Joe’s Social Climbing & Jane's Trip to Africa

Gorilla Haven:  All photos by Jane or Steuart Dewar, unless otherwise indicated.
Limbe Wildlife Centre: All photos by Jane Dewar or Michele Stumpe, unless otherwise indicated.

by Jane Dewar, 22June2003

Fireflies and bullfrogs indicate the arrival of summer in the mountains of North Georgia, where Joe is doing well and enjoying himself and his new environment. He has access to all four cages of Silverback Villa each day, unless something’s happening, like putting up new climbing structures, etc, in which case, Joe is happy to watch the workers thru the windows. Joe seems to show a preference for men, who visit or are working where he can see them.  Joe is also more vocal than we expected – rumbling his pleasure and even barking his displeasure, on rarer occasions. Once Stephanie and Pete heard Joe bark several times, when he saw his favorite treats had been put up on top of the safety porch in the outside cages, in an attempt to encourage Joe to climb more and strengthen his muscles (photos left/right show Joe climbing and looking out from the safety porch). Since the vocalization was something new to his long-time keeper, Stephanie, they decided to remove the offending elevated treats, and put them nearer to where Joe could reach, without the struggle of a climb. Once they did that, the happy rumbling resumed, so it’s clear Joe has trained his caregivers well. The next time treats were placed high up, Joe climbed without any complaints, so perhaps that day Joe wasn’t feeling so well, and was not up to the challenge of “working” for his treats.

I’d been gone for about 3 weeks and when I returned from Cameroon (see story below), I was still recovering from some bug that had me on antibiotics. So I waited a week until the antibiotics were finished and I was feeling better, before seeing Joe in person (versus seeing him on my TV by my desk), being overly cautious about not risking Joe’s health. We had two of our GH Board of Advisors visiting, Dr. Tara Stoinski and Melanie Bond, of Zoo Atlanta/The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and National Zoo, respectively, as well as first-time visitor, Dr. Kristen Lukas from Cleveland Zoo. So I accompanied them to see Joe and wore a face mask, just in case, on the last day I was on the antibiotics. I’d brought back a bottle of African ground nuts (like peanuts) and I gave Stephanie some to offer Joe, who loved them. Joe was displaying and charging around a bit for the guests, and I swore he was looking at me oddly, since he’d never seen me wearing a face mask before.  Photos on the right and left show Joe's home, Silverback Villa, from opposite vantage points.  That's Stephanie and me, on the right, sitting in front of the outside cages, and Joe's watching us, while eating browse in the near corner.

The next time I went up to see Joe, I was back to being healthy and so I didn’t wear a mask and just resumed my routine of sitting nearby, talking to him quietly, asking him questions like “how ya doing, Joe?” etc. But Joe was angry at me, no matter what I did, and even bringing his favorite treats – apples, willow browse, lettuce fresh from the garden, etc, - did not appease him. One night, he even charged the mesh so hard that the food basket fell off and I had to radio Pete and Stephanie to come back up to SB villa. By the time they arrived, Joe was just sitting there, relaxed and calm as if to say “What’s the problem, officer?” and the only evidence of his tantrum and display at me, was the hay strewn all over the cage and several water spots where he’d spit at me, before I could leave. 

Now, 'most' gorillas show their annoyance by tightening their lips, as you see female Molly doing in the photo on the left, when we were visiting her behind-the-scenes at Zoo Atlanta years ago, and she wasn't in the mood.  It's quite a tell-tale sign of a gorilla's displeasure and usually you get the hint really fast.  Joe, on the other hand, has his own unique 'twist' to this gorilla behavior:  he displays his lower teeth (see photo right), which makes him look ridiculous and it's everything I can do not to laugh at him.  We'd like a better photograph to illustrate this unique trait of Joe, but we don't like it when he's upset, so this photo was taken from a distance, but it will still give you an idea of what Annoyed Joe looks like.

