Friday, May 15, 2020

It's been a long time since we've updated you on the Fongoli chimps, but everyone is still doing well! You can now get the DVD of the BBC's Dynasties documentary series that features the chimps in one episode. Here is a link to a nice overview of that episode via photos:

Live Science Fongoli Chimp Photo Story

In other news, we have had a couple of new infants, from Eva (girl, Ella) and Lucille (boy, Zeb), and the group remains stable in light of the ongoing gold mining in Senegal.

The Fongoli research team is minimizing contact with the chimps during the Covid-19 pandemic by doubling our conservative follow distance (distance between us and the chimps) from 10 meters to 20 meters. They are continuing to follow the group members to keep tabs on their health and locations.

Our associated Neighbor Ape organization is funding a mask-making project via a local tailor in Kedougou, Senegal. So far, we have been able to fund the sewing of 300 masks, and these will be distributed in the villages of Fongoli, Petit Oubadji, Djendji, Tenkoto, Ngary, and Ngary-Seekoto.


Finally, one of the oldest adult male chimpanzees at Fongoli - Bilbo - has not been seen in several months. We hope that he returns. Bilbo is pictured in the photo above, carrying several baobab fruit during the dry season at Fongoli. One of our Neighbor Ape fundraising projects currently features this photo of Bilbo. Follow this link to the Fongoli Chimps Store at teespring to see more:

Fongoli Chimps Store on Teespring