NELSPRUIT – For days on end, thousands of people across the globe sat glued to their computer screens, not wanting to miss a once-in-a-lifetime event – the actual birth of a baby chimpanzee.
The birth of baby chimp Thabu at the Jane Goodall Institute Chimpanzee Eden on January 23 last year may have lasted a second, but the memory of the occassion lingers with the humans who witnessed it through a specially set-up “Nina-cam”.
Now, a year after, primate expert, Dr Philip Cronjé, recalls the highs and lows of the past 12 months.
“The most anxious time was the first three days,” he remembers, and this was due to Nina’s inability to suckle her newborn. Cronjé, along with sanctuary manager Mr Marc Cronjé, came up with creative, and seemingly desperate, ways to encourage the first-time mother to feed her baby. This included showing her videos of other chimps suckling their young, and even bringing a human to breastfeed at Nina’s cage in the hope of demonstrating the right actions to the ape. Whether it was these interventions or due to medication, young Thabu finally tasted mother’s milk three days after seeing the light of day.
Having succesfully overcome this obstacle, the men once again faced an uncertain situation when Thabu contracted a cold. As Dr Cronjé explained, young chimps are especially susceptable to lung infections which can have serious, often fatal, consequences. Again they succesfully averted the crisis. Marc admits that Thabu is special to him, “It is the first chimp born, so to say, under my watch!”
And watch is what he and Dr Cronjé did, all day and all night for weeks on end. The exact date of birth was not known, and they had to keep watch in sessions, their attention fixed on the Nina-cam for more than a month.
These days the 2,5kg youngster spends his days cavorting in a safe enclosure with his mother, happy to learn how to run, climb and eat fruit. He curiously watches the other chimps in an adjacent area, often escaping to the safety of Nina’s back when there is a commotion next door. According to Marc they had made the decision not to risk the lives of Thabu or Nina by introducing them to the group yet. It may take place in a year’s time, but this can’t be confirmed either.
He may be able to run and climb better than a human child his age, but Thabu is still a baby, proved by the fact that his main food source is still mother’s milk. However, he will receive a treat of iced mollasses, honey and fruit on his birthday. “Nina will probably eat most of it,” Dr Cronjé laughs.
The sanctuary currently houses 34 rescued chimps. Local farmers and supermarkets assist in supplying the 150kg of fresh fruit and vegetables these primates require daily, says Marc. Other welcome donations also make their work possible, he adds, citing the recent donation of a R10 000 chainsaw and veterinary services provided by the Johannesburg Zoo.
In addition, the residents of the sanctuary are popular worldwide ,almost 800 000 people viewed the birth of Thabu via the Nina-cam, according to Marc, and this has resulted in some interesting “gifts”, like the GoPro camera Marc now uses to film Thabu’s antics. This, he makes available to fans via the JGISA Facebook page.
To learn more about the sanctuary and to adopt one of the chimps, visist the JGISA Facebook page at www.facebook.com/JGISA.
Watch the video of Thabu celebrating his birthday, here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpBbATcaveM&feature=c4-overview&list=UU9CHqjSnafKQK7L3LiqLxjA