I decided I’d visit Joe every day, for short visits, always bringing approved treats (I’m not above giving bribes to get him to like me!). And for almost 3 weeks, Joe would display, charge, bang the mesh, spit and basically tell me to “Bug off!” in no uncertain terms, each time I visited, surprising Kelly and Stephanie, who were at a loss to explain Joe’s behavior towards me. I’d ignore the displays and quietly talk to the caregivers, etc, until Joe calmed down. But I kept trying. I even visited with one of his favorite people – Steuart. But Joe even spit and banged at Steuart, who he loves! Clearly, something had changed. When Steuart visited alone (i.e.: without me), Joe was fine, for the most part. So it was clearly me, causing Joe to have the tantrums. Sigh. We were back to the original status quo of Joe hating me, like he did when I visited him in Texas.

But since I need to be able to work with Joe if (God-forbid) our caregivers aren’t available or there’s an emergency, I decided I’d keep visiting, for short periods of time (less than 20 minutes), ignoring any negative behavior and just continuing talking to Joe and offering him treats, but letting his caregivers give him them, since my approaching the mesh or his food basket, seemed to anger him. Finally, about 3 days ago I visited with some guests, and after the initial strut display, Joe settled down and accepted the food-bribe of fresh garden lettuce, corn stalks and green beans and African ground nuts. He was so calm, he even ‘let us’ go upstairs on the top of the cages outside to look over the habitat. No charging. No spitting. No displays.

The next day I visited again and Joe was watching me get out of my car, through the window. Stephanie says she thinks he knows the sound of my car, versus the other vehicles that drive by. Since Joe was inside, I went inside too, continuing my routine of talking to him calmly, and showing him my goodies (apple and orange pepper). After a half-hearted stiff-leg run, he looked at me with those big brown eyes, where you could still see the little baby gorilla inside, and Joe ‘let me’ put the goodies in the food basket, without any signs of aggravation or frustration. I tossed in the pepper first, but he looked at me and ‘said’ “No, I’d like the apple first, please”, so I dropped that in too, and Joe took both, then sat near us and ate his goodies, as relaxed and calm as can be.

Joe's caregivers have been working extra hard to keep Joe happy and busy and we've added spiral stairs to the outside cages, making it easier to climb, than the vertical stairs we'd installed earlier (see photo above right).  Joe's quite good with puzzle feeders (see photo left taken by his caregiver, Stephanie Scanlin), which is just a log with holes drilled in it, stuffed with yogurt, raisins, peanut butter and other goodies that Joe has to figure out a way of retrieving.  Once, I offered Joe a cup of fat free lemon yogurt, in my shameless attempts at getting back into his good graces. The photo on the right shows Joe in a post-yogurt stupor, in need of a wash cloth!

Some gorilla keepers think Joe was mad at me for being away so long, and that I just had to regain his trust that I’d still come around, before things were back to ‘normal.’ But since Joe really never liked me much, I wasn’t sure that was what was happening. But I’m happy to report I’m back to my pre-Cameroon trip status of having Joe treat me with total indifference and boredom. And that’s a good thing!

Construction of the remaining villas has been delayed several months, due to the rainy weather the southeastern United States has been enduring, and it's quite frustrating, since the building materials are sitting here, just waiting for the crews to get started - something they keep promising they'll be able to do "soon," whatever that means.  It's annoying, but meanwhile, we're preparing the habitat for Joe, by sealing the windows and doors and making sure all weeds and/or noxious plants are removed.  Initially, we didn't think Joe would be interested in leaving SB villa, but his curiosity and behavior have us all now believing Joe would love to roam in the habitat, so we're preparing a section for him, after we carefully make sure that he is well-protected from the on-going construction. Since Joe has not been near a hot-wire fence for many years, we are putting up a second, lower voltage fence in front of the higher voltage fence so he'll be fore-warned.  We're hoping Joe can be in the habitat before the summer is over, but only God and The Weather Man know if this will be possible.

Cameroon and the Limbe Wildlife Centre Revisited, May 2003.

While the Dewar Wildlife Trust (DWT) supports a variety of conservation projects around the globe, my personal favorite has got to be the Limbe Wildlife Centre (LWC) in the coastal town of Limbe, Cameroon, West Africa. I made my third trip there in 4 years last month, and my spirit is always renewed when I see my old friends and meet new ones. Our good friends, Michele and Kerry Stumpe, were married at GH last October, and they wanted to go to LWC as their honeymoon, and they also wanted me to go with them! It took a while for our schedules to work out, but we spent about 2 weeks in May in Limbe, as Michele reacquainted herself with the animals she first met in 1999, and Kerry got to meet all the people and animals he’d seen photos of and heard stories about for years. It was a wonderful trip, despite rail and air traffic control strikes in Paris, France (where our flight to Douala, Cameroon originated). Michele (a lawyer) named her alcohol compliance consultants company, Evindi, Inc., after a gorilla she fell in love with at LWC in 1999 (photo left). Sadly, Evindi passed away, but this visit his little buddy, Benito, took over where Evindi left off, following us all around with his eyes and whimpering when we left the gorilla area.

