Featured monkey trafficker

This is what we found today:

http://www.primatestore.com/forsale.asp is offering the following babies for sale:


Tufted capuchin female baby 6 weeks old $7,500
Tufted capuchin male baby 5 weeks old $7,500
Tufted capuchin male 4 months old $7,000
Tufted capuchin male 6 months old $6,500
Black & white capuchin male baby weeks old $7,500
Baby Javas males $5,200/ females $5,500 - Male Available Now at discount!!
Baby Greens males $5,200 /females $5,500 - one Male and one Female at discount price now!!
Baby Bonnets males $5,500 /females $5,800 - Male Available Now!!
Baby Baboon taking deposits $4,000-$4,500
Babies Ringtail Lemurs $2,500 m/f Florida only/one male available in Texas
Babies Black & White Lemurs: 4 months old $6,500 m Florida only
Pigtail Macaques: 3 babies due soon- males $5,200 / females $5,500
Snow Macaques: baby due soon, call to reserve $5,200 male/ $5,500 female
Squirrel monkeys: one male left for this season! $5,500
Tri-Color Lemurs: Juveniles, parent raised - Florida only $5,000 each - beautiful coloring!
Spider monkey male baby $9,500/females $10,500-12,000
Kinkajou babies $2,500 each
Ringtail Lemurs: 2 males, 4 months old, $2200 each Florida only

Please help STOP the trafficking in primates:

Please, please everyone, write to your congress representative here:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

And copy and paste this message:

Dear Senator,

I would like to support the

The Captive Primate Safety Act

Most people keep domesticated animals, whether it’s a dog, cat or a cow. We know the biological systems in their bodies that control stress responses are down-regulated relative to wild animals. This means that the average dog, cat, cow, etc. stays much more calm in a stressful situation than a wolf, lion or buffalo. Because domesticated animals do not become as stressed, they rarely if ever attack humans compared to wild animals. It’s true that 23 Americans died last year from dog bites, but this statistic would be many times higher if the 68 million dog owners had instead lived in as close contact with wolves. By living together with us for thousands of years, domesticated animals have been bred to live together with humans relatively harmoniously. Domestication is the process of breeding out aggression toward humans

Primates are not domesticated animals. While a tiny percentage of pet dogs will bite a human, all primates will readily bite a human.

ALL primates potentially carry diseases deadly to humans including Herpes B, Yellow Fever, Monkeypox, Ebola virus, Marburg virus, SIV, HIV and Tuberculosis.

Most primates, including chimpanzees, are highly endangered. It is illegal to own, purchase or sell primates in Africa. Unfortunately, an international trade rages in Africa –- including the sale of primates. Hunters shoot mothers and sell their bodies as meat to rich city dwellers who can afford the luxury. They pull babies off the backs of their dead mothers to sell in the markets as pets. However, these pet traders are doing nothing worse than what is done in the United States legally: baby primates are pulled off their mothers’ backs and sold as pets.

Primate ownership in the US is hypocritical when we are trying to conserve them in the wild.

I support this bill, and I urge you to do the same,

Sincerely,

selling primates

Hi everyone,

I want to bring up something really serious that you guys can help with.

The buying and trafficking of primates in the US is a very real problem that is making the work of conservationists really difficult.

It is completely legal to buy/ sell monkeys, chimps, and bonobos in the US, even when these animals are endangered in Africa.

www.wildanimalworld.com
http://www.primatestore.com/forsale.asp

I know you all know the reasons why this is wrong: how can we tell Africans to conserve their endangere species when we buy and sell them over here like puppies, then there is the issue of disease, bites, and the welfare of the monkeys themselves who end up in cages or abandoned or at biomedical facilities or roadside zoos.

The reason this is still legal is because the pet traders are very effective lobbyists.

Please, please everyone, write to your congress representative here:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

And copy and paste this message:

Dear Senator,

I would like to support the

The Captive Primate Safety Act

Most people keep domesticated animals, whether it’s a dog, cat or a cow. We know the biological systems in their bodies that control stress responses are down-regulated relative to wild animals. This means that the average dog, cat, cow, etc. stays much more calm in a stressful situation than a wolf, lion or buffalo. Because domesticated animals do not become as stressed, they rarely if ever attack humans compared to wild animals. It’s true that 23 Americans died last year from dog bites, but this statistic would be many times higher if the 68 million dog owners had instead lived in as close contact with wolves. By living together with us for thousands of years, domesticated animals have been bred to live together with humans relatively harmoniously. Domestication is the process of breeding out aggression toward humans

Primates are not domesticated animals. While a tiny percentage of pet dogs will bite a human, all primates will readily bite a human.

