More news on Etumbe's baby!

The group is so thrilled about the new birth - Look at little Lomela on the far left - can you all believe she's so big?? And that's Mbano, Etumbe's son, on her right.

Here is a letter from Suzy, our Congolese student in the field:

Everything is going well in the forest with the bonobos. On the 18th of July, it was a historic day for the world of conservation. the stars rose for the first time, as Ekolo ya Bonobo (land of the bonobos) was graced with the handsome baby of Etumbe.

At 4:30pm, the keepers at the enclosure signaled that Etumbe was having contractions! At 5pm, Etumbe didn't want to eat. Her son, Mbano, was in the trees, behaving very excitedly. The other bonobos were strangely calm. We all suspected the baby was coming when Mbano turned around in circles without stopping and crying out in excitement.

On the morning of July 19, the females were all gathered around Etumbe and we suspected the happy moment had arrived. Moments later, Etumbe arrive, with her newborn in her arms. What a joy to discover this baby delivered only a month after the release!

It's a beautiful baby. He is covered in thick, black hair, brilliant shining eyes and is plainly in good health. OUr best and warmest congratualtions to Etumbe, who has given birth to the first released baby bonobo from Lola!!

- Suzy

First baby bonobo from the release group born in the wild!!

Dear all,
We have the pleasure to tell you that the first baby is born at Ekolo ya bonobo!!!!
A little female.
Etumbe give us this double present: Mbano, first baby born at Lola ya bonobo and now this little female that we momed "NSOMI YA EKOLO" (the first born at Ekolo)
Remember the story of Etumbe....coming from INRB.
Thank's to her for this happiness !
And by the way, ... thank's again to Hans Wasmoeth ...(for the transfert of Etumbe at Lola in 2003)
Love to all.
Claudine.

More from our friends at bonobos.com

Our sponsors at bonobos.com have just launched a new campaign for Lola! It's called Save the Bonobos and they are donating $5 from shorts (Nanners), pants (Congos) and shirt (the green one!).

We love bonobo pants!

The release - the movie!!!

videos

i have some more videos but as you can see i' ironing out the glitches. the video with nick isn't exactly centered or anything but i think you guys can play it, right?

I did it! Interview with Nick de Souza

The release - the movie.. still working on it...

Being technologically challenged, i am still trying ot wor out how to upload a video to wordpress -anyoen got any ideas? Florent, Lola's videographer worked very hard on a movie that i want to show you all but i can't upload the )(*&* thing!! Will work on it some more - but int he meantime, here he is interviewing Claudine for the movie...

Marie Laure has a moment

Marie Laure is our head vet now, and here she is having a quiet moment under our brand new sign! It reads 'Ekolo ya Bonobo' which is Lingala for 'place of the bonobos'. Marie Laure's dad was a doctor in Congo 20 years ago, and Claudine was always calling him to help with the bonobos. Now his daughter is the head vet at Lola - nice cosmic energy about that, isn't there?

Etumbe is pregnant!

Etumbe is pregnant ! isn’t that wonderful news – hopefully this baby will be the first release birth ever!!! I don’t want to get my hopes up but it would just be too wonderful. The measure of success for any release program is if the released individuals reproduce... i know this is cheating a bit coz etumbe was already pregnant when she was release but i hope all the other bonobos get the same idea that having a baby in the forest is such an awesome idea. I hope it catches on like wildfire.

Etumbe is taking her pregnant role seriously. Every night the bonobos sleep in the forest and they make nests, like beds from branches of the trees. Well etumbe has kicked out her 4 year old boy, Mbano from her nest and told him to go make his own nest since mom’s nest will soon have a newborn

Mbano’s first attempts at nest building were hilarious – he only pulled 5 sticks togheter. But after a few nights, he’s now a pro, building lovely fluffy nests out of the trees.

'Nanners

In all the release excitement, I forgot to say, our friends at bonobos.com have made a new pair of men's swimmers (that's what we call them in Australia - do Americans call them trunks or bathers or what?). they were designed specially for Lomela well actually for all the bonobos at Lola but I bet Lomela would like them most - they are the 'Nanners, after Lomela's favorite food! I bet she is sad they are for boys. But maybe Max could wear them and Lomela could stare at them all day

Check it out!

It's part of their Save Sex Save Bonobos campaign (go to their homepage and you'll see Sake clinging to Brian's pants on the bottom right).

Anyway, $5 from every pair of 'Nanners goes to the bonobos! I bought one for Brian and he LOVES them. Go buy, people...

http://www.bonobos.com/store/item/Nanners

Lomela's playtime in the forest

well for a bunch of captive bonobos, these guys are really taking to the forest like ducks to water! They love the space, the way there are endless tress to play in, and even the princesses among them (read lomela) don’t seem to mind staying outside at night.

You’ll be pleased to know Lomela is an excellent nest builder – already very professional. But we all know lolo likes her creature comforts, and wouldn’t dream of sleeping on anything that wasn’t soft and squishy.

Here she is!

Max being really really really ridiculously goodlooking

well, life at the release site is progressing nicely - Max, the bonobo with the beautiful hair, has taken to the wild like he never left it. just look at the way the light hits his fur... almost as if he planned it that way... hmmm...

