The chimpanzee social structure is divided into hierarchies led by a dominant male referred to as the alpha male. The alpha male not only mates with all the females but is also the most powerful chimpanzee controlling everyone and everything in the group. Who wouldn’t want to be an all powerful alpha male?
Chimpanzee Chat
18 February 2012
1 February 2012
A door slowly slides open and two chimpanzees stick their heads out and peer into the open. After taking it all in, one chimpanzee takes a few tentative steps outside then turns back and hugs his friend. They are finally free!
16 December 2011
The Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary is situated within the confine of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy and as a result we get to see some wild animals once in a while through the fence. Recently, a herd of elephants were passing by and stopped outside the Sanctuary for close to an hour.
26 November 2011
The last part of the series, this week’s blog, will be on chimps raised in captivity versus those in the wild. The first thing to keep in mind is that captive chimps are generally raised from infancy by humans.
21 November 2011
This week’s blog, which is the second part in a series dedicated to shedding light on threats facing chimpanzees in the wild, will look at pet trade, chimps in entertainment and the resulting perceptions.
30 September 2011
Chimpanzee sanctuaries like the one on Ol Pejeta exist because chimpanzees are threatened in the wild and if not protected they will become extinct. The threats facing chimpanzees in the wild are mainly habitat loss, bush meat trade and pet trade. I believe education is key in eliminating some of these problems therefore the next few blogs will shed light on the threats. This week we will look into bush meat trade and pet trade which go hand in hand.
6 September 2011
The recent rains have formed little puddles around the Sanctuary and the chimpanzees seem to have fallen in love with the reflections they see in these pools of water. Normally, Alley is the chimp that loves staring at her reflection in the drinking troughs but in the last few weeks nearly all the chimps seem to have caught the vanity bug and are staring at themselves in any reflective surface they find. It has been quite amusing watching this conceited behaviour.
11 August 2011
It’s “winter” in Kenya, or what we call the “cold months”. We have been hit by a tough cold and flu virus and the chimps have not escaped it. This particular virus strain has left everyone sneezing, coughing and sniffling for days on end. Just like humans, the chimpanzees have different coping strategies to ease the symptoms, some of which are pretty amusing.
22 July 2011
Stop and take some time to think of what it would be like if you were an animal – a chimpanzee for example – and you were in danger; your home being cut down, your family slaughtered for meat and you were taken away to be kept as a pet. People are doing this, but not just to chimpanzees. It’s happening to lots of different animals. It’s called poaching and poaching is illegal.
15 July 2011
The weather has been extremely hot in the Sanctuary lately. This is supposed to be the cold season but instead we are experiencing a heat wave. The chimpanzees don’t seem very happy with this hot weather and have become almost docile. Instead of playing you will most likely find them seeking out shelter under trees, under the platform or taking a nap in the hammock.
1 July 2011
June is birthday month here at the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary as three of our chimps all celebrate their birthdays. Mwanzo, who just recently became a mother for the second time, turned 15 on June 5th. Oscar, the alpha male, turned 14 on June 10th while Joy turned 7 on June 11th. I think they all decided to celebrate their birthday month by acting up and getting into all sorts of trouble.
24 June 2011
I am pleased to announce that we have a new addition here at the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary. Mwanzo is the proud mother of another baby girl! Her second child was no less of a surprise than her first born, Ajabu! This little bundle of joy is turning two months tomorrow as she was born on the 25th of April. In keeping with the theme of names beginning with “a” like her sister Ajabu, we named her Angela.
15 June 2011
The health checks I mentioned last time went really well and I am pleased to report that all our chimps are in excellent health. During the medical examinations I had a chance to observe some pretty amazing behavior from some of our chimps. Alley, our resident escape artist, wasted no time in finding new ways to get out of the enclosure. She must have figured out that something was going on and she wasn’t just going to sit around and let things pass her by.
23 May 2011
I am pleased to announce that we have yet another award to add to our belt. The Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary received a Standards of Excellence award from the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries during the recent Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) workshop held in the United Kingdom.
13 May 2011
It’s been a quiet week here at the Sanctuary, no clowning around from our friends, so I thought I would take this opportunity to answer some of your questions.
7 May 2011
We don’t want to be left behind and will also be honoring mothers and motherhood this weekend. We appreciate all our biological and surrogate chimp mothers; Akela, Alley, Cheetah, Judy, Mwanzo, Sultana and Tess.
From all of us here at Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary, HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!
27 April 2011
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.
14 April 2011
A strong wind blew across the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary early this week and you would have thought it was Armageddon the way the chimpanzees reacted. The chimpanzees were running up and down trying to chase the wind and it was really amusing watching them. Chimpanzees are highly territorial and I imagine they thought they were being ambushed therefore they were chasing the wind to get to the intruders.
8 April 2011
Poco has charm unlike any other chimpanzee I’ve seen. Everyone falls in love with him when they meet him. Maybe it’s because he walks upright, it amazes people to see a chimpanzee expressing behaviour associated with humans. All chimps have the ability to walk upright but Poco’s posture is different. He stands up tall, he even has a swagger!! His upright posture can be attributed to his difficult childhood.
1 April 2011
Ajabu, our youngest chimp here at the Sanctuary, celebrated her third birthday yesterday, on 30th March 2011. Ajabu is part of the second generation of chimpanzees to be born here at the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary. Her name means “surprise” in Kiswahili as no one knew her mother, Mwanzo, was pregnant. In fact Mwanzo was also born at the Sanctuary.
