Lola Ya Bonobo

A big day

lolayabonobo — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:16:37 +0000

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!

Sankuru looking over her Mama’s shoulder

settling into group 3

the boys…

lolayabonobo — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:14:36 +0000

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

lolayabonobo — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:10:50 +0000

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..

lolayabonobo — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:39:12 +0000

Fizzi, the big brave male of enclosure 2, found a dead, dry 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

lolayabonobo — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:29:50 +0000

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!

lolayabonobo — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 13:24:51 +0000

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

lolayabonobo — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:22:48 +0000

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

lolayabonobo — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:29:44 +0000

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

lolayabonobo — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:26:40 +0000

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

lolayabonobo — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:24:11 +0000

(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!