ALL primates potentially carry diseases deadly to humans including Herpes B, Yellow Fever, Monkeypox, Ebola virus, Marburg virus, SIV, HIV and Tuberculosis.

Most primates, including chimpanzees, are highly endangered. It is illegal to own, purchase or sell primates in Africa. Unfortunately, an international trade rages in Africa –- including the sale of primates. Hunters shoot mothers and sell their bodies as meat to rich city dwellers who can afford the luxury. They pull babies off the backs of their dead mothers to sell in the markets as pets. However, these pet traders are doing nothing worse than what is done in the United States legally: baby primates are pulled off their mothers’ backs and sold as pets.

Primate ownership in the US is hypocritical when we are trying to conserve them in the wild.

I support this bill, and I urge you to do the same,

Sincerely,

chillin'

When he isn't freaking out at frogs, Fizi likes to chill out in the afternoons by the water side, i often see him there just looking up, seeming to be contemplating something

The rainy season has started!

We had our first big rain last night, so the rainy season has finally commenced. All the bonobos have been busy making day-nests up in the trees, getting cosy in case of a big down-pour! Maya and Bisengo were fast asleep in their nest this afternoon, they looked really cute.

why chimps don't make good pets

another move...

boyoma playing with malaika


Muanda being groomed by Isiro

Yesterday, there was a big move of group 3 into group 2. Isiro, Boyomo, Yolo, Api and Mabali all moved over. Isiro knew exaclt whjere to go as she's already been in gp 2, but it was all new and a llittle scary for little Boyoma and Yolo. Isiro was ind and kept gesturing back to Boyomo, fo him to come and hang on to her. She made sure he clung on as they made their way. Yolo was a bit more cool, he stayed close but wasn't gonna hangi onto some girl. The next to enter were Api and Mabali. Api was fine but Mabali didnt know where to go, so Papa Phillipe led him down. When they arrived, there was lots of sex and screaming, but no disputes and no aggression. They were welcomed and settled in happi;y. Little Boyoma is very well, dashing about with the other little boys. He gets on well with everyone, and seems especially Elikia

A big day

Sankuru looking over her Mama's shoulder

settling into group 3

Today Sake, Sankuru and Tchilenge moved to group 3. It was a big day, especially for little Sake! All went really well. Kikongo was the first male to join them, and was so excited to see these pretty girls in his enclos. Sankuru was quite surprised at first but understood exactly how to act with Kikongo, and they had lots of greeting sex. Sake wanted to stay with the mamas but after a little tantrum, she settled down and played well with the others. Tchilenge was very content to be bac with the boys. Maniema Billi and Kiongo joined them, and it already looks like Sankuru was leading the way around the enclos. Maybe the next alpha!

the boys...

Bili has moved back into group 3 and is having a great time dashing about with the boys. Maniema as ever keeps himself to himself a bit, but we have lots of fun making faces to each other. I didn't realise bonobos could roll their tongues, but Maniema is very adept at it. He just loves pulling silly faces and sticking his tongue out at you. Very cute

Kikwit and Keza

There are quite a few changes taking place in terms of group composition, to make way for the new training programme of the 12 juveniles for the next release. Kikwit and Keza moved into group 1 last week week. Keza's being a bit of a loner and after a bit of rough treatment from the females,has moved back into Group 2. but Kikwit is absolutely loving being back. All the females gathered round and spent hours and hours grooming him and welcoming him back. He was blissful lying there with all the attention of the group!

the frog..

Fizzi, the big brave male of enclosure 2, found a dead frog the other day. Upon seeing it, he squealed like a little girl until his buddy Makali, another big male came over to see what all the fuss was about. Upon seeing the frog, Makali also started squealing, and got into such a tizzy that he threw the frog straight at Elikya, a baby girl who caught it on the fly.

Kalina, an adult female came with her baby on her back to calm the guys down. She picked up the frog and left with it, putting it on the ground every now and then to see if there was any life left in the poor thing. Being sure that there was no chance of a sudden resurrection, she threw the frog in the water.

