance in life as their families have been slaughtered by human cupidity. The aim is to put them back in the forests they belong to and not to keep them in a sanctuary… Franck, the J.A.C.K. team and I have become their surrogate family and we all do our best to make them feel happy!

Thank You

Roxane/J.A.C.K.

This is the good news of the day, dear Friends! Tommy, the baby with osteomyelitis, has been finally introduced into his group and we now keep our fingers crossed his bone will soon recover completely!

Tommy back in the group (right)

All went very fast and extremely well as Tommy had met most of the other little friends last March.

Tommy in the middle of Kimo (up left), Ekolo (front) and Santa (right)

Today, Nalia and Tommy are again inseparable – remember, they both were rescued by South African people in Kisangani about a year ago and JACK was sponsored a private flight to fetch the two little babies and bring them at the sanctuary.

Tommy & Nalia

Pictures are sometimes more expressive than words, so, enjoy the following photos of Tommy in the group…

Tommy & Nalia together again

Tommy

Tommy & best friend Nalia

Tommy "what food is left in your box, Maman Angéline???"

Thank You All

Roxane/J.A.C.K.

Dear All

Last week was a busy week as it was high time some orphans were introduced to the other chimps.

First, it was Tika & Joma’s turn to share experience with the members of the main group and although they had  been presented to each and every member of this group for weeks and had shared the night quarters with some of them, we all were very nervous to see how things would turn once everyone was outside in the open air enclosure.

Joma (front left), Tika keeping his arm on Kala's back and female Kina (right)

Our team was very scared of Mwisho, the biggest and oldest male who runs the group as “the” boss. He can be extremely rough with newcomers….especially when these are new males!!!

Mwisho entering the open air facility

But actually all went well. Especially Joma who submitted himself immediately to Mwisho.

Tika has a weaker personnality and was mainly protected by his friend, Kala.

Tika (left) staying close to Kala (right)

 When Mwisho came around, Kala set himself in between and this made the alpha more upset!

Mwisho beating up Kala who is protecting both Tika & Joma

By the end of the day, Kala was on hiw own (he probably had been beaten up too much by Mwisho and wanted to keep his rank in the hierarchy of the group!?) leaving Tika defending himself all alone. Tika therefore has felt abandoned by Kala and is more afraid of Mwisho who only expected Tika’s submission….

Mwisho showing Kala & Tika that he's the "boss"!

In the nursery group, Nalia and Ekolo have been introduced too. We couldn’t wait until Tommy came back as we don’t know how long Tommy’s infection will last. And therefore, the two little ones who had met the nursery group already, are now part of the group!

Nalia & Pasa

It was a huge surprise to see young male Pasa grabbing Nalia and keeping her close to him,  protecting her.

Pasa keeping Nalia close to him refusing the others to come closer

 Neither Santa nor Africa (the two most maternal female infants of the group) could even come close to Nalia – Pasa kept the little girl in his arms.

Pasa grooming Nalia

Remember, Pasa is the biggest male infant of the nursery and also the bulliest. We all were extremely impressed Pasa could be full of attention to a little one… Welldone, Pasa!

Pasa isn't always bully!

We actually couldn’t have a lot of pictures of Ekolo who was being groomed and groomed by most of the females. Ekolo is very young and small and it’s important Papa Augustin still stays close to baby Ekolo who is now living new experiences….

Ekolo hidden by the girls (Africa, Rosie & Dian)

Thank You,

Roxane/J.A.C.K

As  promised yesterday, here is the report of Tommy’s second day of introduction into JACK nursery group.

The first day, Tommy, Nalia & Ekolo were presented to Santa, Maïka & Kimo. These 3 chimps of nearly 4 are usually very calm and quite maternal towards new comers. Especially Santa who loves to have very little ones in her arms.

Santa with Ekolo in her arms

Today, another step was reached! It was high time the 3 little ones met other members of the group: Bapu, Pundu, Dian & Rosie.

