Jean Goodall Chimp Eden

Just a few K's up the road form where we stay, is a place called "Jean Goodall Chimp Eden".  We decided it would be fun to take the Elders there to check it out. She is a British Anthropologist  who  lived in Africa among the Chimps for several years to study chimps, their life, anatomy, and behaviors.  She has funded several sanctuaries for the rescue of mistreated  chimps and care
 for them before returning them back into the wild.

After you turn into the road there is a long drive to get to the actual area.  

We saw several Kudos grazing on this dry field.

These two looked at us like they wondered what we were doing!

As you go into the building, you see several large posters and a video telling a little about the work, 

and research she has done.

There was a guide who would explain what they did at the sanctuary.  She brought out a pan of cut up bananas and macadamia nuts that she would throw to the chimps to feed them.  Each chimp had a name and she told a little bit about each of them.

This one was the head female.  She was sitting up on a manmade rock which had a pump inside and little holes where water would come out periodically for them to drink when they turned it on.  She caught every piece of food that they threw to her.

These two were racing to get a drink of water first.

The chimps were acting like humans as they vied for attention and another piece of food.  Some would get very jealous and pound their chests and make squealing sounds.

These chimps were in another area.  They love to try to find cooties on each others skin.

Interesting little fellows!  They were fun to watch how they behaved and interacted with each other.

The chimp on the left had been in the circus.  When the chimps wouldn't perform like their handlers wanted, they would withhold food from them.  This one was very malnurished when they rescued it.  That's the reason for the lack of hair on the top of its head and upper back.

This chimp was taken away from its mom as a baby and used in a lab for drug testing.  You can see by the way it is sucking its thumb that it missed that early nurturing that is so important in infants and children.  I'm sure the drugs also hampered its learning ability as well.

It was interesting to watch how their behaviors imitated that of humans.  The people working there acted like they really enjoyed their work.  Jean Goodall did a wonderful job with all she did in her study of chimps and setting up sanctuaries for the rescue of mistreated chimps, and other types of monkeys .  They were fun to  watch, but I wouldn't be able to work there everyday!

 Good thing that all of us are not all alike!