Many exciting things are happening at LWC, including construction of a new education center at the entrance to the sanctuary. Columbus Zoo and private donors had given funds for this building a while ago, but crisis after crisis delayed its construction. In so many African sanctuaries, there are constant struggles for mere survival, and LWC is no exception. Funds, intended for the education center, needed to be spent on food and veterinary supplies for the animals and salaries for the staff, most of whom work for minimum, minimum wage, after months of volunteering, before they are officially hired on. The large building will be used as a conference center for future meetings, as well as a place for the Nature’s Club and the Education Center to have meetings. Since African sanctuaries are “in business,” so to speak, because of the destruction of habitat for wildlife, including the bushmeat crisis, education is a critical aspect of all sanctuaries, whose goals are to "go out of business". By having outreach programs and a solid, well-respected Education Team, LWC reaches more than just the people of Limbe and environs – they reach areas where gorillas, drills, monkeys and other endangered wildlife are being routinely hunted for their meat or for pets, in an effort to stop the destruction of Cameroon’s wildlife heritage.

During our visit, we enjoyed a performance of the Reformation Theatre Group (RTG), which brings the conservation message to a vast variety of audiences, using local dialects and cultural traits of each village they visit, making the story more personalized and therefore maximizing the impact of their important message. The RTG performed at the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) meeting at Limbe in 2001 and it was fun for me to see them again, since they not only bring a critical message, but they do so with humor, song, talent and enthusiasm, enjoyed by everyone.  The photo on the left shows a scene where a hunter is being taught a conservation lesson by his wife and children.

LWC is officially run by the Cameroonian government and the NGO (non-government organization), Pandrillus, run by our friends Peter Jenkins and Liza Gadsby. In 1994, Peter and Liza visited what was then the Limbe Zoo, and found horrific conditions, which they just couldn’t ignore, when they returned to continue their own amazing work in Nigeria, which includes the largest colony of drills (one of the world’s most endangered primates), and rescued chimpanzees. Peter and Liza have been working with the government of Cameroon to recognize and take ownership of LWC, and volunteers have been helping LWC become the amazing place it’s becoming each day. Since my last visit in 2001, LWC now enjoys Cameroonian counterparts as part of the management team, which is something they’ve been hoping to have for years. They also now have a telephone and access to email more reliably. Basic electricity, however, is a commodity which is unreliable at best, as power outages were routine during our stay. Generators are “must-have” items, especially to keep refrigerators running, holding critical medical supplies, like TB serum, as well as keeping the electric fencing operational, since that’s the only containment for the gorillas, chimps and most of the other animals. LWC doesn’t have a generator yet, so it relies on car batteries for backing up the electric fencing, as well as the knowledge that most of the animals think the fences are on and are comfortable and happy enough not to try to escape. But it’s clear a generator and the fuel to run it, will be necessities, not only for LWC, but any place relying on an unreliable power company. Most of the time the generator at our hotel, the Atlantic Beach (now run by the government and where the service and accommodations have deteriorated since my previous visits), was the only place in town working, except on several occasions, when there was no fuel to run it.  The photo on the left shows gorillas Nyango and Batek looking at their reflections in a mirror, as Benito looks on.  The photo on the right shows Batek, Jumbo and Akiba, watching the others playing nearby.

As the management of LWC gets taken over more and more by the Cameroonians, as it should be, it is hoped the government of Cameroon will recognize what a gem they have in LWC – in its people, animals and environment. Along with Ndam, of the adjacent Limbe Botanical Gardens, there are William and Vincent, helping with the administration and government liaison work, and Ernest, a Cameroonian vet tech, helping in the veterinary clinic. On paper, the government should pay for staff salaries and some operating costs, but in practice, the funds often don’t arrive, leaving the non-Cameroonian management staff (all volunteers), in the difficult position of trying to pay for operating costs, as well as salaries, from donations, which are never enough to cover basic expenses. The current non-Cameroonian managers include American Tony Chasar, who was at LWC in 1999 when I first visited with Michele, and German graduate student, Livia Wittinger, who’s also back in LWC after time away.

