Dear Friends
Tika was introduced to the main group early April. His best friend of the new group was young male called Kala who always protected him from the others.
But then Kala decided Tika should learn face the others by himself … Tika felt abandoned and set aside… To stay with the group had become a burden as most of the other members enjoyed teasing him or beating him up.
Tika therefore always stayed on top of the ladder in the open air enclosure and refused to come down even at feeding times…
After a few weeks, Tika had become extremely weak, was seriously depressed and because his body was covered with wounds, I decided to remove him from the main group.
Also, because we don’t have lots of facilities, and because Tika couldn’t stay all alone in quarantine and needed attention, care, contact, … I introduced him to the nursery group.
It took me a few days before Tika completely adjusted to his new enclosure and to his new little friends.
It actually was young female Maïka who did the first steps and accepted Tika while Pasa, a young male, was a bit upset because an older male had come into his group,onto his teritory…
Today, Tika has recovered from his wounds, has again put on weight and behaves as the old patriarch of the group.
Even Elia accepted him easily as Tika is very protective towards her and towards the very little ones such as Nalia and baby Ekolo…
It would be an option to put Tika again into the main group with the others once he’s completely well but we need to think about this seriously. I personnaly don’t want him to be unhappy, so, we’ll see…
I’ll keep you posted
Thank You.
Roxane/J.A.C.K.
Oui, Marie, en effet, dans le groupe des plus grands, il y a une majorité de mâles et cela devient très délicat d’y introduire de nouveaux membres masculins… Il reste encore 3 individus à introduire actuellement dans le groupe des grands: 2 mâles et une femelle. On verra ce que cela va donner et on vous tiendra de toute façon au courant…
Je suis aussi très contente pour Tika de sa
situation actuelle… (Est ce que dans le
groupe des plus âgés il n’y a pas une majorité de mâles) ?…
Yes, there is a possibility to keep Tika in this group. Tika has a good heart with the little ones but needs to get on well too with all the keepers looking daily after the infants. Tika is strong and sometimes quite jealous so the keepers and I are working progressively on his adjustment to us too… I have no problems at all as he knows I’m the one who removed him from the other group. But babies Ekolo and Nalia need love and care too and Tika must understand this as well… not easy, believe me!!!
I agree. I think Tika makes a wonderful big brother for the little ones. Don’t they need an older chimp to look up to? If Tika is happy and the little ones are happy I think that’s all that matters.
Roxane – Are there any downsides to keeping Tika with the nursery group for good? I know other places have done the same thing when a chimp couldn’t fit in with a group and it has worked out quite well. Seems like it would be nice for the young ones to have a big brother. 🙂