Fizzi decided this was still too close and ran as far away from the floating body as he could. When he got to the forest he promptly pretended to be very interested in the grass and acted like the whole episode never happened...

Sankuru update

For all those waiting for news of Sankuru, here she is! this little one has lately become more independant, she's bee climbing down off her Mama, and now spends most of her time playing with her brothers and sisters. Her favorite of the moment seems to be big brother Eleke, who is big enough to play horse with her! She can be seen in the nursery riding around on him most of the day...

Salonga's baby still alive!

It's a miracle - after losing every baby she's had until now, Salonga has become an extraordinary mother to Kimia - who is now 3 months old! Salonga, as some of you know, has always been desperate for a baby, mothering frogs, small mammals and even large insects. Now, her own baby is strong, healthy, and we have every hope that she'll keep growing! Thank you for all your good wishes, and Salonga sends her love and these new snaps!

Kinshasa l'acrobat

Kinshasa, the new bonobo we rescued last April, is a tight rope walker! she amuses herself all day long by going to the highest and longest bar on the jungle gym and walking up and down it! Phillipe petite French in the making?

the lomako and kodoro trap

this is one of the perils/perks of being a long distance blogger - i ask everyone who goes to lola for photos and stories, especially of the ones we love like kata, lomela& boyoma - but as soon as they get there they get all caught up in the absolute CUTENESS of lomako and kodoro and forget all my requests and just send images and news of these two babies, who are, let's admit it, adorable.

hang in there parents! we'll get news of your babies one of these days!! sigh....

zannah - the clothes theives

the bonobos are being very successful clothes theives at the moment. seems to be several times per week at least.This morning, Dilolo and Kisantu carefully selected an appropriate stick to swipe one of the day keepers shirts. they were very content swinging about in the trees with their booty, and then manono spent hours washing and re-washing his part in the lake. Bisengo played blindman's buff with his torn peice, dashing about and toppling over, in fits of giggles

zannah and lomako

(oops - i got it wrong - i thought kodoro and lomako were little girls - but they're actually little boys! sorry you two!)

the 2 new males, Lomako and Sodoro are really making progress. Lomako is pretty shy still, but he is still so small! their quarantine time is nearly up, so soon it will be time to meet the rest of the nursery. they are pretty turbulent at the moment, with so many of them! but yvonne is back from holiday, so having an extra pair of hands about again will be helpful!

more news from zannah...

zannah is sending us more news, so I asked her if she could tell us a little about herself...

' im in the Psychology dept at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, part of the Scottish Primate Research Group. Im studying vocal communication in bonobos, and of course its relationship to social cognition. Im taking a psychological approach to vocal communication, thus i guess, examining the means that bonobos use vocalisations as behavioural tools to navigate their social worlds. There is very little research on vocal communication in bonobos, which provides an exciting but somewhat scary opportunity for me to explore! Some of my topics include the vocal sequences they produce during feeding ( evidence of kind of proto-language) as well as those during sex. Sex as we know has a very important social significance in bonobos, and so im examining how this translates into the associated vocalisations. Other primates only produce copulation calls during reproductive mating, but of bonobos produce these calls in purley social contexts.... it appears to be rank and audience related.... '

Fanny

I don't know if I mentioned this but we have a new vet! Fanny has been at Lola for a few months and everyone loves her - including the bonobos!

We usually have female vets, as you've probably noticed, coz it's a little known fact that bonobos prefer women to men, seriously. i don't know what it's all about maybe it's because men killed their mothers, but they retain this preference into adulthood, which is really odd.

So this is fanny with Sankusu, a new, totally huge bonobo - who is sankusu? i have no idea. I should find out though, give me some time.

Kodoro

The other little bonobo who was rescued a few weeks ago, Kodoro, is now firmly latched onto Mama Henriette. She must be one of the tiniest bonobos we have rescued at Lola. She needs to get some meat on those bones...

bowned eyed girl

has anyone ever seen eyes that big???

Lomako's vet results have come back clear - she is officially healthy. But as you can see, she's terribly thin - she needs to double her weight if she's going to be in the healthy range. but at least she is covered in long beautiful hair.

have a feeling this one's goign to be trouble for the boys in group 3...