The Cameroonian animal care giving staff remain some of the most impressive people I’ve met. Bama, Jonathan and Wilson were the gorilla keepers when we first visited in 1999 and they’re all still at LWC, although now Wilson is more heavily involved with the Education Department, while Jonathan helps all sections. That leaves Bama working 7 days a week with the gorillas, which include 8 in the main group, and 2 in quarantine. Stephen, Simon, Andreas, Pauline, Emilia, Evelyn, Jacob, Henry, Johnson, Chu John, and Victor were all there during my last visit, and new staff and volunteers like Killi, Elizabeth, Judith and James show the same promise of dedication and hard work that make LWC such a special place.

But let’s get serious here. It was the gorillas I wanted to see, and everyone seemed to know that, as I ran to see my old, dear friends, who I’ll update below. The LWC gorillas remain one of the BEST gorilla groups I’ve seen anywhere in captivity, which is amazing, given the background of the individuals in the group. In my time with the gorillas (which was from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. for virtually 2 weeks straight), I saw each and every possible combination of playing/grooming/resting between individuals, which is another sign of a good, cohesive group.

CHELLA (male) is now a strapping (approximately) 10 year old blackback. He’s quite skinny and they’ll need to increase his caloric intact to accommodate his growing body, but while he’s bigger than ever, he’s still the same, charming, sweet and simply goofy gorilla I first met in 1999. I’d video-taped some footage of my life at GH to show the LWC staff, including Joe in his villa, and everyone’s jaws dropped as they began to realize that Chella would soon be a huge silverback, like Joe. But Chella’s sweet, gentle demeanor promises to make him the ideal leader for this group. In 1999 he was fascinated with my chewing bubble gum – especially the bubbles. He remembered and would come over to watch and cheer me on, when I’d blow bubbles for him, if I could do it without cracking up, as shown in the series of photos below.

NYANGO (female) is 13 years old and everyone agrees she’s mellowing, but she’s still the boss and if she doesn’t like you, you can forget it. Lucky for me, she loves me and some days we’d just be sitting there and she’d rumble and purr, then clap her hands, in an expression of contentment and relaxation that was wonderful to witness(the photo on the right shows Nyango, mid-clap). Her right eye is probably totally blind now, the result of a poke of a stick years ago, but that doesn’t seem to affect her. Nyango still “sings” when she eats her favorite foods (mangos, corn, etc) and she’s an important and integral member of this wonderful group.

JUMBO (female) is now about 8 years old and she’s still a Little Mermaid, or water rat, loving to take showers, now that the little pool they had has been closed (it was too hard to keep clean and sterilized). She’d go over to the gorilla water faucet and shake her arms in the classic Jumbo-Dance, and one of us would usually oblige her by turning on the hose and letting her dance in it, getting drenched, beating her chest and often splashing water back at the person showering her, as if to say “come on in, the water’s fine!” The African visitors would laugh at her water dance and I’d explain that I thought her father was a fish and her mother was a gorilla, as the visitors would collapse in hysteria, thinking that was the funniest thing they’d ever heard.  The photo on the right shows Kerry obliging Jumba-lah, who's performing her water dance!

EMMA (female) is about 7 years old and she’s become quite confident and playful, compared to the still-scared juvenile she was when we first met her. She had a loose tooth she kept playing with (photo left), and one day she was holding a rock to her head (did she have a headache from the toothache?) and standing on her head, then shaking her hands in an imitation of the Jumbo dance. Emma would carry the younger gorillas on her back and charge at Chella, engaging him in play – all signs that her confidence has grown.

