The Chimpanzee Whisperer by Stany Nyandwi

Author:Stany Nyandwi
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781950994427
Publisher: Arcade
Published: 2022-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Successful integration is one of the toughest parts of being a chimp caregiver. Integration means safely introducing a new chimp or chimps into an established community. It’s something we did a lot at Ngamba Island, because orphaned chimps continued to be confiscated and brought to the sanctuary. Chimps may seriously injure or kill strangers, so integration must be done with all care and understanding. Caregivers must recognize and respect each individual’s personality, rank, or status.

When a new chimp—and they were often infants—first came to Ngamba Island, a caregiver would stay with that infant for twenty-four hours a day, just like its mother would have. Building this rapport was very important for both the chimp and the human. It provided comfort and supported the well-being of each young chimp, and it allowed caregivers to begin to learn and understand the individual personality of that chimp. Remember, the key to success means knowing every individual. If you don’t know each chimp, the integration process will be much harder and you may not be successful.

On Ngamba Island, newly arrived orphans were never blood relatives of the resident chimps. This made integration harder. So, we used to introduce the new orphans to certain adult females who were gentle and had good mothering instincts. At Ngamba Island, we would often use two chimps named Connie and Becky for this purpose. We used to call them our “welcoming committee.”

Then Debby and I came up with a new idea! We would take the juveniles and the welcoming females into a small area of the forest that was separated from the main chimp forest. Working in this environment gave everyone more room to move, and they could get to know each other without feeling trapped. Once the juveniles formed a bond with the welcoming females, the task of integrating them into the larger group became easier, because the little ones now had friends within the group. After they were integrated with the females and lower-ranking males, we began to integrate new chimps with the big males, especially the alpha.

However, even the best integration processes involved risks. Integrations can be stressful, and they sometimes come with consequences—for both humans and chimps. If you integrate a chimp into a new group and that chimp is killed, there can be big problems for the sanctuary, so you must take your time and you must get it right.

Sometimes, no matter how well you are prepared, the chimps will fight and attack a new member. It can be scary to watch, but you have to step back and let them sort out things for themselves. Fights are fairly common, and they are one way that chimps work out their rank. Sometimes, though, you would have to step in if it meant saving a chimp from being killed or seriously injured.

On Ngamba Island, I developed a technique to allow me to step in when a situation became dangerous. It’s what I called the jackpot approach. If a certain chimp was making trouble during integration, then it was important to know what they liked and what excited them.

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