I recently noticed that Ajabu has acquired a new skill – she is using stick tools! This new skill of hers helped her pinch a banana from Oscar. His banana fell outside the enclosure while he was showing off, almost advertising his alpha male status, to some visitors we had in the Sanctuary. Ajabu, who was standing nearby, picked up a stick and used it to drag the banana through the electric fence into the enclosure. She then picked it up before Oscar could get to it and ran to where her mother and grandmother were. She enjoys the female’s protection and as such Oscar did not follow her, just sulked from a distance.

Ajabu is slowly being weaned by Mwanzo who has been seen suckling herself so there is no milk left for her daughter! It seems now that she has acquired the skill to use sticks as tools and can fend for herself, Ajabu’s weaning will go on smoothly. She has become an expert in using sticks and sometimes even goes fishing for ants from their holes.

Chimpanzee children have to learn a lot of difficult and important things e.g. which fruits are safe to eat, how to understand the other chimpanzees, how to make and use tools, and much more. The learning process is often hard and long and some abilities the children have to learn over many years. We’re proud of Ajabu for acquiring an important skill already.