PITCHOU (female) is about 6 years old and for Michele I think she’d changed the most. We’d help Bama some mornings, by raking/cleaning the gorilla yard before the gorillas were let out. One morning, Pitchou refused to go inside so she “helped” us clean, which generally involved her trying to stand on our shoulders to reach the tree, which would enable her to climb over the hotwires and into freedom. When Pitchou was a baby, her climbing over you was cute. At over 80 lbs, with a tendency to (play)bite, however, Pitchou isn’t that little baby anymore. But she’s still the most gorilla-like gorilla, and my prediction for the female who will be the most dominant once the group matures. She mated with Chella (birth control will start soon), groomed him and Nyango (a good gorilla politician), played with everyone, cuddled with Akiba (even letting her suckle) and was the first to figure how to crack open a coconut or to discover the peanut butter treats smeared on the walls of the night quarters ... a very talented and bright gorilla girl!

BENITO (male) is about 7 years old and like the last time I visited, he was very focused on me, Michele and other white human visitors, which is something we’re hoping he outgrows. He’d pout and cry whenever I left the gorilla areas to visit the other animals or leave at night.  He began a new behavior this trip, however, which was cute to watch now, since he's small, but if it continues when he's a silverback, it will be very intimidating!  When I’d talk to other people, he’d do this impressive charge, baring his teeth in a threat bark.  As soon as I looked at him, he'd sit down and say "There, that's better, pay all your attention to ME!"  Still, his focusing on humans hasn’t stopped him from behaving in a healthy gorilla manner, and he and Chella and the others would play and be silly, so Benito’s a fine member of the gorilla group.

There are 4 new gorillas at LWC since my last visit in 2001. Two are now in the main group and they are:

AKIBA (female) is about 3 years old, and she arrived at LWC just after my visit in 2001. I’d seen photos of her face a lot and now I understand why. She’s a camera-hog! Each time Michele was trying to get photos of the gorillas, Akiba would see the camera and rush over to gaze at her reflection in the lens. She’s a petite little lady with a humongo appetite and at milk time in the afternoons, she’d bark and cough (threat sounds) if she didn’t get her fair share and then some. She played with everyone from Chella to Nyango, but her best buddy was Batek. The photo on the left shows Akiba, imitating Joe, with "yogurt face" and the photo on the right shows Akiba being groomed by Pitchou, high up in a tree.

BATEK (male) is about 3-4 years old and I helped get him to LWC last year, after he was discovered by a Dutch woman in a Cameroonian town kept as a pet (see story). I’d seen photos of Batek, but they just don’t do him justice. He’s about the cutest little gorilla I think I’ve ever seen – all boy, all gorilla, all play, all the time. Besides Akiba, Batek would play with Chella, Nyango, Benito, Emma, Pitchou or Jumbo – whoever was ready for a game of chase or tickle. Like Pitchou, Batek is all gorilla, enjoying the human contact, but preferring the contact and more appropriate behaviors of his fellow gorillas – a great sign.

The Kano Two Gorillas – Twiggy and Brighter:

For years I’d known about what were five gorillas living in the Nigerian town of Kano, with a Lebanese business man, who either rescued them from the bushmeat trade or was trying to sell them, depending on the story I heard. Early this year, I started hearing reports the two remaining gorillas (three had apparently died – most likely due to lack of proper veterinary care) would be moved to LWC. But time after time, the move was delayed, as the Nigerian and Cameroonian governments worked out details and protocols of this important event. On Monday May 19th, Tony told me the Kano gorillas were arriving on Friday, May 23rd. I just laughed and said: “Yeah, right … are they coming with the flying pigs too?” since I’d become a bit jaded by promises made and broken time after time. As William and the other Cameroonian LWC staff assured me it would really happen, I kept to my cynical stance, right to the point when William told me the truck with the 2 gorillas was ½ mile from the entrance to LWC, as the sun was setting on Friday May 23rd – as promised!

Quarantine was ready for these two new gorillas, females named Twiggy (or Twigs) and Brighter, about 6 and 10 years old, respectively. Their cages had been prepared by Kerry and Michele and the LWC staff with lots of greens (including large banana trees for bedding and browse) and goodies. It was dark by the time the cages were unloaded, but Peter Jenkins (who accompanied the gorillas from Nigeria), went inside the cages as both gorillas were off-loaded, to be a familiar face to them, and reassure them that this new place was ok. Apparently both Twigs and Brighter had never been locked in a cage before, so both would go around and try to lift the heavy mesh cage, being more curious than upset, that this new place had limits.