And, in the afternoon, the elder infants were presented: Africa, Pasa and Elia.

Papa Augustin & nursery group

All went quite well. Papa Augustin and Franck stayed for hours with the little ones and the nursery group in their outside enclosure and although Elia and Pasa were tempted to impose themselves, they didn’t do anything to the 3 new ones.

Ekolo played in the trees.

Ekolo

Tommy went high up in the trees.

Tommy (left) followed by Pasa

And Nalia decided she’d rather stayed close to Papa Augustin and Franck. She sometimes joined Tommy in the trees but didn’t stay too far from Papa Augustin.

Nalia & Tommy

Then, suddenly, by the end of the day just before feeding time, Pasa started to be naughty with Nalia.

Pasa grabbing Nalia's feet

….Elia couldn’t stop teasing Ekolo….

Elia teasing the little ones. Here, she is behind Ekolo and she actually hit Ekolo's back

And even Kimo wished to imitate Pasa and hit Nalia’s back just to show her he’s the boss…[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/rpLrG8M3pao" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Not funny, indeed, and therefore, at the end of this second day, we took the decision to keep the 3 little ones slightly separated from  the bigger ones (Elia & Pasa) . Africa was fine, she’s been very patient and is usually a very maternal female… Remember, Africa is the one who took care of Vida last year when Vida was introduced to the same group….

Africa staying with Ekolo & Tommy

The second night, Santa, Maïka and Kimo again shared their quarters with the 3 newcomers and this time it was Kimo who took Ekolo in his nest. Tommy & Nalia slept together in a corner not far from Kimo & Ekolo.

Although the elder infants were a bit rough, I think the newcomers had again a great experience today. Let’s see what tomorrow brings!!!

Thank You

Roxane/J.A.C.K.

Hurray!

This is great news I now want to share with you, dear Friends of JACK!

Yes! Tommy and his two best friends, Nalia & Ekolo, moved to our sanctuary a few days ago as Tommy’s arm is now doing fine. Last week Saturday was D-Day and it took us a few minutes to get the  little ones ready to go and to be transferred to J.A.C.K.!

Although transfer wasn’t that long,  Tommy couldn’t stop crying and being impatient. Nalia & Ekolo were  quiet and hugging one another at the back of their crate …

Upon arrival at JACK sanctuary, Papa Augustin was very pleased to see his colleagues and all of  them sang and danced of contentment!

PapaAugustin and his colleagues: Marcel & Ilunga

All the members of the team were together again and joy was to be seen on each and every face! Papa Augustin was also extremely proud to introduce his 3 babies to the team…

the team reunited!

Papa Marcel helped Augustin bringing the crates down to the new enclosure.[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/5k0UEicCd1Y" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Once the crate open, it was milk time and the little ones could run around the place as to discover their new environment.

1st milk in a new place: Ekolo refused his milk bottle first but drank 2 of them later on

A few hours later, presentations started: Santa came in first, then Maïka and then Kimo.

Ekolo discovering his new environment: he was not used to walk on a concrete floor...

Ekolo & Kimo (right) and Maïka & Nalia (left)

Santa holding Ekolo

Tommy discovering his new place

This was enough for the first day and because all went well with these 3 elder ones, we decided they could all stay together at night. It was Maïka who allowed the 3 little ones to share her nest!

Maïka hugging Ekolo

As you can see, the first day of Tommy and his friends was all fine and the 3 little seemed happy to see other chimps. Ekolo was really impressed to see so many chimps at once (he ahd known Tommy & Nalia only!) but at the end of the day, he was less stressed as Mama Angeline had prepared him a special treat…. A V O C A D O S  !!!!

Maman Angeline had prepared a special treat for Ekolo: A V O C A D O S !!!!

Day 2 of introduction will be for tomorrow if there is enough electricity.

Stay tuned & Thank You all!

Roxane/J.A.C.K.