And another one with Max and what I call his Zoolander look. Do we not think Max looks like Derek Zoolander?

here's to a world first...

and a job well done!!

exploring

Wow - the forest is just like Lola's only bigger!! I'm just going to let the beauty of these next photos capture what a wonderful moment it must have been.....

moving in

finally! it's time for the bonobos to have a look at their new home! did i mention that lisala was so excited to be in her new forest that she jumped the fence and started wandering around the forest! there is an isolation enclosure so if the bonobos get sick or hungry the vets and keepers can look after them. of course marie laure and nick wanted to hold them in observation to make sure everythign was ok, but lisala was having none of it - she wanted to explore!

isiro went with her but isiro came back shortly after - lisala was just too excited and didn't want to come back at all!

the rest were quite happy to hang out with Claudine...

and Yvonne

new arrivals

the Po were very curious about their new adoptees - since they are now the bonobo guardians they spent some time getting to know their new charges... most of these people have never seen a bonobo before.

Marie Laure makes sure everyone has enough water and something to eat - can't have Lomela running out of bananas!

and the bonobos arrive!

first they are loaded onto canoes for their journey from basankusu to the release site

up the lopori river (i call it the coca cola river coz the waters are so dark)

to the waiting crowd
unloaded off the boats
and carried to their new home!

anxiously awaiting...

Florent, the videographer, the amazing Nick de Souza (regional director for WSPA), and our vet, Marie Laure arrive with their precious cargo...

... and here are the Po, the bonobo guardians, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the bonobos!

the cheif himself is here, in his leopard skin had with leopard teeth necklace ( a very old heirloom, we are told)

More from our vet, ML from june 14

Up at 2:30am! the anasthaestia started well, the medicine mixed with a big of honey and the bonobos fell asleep one by one. The last blood tests, and the last photos. when the bonobos were ready, they were put in their cages for the truck of the airline.

We had a little trouble getting Etumbe to sleep - she is pregnant and we had to be super careful - so we couldn't give her to much anasthesia - we had to trick her into her cage!

7am, ready just in time for the trucks to take us to the airport.

thanks to the ministry, the bonobos arrived like royalty on the airport tarmac. the cages were loaded onto the plane, but Lomami, our rock star, didn't want people he didn't know approaching him - the keepers had to calm him down and carry his cage themselves!

Once all the cages were on the plane, we loaded all the equipment. the cages were roped to the plane to stabilise them and we hunkered down among the bags, the equipment and the bonobos.

during the flight, all the bonobos seemed to settle down well. Lomela played in the cage with Mbano, under the watchful eye of her mother, Etumbe. Max, our handsome male calmed down Lomami. Only Lukaya was restless and needed another injection.

After the 2 hour flight, we arrived at Basankusu. The door of the plane opened to the Equateur heat. The whole village had come to the airport to see! We had to hide the sight of all the people from the bonobos - we didn't want to freak them out!

Everything went quickly. It was very hot and we gave water to all the bonobos.

Accompanied by the entire village who turned up to see this historic day, we arrived at the ABC house. there were so many people, the local police had to rope it all off!

Sugar cane and water all round. the bonobos started to wake up - Max looked at the river, very interested...

relive the release!

yay! i just got some photos from the release that i'll be posting over the next week! they really tell the story of how excited everyone is.

Here are the bonobos getting loaded onto the plane

our vets, Marie laure and Michel (left and right) and in the middle, Florent, our videographer

michel and Marie Laure doing some veterinary type stuff

and checking on their precious cargo!

And here is a letter from our vet Marie Laure dated june 13!

It's here! After three months of watching the clock, we had a rendez vous with Air Kasaï at the airport for the last details of the flight - we have finally arrived at the release day!

Everything seemed under control - the vets helping us were Dr Nick de Souza, the regional director of WSPA, Dr Michel Halbwax and Dr Fanny Miehl - volunteer vets to boost up the team...

Everything was ready for our dear bonobos - at 9am sharp, the alarm sounded - Tatango had escaped!

ready for combat, I ran to the vet block...

but wait - Keza has also escaped! So have Kalina and her baby, Malaika!

Imagine, at Lola, just before their big flight, 3 grown bonobos running around! Thanks to the Mamas, who are extremely important in these moments (since they took care of the bonobos when they were babies) Keza and Kalina were brought back in. Kalina rummaged through the drawers and found a tin of powdered milk, which Malaika happily shared!

Keza was also tempted back inside with treats - there was only Tatango, the big male who remained outside. While taking a walk around outside, Dr Nick successfully darted him and everything was back under control

The equipment for the health check and anaesthesia was assembled and the bonobos who were going to the release were gathered together.

Night fell at Lola - everything was ready before the big rush!

bonobo release - beni!!!

beni is one of my favourite bonobos because he is super smart!!! recall the windows task where you can watch the video

http://bonobohandshake.blogspot.com/2007/10/windows-video.html

he understands gravity!!!!! which is actually not that common. and ok yes, as you'll read in the post i failed it. which might make me dumb, but i think it makes beni really really smart!!!

i know his phenomenal intelligence is goign to serve him really well in the forest!

also he is very handsome, don't you think?