The Revealed

Category: Activities of The Revealed, Cameroon, Gorillas in Limbe Wildlife Centre, Live stream/video | Date: May 09 2009 | By: therevealed

Jana Jirátová, 9 May 2009

Thanks to our merchandise sale we have supported a primate sanctuary Limbe Wildlife Centre in Cameroon. During our last expedition into Cameroon and Central African Republic  we get to know Adjibolo - the second youngest gorilla in the LWC. 

We have presented her story in Live Webcasts from LWC and a few days ago on our websites together with the rest of the troop that occupies the small enclosure. Now you have a chance to see here closely. We have produced a short video for you from materials that we have brought back from Africa. It clearly shows that Adjibolo is lively and playful despite her tragic fate. 

Adjibolo is a young western lowland gorilla whose fate LWC manager Simone de Vries describes as typical. Almost all gorillas that end up in the rescue centre experienced much the same. Adjibolo was born in a troop of wild gorillas. She grew with her kind for a year. Then her life took a sudden twist when poachers killed all her family. She was spared for being too little for meat. Instead, the poachers captured her and decided to sell her on the black market. A lovely little gorilla could have easily ended up as a pet. Fortunately, a retired official of the Ministry fo Agriculture spotted her on the market. With the help of rangers and vets he confiscated Adjibolo and sent her to the rescue centre. In the Limbe Wildlife Centre the animal recovered from bad health condition and found a new family.

During our live webcast from the Limbe Wildlife Centre, Adjibolo appeared very attentive - she kept near the fence almost all the time, waiting what would happen. As soon as we placed melons in the enclosure, she ran for them. It was her who dealt with the honey-packs most skilfully (and kept herself occupied with them the longest). The honey-packs were papaya leave rolls filled with honey and tied with a string to make the task more difficult. Well, young ones usually have sweet tooth.

Adjibolo spends most of the time with Abbey who has become her surrogate mother and a playfellow. When Abbey does not feel like playing, Adjibolo will occupy herself. She will play with whatever she gets hold of - whether a bit of grass, a stone, or an old plastic bottle. The only thing that did not inspire her at all was a ball that we placed in the enclosure together with the melons. It may have been because Arno the leader of the troop, romped around with it so wildly.

Below you can watch how skilful and playful the two-year old female gorilla in Limbe is. :-)

How would it be great to anticipate of such gorilla stories… We would like to distribute a book of gorilla stories  into african schools free of charge. This book should help children to be touched by gorillas fate and to protect wildlife. Now, we are looking for partners who could help us to realise this distribution. If you are interested in, please, contact me or donate through Wildlifedirect.org.