By Fernando Turmo | Communications Coordinator
The time has finally come … Yoko has been transferred to Tchibebe Island! This was very exciting for all of the JGI staff at Tchimpounga. Yoko has required a different housing arrangement because he is very prone to escaping his enclosures. Kefan, his best friend, had left for the islands a few months earlier.
To move Yoko to Tchibebe, JGI staff had to put him under sedation so that he could be placed in a transportation box to take the 13kms road journey, and then the 12km river journey, to reach the island.
Once Yoko reached Tchibebe he was integrated with some of his old friends from Group 3. A few days later he was integrated with the rest of the group and was allowed to venture into Tchibebe’s forest. He seemed a bit insecure and fearful of the other chimpanzees, even though they were not bothering him.
Though he immediately took to being back in the forest and seemed very comfortable in this environment, Yoko has been spending all of his time alone and avoiding the others, which is unusual. We hope that little by little, Yoko will adjust to living in a larger community of chimpanzees. It must be a bit of a shock to go from with living with only three others to suddenly living with 20 other chimpanzees. Over time, we hope he will be as comfortable with his new chimpanzee family as he appears to be with the forest.
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