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LANGUAGE LESSON:
“MWAISENI” “Welcome” in Bemba HIGH: 20.6 C
Behaviour Enrichment Food Preparation Enclosure Cleaning Boundary Patrol Chimp Interaction Farming Educational Activities Vet Assistance Other Infrastructure Chimp Observations
WHAT’S NEW ON THE GROUND? 1. 2. 3.
We planted, fertilized and harvested Chinese cabbage, all in one quarter! Three chimps from quarantine were given health checks and the ‘ok’ to be integrated into a new group! A respiratory disease outbreak has kept our veterinarian and keepers extra busy making sure all chimps recovered and are healthy once-more.
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Conservation Club kicked off with a bang, starting with a series on “Why We Conserve Nature”. Volunteers helped teach lessons on the cultural value of nature and how nature is beautiful.
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Volunteers led students through three litter picks and played a variety of games afterwards including football and frisbee.
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Just over 23 hours were spent helping Chimfunshi’s resident vet, Thalita. This included monitoring and recording information for five chimpanzees; Baby Camilla, Tess and her baby Tina, as well as three chimps in quarantine; John, Victoria and Miriam.
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Thalita taught volunteers to administer de-worming medication via injection and how to feed our resident rescue owls while she was away.
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Volunteers also took on applying tick medication and cutting the nails of resident dogs and cats.
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Enrichment activities kept the animals engaged for over 14.75 hours.
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The Vervet monkeys were challenged with bottle puzzles, bottle cap puzzles with treats and the fixing of their hammock. The parrots had a toilet roll to shred, CD hanging mobile toy for reflection, bottle tops with peanuts hidden inside and a new swing made out of PVC pipe. Two juvenile chimps in quarantine were given a hammock made out of mesh and wood.
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The Escape Artists were challenged with a wooden box strapped to the outside of the cage with a small hole for their hands, inside were Kongs placed with peanut butter.
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To cope with the heat, the Escape Artists were given frozen bottles to enjoy with juice and raisins.
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The chimps practiced using a straw with buckets outside of the enclosure and a hose for drinking.
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The chimps were also encouraged to show natural behaviors: foraging for food hidden around their enclosure of hidden in things bottles and pipes, nest building with vegetation brought in to their enclosure and also challenged to fish for raisins inside a raisin board with holes.
“One of my highlights was assisting the Thalita, Chimfunshi’s vet, with the health checks of three chimps. I love veterinary medicine and biochemistry and these checks showed me how similar humans are to chimpanzees. Additionally, working with animals teaches you to adapt to different situations and be flexible, which are important skills to hone in on!” Ingrid Dijkgraaf, 39, Netherlands
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We spent nearly 13 hours observing the chimps – feeding, playing, grooming and just being chimps!
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3 hours were spent patrolling the enclosure boundaries
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Nearly 16 hours of scrubbing and sweeping enclosures to help keep them clean for the chimps was completed, while just under 40 hours were spent preparing fruit and vegetables and rolling nshima balls for the chimps’ lunch and dinner.
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Volunteers were privileged to have enjoyed 18 hours interacting with two very special chimps, exploring their enclosure together.
“It has really been an eye-opener for me. I have enjoyed spending time away from my family and just focusing on me and doing something completely different. And doing something that matters.” Ulrike Beverley, 50, Sweden
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Volunteers spent 30.5 hours in the heat of the sun working hard helping Chimfunshi in their aim to become more self-sustainable.
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We harvested a whopping 45 sacks of juicy guavas and 58 sacks of eggplants, 6 sacks of peppers, 2 sacks of spinach and three sacks of beans.
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We fertilized an incredible 1200 Chinese cabbages and 500 tomato plants to help them grow.
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After planting and fertilizing Chinese cabbage, volunteers harvested six sacks of Chinese cabbag, a truck full of corn and helped fill the truck. We then loaded the truck at the farm and unload at the enclosures for feeding of chimps.
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Volunteers assisted in weighing cattle as well as observing them being dipped to remove external parasites.
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Volunteers both watched, and assisted, the veterinarian in deworming bulls via injection.