BRIGHTER: The next morning I saw both girls closely for the first time, being careful to wash my hands thoroughly, not to compromise their quarantine, since I was also sitting near the main gorilla group the rest of the day. Brighter continued to check each weld on the mesh caging, and explore her new quarters, stopping by to look into my eyes and probably wonder what I was saying, since she didn’t know English, being raised by a Nigerian man using the local language of the Kano district. But my tone of voice was reassuring and she seemed to enjoy looking around. Brighter kept track of where Twigs was at all times, and apparently she's used to being the boss, stealing treats or bullying the smaller, weaker Twigs for fun, or perhaps just in an overzealous attempt to play.

TWIGGY: Twigs’ right arm is paralyzed and basically useless, just hanging by her side, or she carries it with her good left hand. The photo on the left shows the right arm hanging limp, while Twigs checks out the welds of the cages too. Peter told me about a year ago a large swelling appeared on her right shoulder and virtually instantly the arm went limp, but no reason (snake, spider bite? dislocated shoulder from a fall? etc) was ever given to explain what really happened. Twiggy compensates by using her mouth to help her climb, but otherwise she seems to have adapted well to her disability. Whenever Twigs came near me, “asking” to be groomed, I’d oblige her, but Brighter would always appear to break up our love fest, not necessarily wanting me to groom her instead, but just to show she was boss.

Twigs spent most of her time looking over her shoulder and keeping an eye on Brighter, moving away if Brighter approached. This was a little disappointing, since I’d hoped the two gorillas would have been close friends, but instead of a closeness, it seemed to me to be more of a case of tolerance. Brighter needs a playmate to rough-house with and poor Twiggy isn’t up to it. Twigs needs someone to cuddle or rest with and Brighter has too much energy. Hopefully, once introductions to the main gorilla group begin (after their 3 month quarantine period is up), both gorillas will find new friends and companions to enrich their lives.

In the past, new gorillas introduced to the LWC gorillas were babies – under 4 years of age. Introducing these older females will be a different experience, but I’m confident the staff can/will make it work. In designs for the new, expanded gorilla areas, however, I strongly suggested they plan to have two gorilla groups, plus an area for separation, just in case the 10 gorillas don’t all get along in the future. For now, however, all 10 should be able to be together, with some time and patience on everyone’s part. My biggest concern will be Brighter, who’s not had any lessons in gorilla etiquette. I think Brighter is in for a rude awakening, when she realizes there are aspects of gorilla etiquette she’s never experienced before – like deferring to other gorillas (Chella, Nyango, Pitchou and Jumbo for sure), but she’s very sweet and intelligent, so I think she’ll figure it out. Twiggy, on the other hand, is so incredible gentle and deferential, she should fit right in with the current LWC gorillas with little to no problems, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Pitchou or Emma “adopted” Twigs as their own special friend.

The Future of the LWC Gorillas

LWC is fortunate to have plenty of space for expansion, including the nearby and world-famous Limbe Botanic Gardens, as well as field sites in the area.  The only thing stopping the gorillas from having a larger, more appropriate enclosure, are funds.  We're not the gazillionaires people think we are (or we'd like to be!), but we feel LWC is a wonderful way to maximize your donations ... a little bit goes a long way.  And, besides the 10 gorillas, LWC is home to other wonderful, rare and highly endangered primates, including drills, chimpanzees, guenons, mangabeys, preuss monkeys, etc.  If you're looking to contribute to some place where you can see your money making a difference, I can highly recommend you consider the Limbe Wildlife Centre.   Gorilla Haven accepts donations on behalf of LWC, sending 100% of any donations we receive to Limbe.  Or check out the International Primate Protection League's website (IPPL) or LWC's own website, which can be found on our "Links" page. 

One seven year old girl emailed me, saying after she read about my 1999 visit to LWC, she felt badly for the animals, so she went to her piggy bank, then family, neighbors and friends, and now she wanted to know where her mother could mail a check to cover her fund-raising efforts:  $42!  After I dried my tears, I told Steuart we should match her donation 2 to 1 and we added $84, and in 2001 I presented LWC with $126, in the name of this 7 year old girl.

One child; one person; one heart that cares CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.