Page 48 - LIN DEC WEB
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Leo and Chicken Little
Introduction
3 year old male chimp
named Flavour
Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary
On the Front Lines
by Lee Ann Rottman, Naples Zoo’s Director of Animal Programs
recently got the opportunity to travel to West Africa to assist chimpanzees are very large and lush, which give the chimps a very
I natural and enriching environment to live in.
the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Sierra Leone. The
Chimpanzees, as a species, are socially complex. As
sanctuary is home to 105 chimpanzees that were confiscated
from poachers or people who held them illegally as pets. Most chimpanzees get older, teen-aged males go through a challenging
come in as tiny babies and have suffered the trauma of losing stage where they discover females and often vie to be the alpha or
their mothers and their chimpanzee families. They take time to dominant male. This is a normal behavior, but if multiple males are
rehabilitate, but getting them back with other chimpanzees is key vying for the top spot there can be a lot of aggression and often
to their recovery. The sanctuary is located outside of the capital wounding. I have worked with chimpanzees for 30 years, both in
of Freetown in a beautiful forest setting. The habitats for the the United States and in Africa, so I was asked to come for a few
48 Life in Naples | December 2021
