News

Almost chimpanzee, by Jon Cohen, an extensive overview of human/chimp relationships - September 11, 2019

Book review by Alyson Baker* In 1925, the American psychologist and primatologist Robert Yerkes published his book Almost human, arguing that the similarities between humans and chimpanzees would make chimps good objects for scientific study.  In Almost chimpanzee, Jon Cohen explores how different our two species are, and what that might mean for our relationship with […]

The Manifesto: Chimpanzees Are Living Human Fossils - September 10, 2019

A few days ago a 15-page paper was published in the magazine Human Evolution, Vol. 34, with four more worldwide references on this subject. The title of the work is “Pan Survival in the 21st Century: Chimpanzee Cultural Preservation, Rehabilitation, and Emancipation Manifesto”. See the full version here: Roffman_Pan The Manifesto is signed by well-known […]

GAP Brazil: Chimpanzee Black has a mate in the Great Apes Sanctuary of Sorocaba/SP - September 9, 2019

Four months after the transfer from the city zoo to the Great Apes Sanctuary of Sorocaba/SP, affiliated to GAP Project, chimpanzee Black could not have been better. He is fully adapted to the sanctuary routine and has no health problems, despite his estimated 50 years and the fact that he arrived overweighted and with some […]

BBC reinventing the wheel - August 7, 2019

In recent days, a BBC video circulating on social networks features chimpanzees of an African Sanctuary walking on two feet and requesting food from their African keepers. BBC is known for producing extraordinary documentaries of wildlife and the animal world. It could not conclude that two-foot chimps would be a product of the torture they […]

Legal standing for our no-human kin - August 5, 2019

By Alyson Baker* I stood next to Boris, a Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary caregiver, I was volunteering at the Sanctuary. I mentioned to Boris that Medina, the chimpanzee who was browsing on the other side of the fence, had something stuck on her back.   “Medina, what’s on your back?” asked Boris.  Medina stood up […]

PASA/Africa: Help Captain - July 25, 2019

From PASA – Pan African Sanctuaries Alliance Captain, a young chimp, has endured constant abuse and neglect in his short life. When he was an infant a poacher slaughtered his mother in front of his eyes, then captured and sold Captain as an illegal pet. He was alone, torn from the safety and care of […]

Argentine activists ask judge to send orangutan Sandra to Brazil, not to US - July 24, 2019

The Association of Animal Rights Officials and Lawyers (AFADA, in Spanish) asked Judge Elena Liberatori “to change her criteria” so that the ape does not come to the US because of travel time and costs, among other reasons. After several months in office and after the Argentine courts decided to relocate orangutan Sandra from the […]

A big move - July 19, 2019

From Center for Great Apes With the recent arrival of chimpanzee Chloe, our elder chimp “grandpas” Joe and Bo moved from their quarantine habitat over to the new expanded chimpanzee area. They made their way through the aerial trailways (about ¼ of a mile) rather quickly amidst many pant-hoots (and a few long-calls from their orangutan […]

How Social Media Supports Animal Cruelty and the Illegal Pet Trade - July 8, 2019

Images of chimpanzees and other species appear cute, but they may actually depict animals in dangerous situations. Here’s how to tell what’s safe to share — and how that helps conservation. by Ashley Edes – The Revelator Whether you find it fascinating or disquieting, people recognize the inherent similarities between us and our closest primate […]

Some Monkeys Entered The Stone Age More Than 3,000 Years Ago - July 7, 2019

Brazilian tool-using monkeys have not just been engaging in the practice for far longer than we realized, they’ve also changed the way they use stone tools over time, going through recognizably different styles over thousands of years. Three years ago it was announced capuchin monkeys were using stone tools and had been for some time. […]

In a first, chimpanzees seen smashing and eating tortoises - June 24, 2019

By Douglas Main (National Geographic) Tortoises’ thick shells protect them from most predators. But our closest relatives have found a way to circumvent this defense: vigorously bashing them against trees. In a paper published today in the journal Scientific Reports, scientists report seven chimpanzees breaking open forest hinge-back tortoises in Gabon’s Loango National Park. The […]

Chimpanzees in the wild reduced to ‘forest ghettos’ - June 20, 2019

by Marlowe HOOD Paris (AFP) | All four sub-species of the African primate are threatened with extinction, with at least one — the western chimpanzee — declining in number by more than 80 percent over three generations. Forty chimp experts from around the world — with a combined 300 years of field experience — issued […]

What is magic without ape parts? Inside the illicit trade devastating Nigeria’s apes - June 19, 2019

Demand for ape body parts for spiritual purposes drives a complex and lucrative trade. BY ORJI SUNDAY*  – Mongabay Series: Great Apes OHOFIA, Nigeria — The fading sunlight, half-coned and yellow, turns the evening murky. The crowing of roosters mingles with the rattling of motorbikes as farmers make their way home from the field, halting to […]

United States: A CA University poisoned seven baby monkeys to death - June 18, 2019

From NEAVS – New England Anti-Vivisection Society  They didn’t have a chance. Seven baby monkeys, one only a day old, were poisoned and died at the primate lab located at the University of California, Davis. The babies were only doing what comes naturally, nursing from their mothers. Due to staff negligence the mothers were marked […]

Happy 1st Anniversary, Joe & Bo! - June 12, 2019

From Center for Great Apes (CGA) One year ago, we picked up two senior male chimpanzees from a small unaccredited zoo in Oklahoma that was closing down. Both boys were kept alone in different cages after each of their female companions died years earlier.  And they had quite a history! Joe, captured in Africa as an infant, […]

One year without Guga - May 27, 2019

The male chimpanzee Guga was born in a commercial breeding place in Paraná, Brazil, in 1999. When he was still a baby, he was “adopted” by a human family and inspired these people to start work that, over 20 years, helped rescue more than a hundred chimpanzees victims of mistreatment and perpetuate the ideas of […]

GAP Brazil: Black spoke! And human Justice heard him - May 22, 2019

Do not worry. It’s not fake news. Chimpanzees, like all living humans, have a way of expressing their feelings and desires. Chimpanzees get very close to humans in communicating their emotions and state of mind. We have been spending time with them for the last 20 years and can attest this ability. Communication in chimpanzees […]

GAP Brazil: Chimpanzee Black adapts very well to his new life in a sanctuary - May 20, 2019

Male 50-year-old chimpanzee Black chimpanzee was transferred from a zoo to the Great Apes Sanctuary of Sorocaba, São Paulo, affiliated to GAP Project, 15 days ago, and his adaptation could not be better. In addition to being very healthy, he is relaxed and curious with other residents, an indicator that his integration will not present […]

GAP Brazil: Chimpanzee Black is transferred to the Great Apes Sanctuary of Sorocaba - May 6, 2019

After 15 years of struggle and a lot of negotiations, male chimpanzee Black, aged approximately 50 years old, was finally transferred from the zoo “Quinzinho de Barros”, in Sorocaba, São Paulo state (SP), Brazil, to the Great Apes Sanctuary in the same city, a space affiliated to the GAP Project . Black’s move was scheduled […]

Brazil, São Paulo: Doria’s dilemma – “Zoo, close or privatize?” - April 9, 2019

An announcement made by João Dória, state Governor for São Paulo, published a few days ago by Brazilian press indicates that a project is being set up to privatize the Botanical Garden, which has an annual deficit of four million Brazilian Reais, joining the São Paulo Zoo and Simba Safari Park , which operate together […]