News - GAP Project

News

posted in 21 Dec 2023

Chimps can recognise peers decades later – especially if they got on well

Researchers have found bonobos and chimpanzees can recall peers they spent time with in the past, even if they have been separated for decades. What is more, this recognition appears to be influenced by whether they got on well with each other – or not.

posted in 04 Dec 2023

Colombia: TV program calls for urgent transfer of chimpanzee Yoko

The TV story explains the whole case of the chimpanzees Pancho and Chita, who were shot and killed after escaping from their enclosure at Ukumari Biopark in July, and also the urgency of transferring Yoko, the only remaining chimpanzee at the site and in Colombia, to the Great Apes Sanctuary of Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil.

posted in 29 Nov 2023

In memory of Johny – 05/20/2000 – 11/29/2014

"Johny was the beginning of everything, of a struggle that will never die." The Starostik couple took care of a baby chimp rejected at birth in a zoo and created a suitable place for welfare in captivity.

Residents' Stories Johny

posted in 28 Nov 2023

Chimpanzees make tactical use of high elevation in territorial contexts”

A very interesting study was recently published in the scientific journal PLOS Biology and has made headlines in the last few weeks. According to the study's authors, chimpanzees would also use military recognition tactics based on observations of "enemy territory" from high elevations, which were believed to be an exclusively human skill.

posted in 09 Nov 2023

Unknown past

Little is known about Johnny's origins and past. When he arrived at the Sanctuary, for example, he didn't have two fingers on his right hand, and there is no record of an incident that led to this.

Residents' Stories Johnny

posted in 03 Oct 2023

Book review – “Primatology, Ethics and Trauma”, by Robert Ingersoll and Antonina Anna Scarnà

Although these studies have brought to light important facts about the abilities and intelligence of chimpanzees, some scientists have argued that they are inconclusive, questioning their scientific value and, above all, the psychic and traumatic impact caused to the “guinea pig” chimpanzees.

posted in 07 Sep 2023

Spain: GAP Project calls for the Declaration of the Rights of Great Apes and their inclusion as World Living Heritage of Humanity

Given the perilous situation in which great ape populations find themselves and the dramatic appeal by UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay, in which she recently declared that their populations are in danger and that “the protection of these humans’ cousins, from whom we have only a 2% difference in DNA, is a collective responsibility”, the…

posted in 01 Sep 2023

Giving Day for Apes

Starting today, September 11, until October 3, 2023, join Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries for a global day of giving in support of qualified sanctuaries and rescue centers providing rehabilitation or long-term care for chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, gibbons and orangutans throughout Africa, Asia and North America.

posted in 31 Aug 2023

Suzi and Singer, a historic meeting

Exactly 10 years ago, on August 31, 2013, philosopher Peter Singer visited the Great Apes Sanctuary of Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil. One of his hosts was chimpanzee Suzi, who was then two years old.

Residents' Stories Suzi

posted in 23 Aug 2023

The human-chimp bond captured in an iconic photo

In 1964, Jane Goodall’s husband Hugo van Lawick took a photo of her and an infant chimp reaching out to each other. Decades later, it continues to impact how we view chimpanzees. On 14 July 1960, 26-year-old Jane Goodall arrived by boat to the shores of Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania. Here, in what is now Gombe…

posted in 15 Aug 2023

Jeff McCurry, Harambe’s friend

The excellent photographs that Jeff McCurry has taken of nature and its living beings are extraordinary and his existence is full of that wonderful contact with Mother Earth, showing us in all its splendour, the colourfulness of life. His sensitivity and empathy towards other species made him have a special relationship with a male gorilla…

posted in 14 Aug 2023

Colombia: About the difference between a zoo and a Sanctuary and the transfer of chimp Yoko

On August 8 the Colombian TV channel Pasión Animal #PasionAnimalTV dedicated an almost entire program to the case of chimpanzee Yoko, currently the only resident of the Ukumari Biopark zoo. After the escape followed by death of Chita and Pancho in July, activists are negotiating the transfer of Yoko

posted in 12 Aug 2023

Extreme Weather Is Coming. Someone Has to Tell the Chimps.

When Michelle Reininger went to bed on Thursday, June 15, she wasn’t worried about the weather. The last time she checked, the forecast had called for scattered showers. But in the middle of the night, an emergency alert blared on her phone: a severe thunderstorm warning. Winds were expected to reach 80 miles per hour.

posted in 05 Aug 2023

Save the Chimps Sanctuary: The Carole Noon Legacy Society

The Carole Noon Legacy Society is named in honor of Dr. Carole C. Noon (1949–2009), Save the Chimps’ visionary co-founder. It is because of her determination, her compassion, and her ability to inspire others to act that we have a protected and spacious home for our resident chimpanzees. From suing the U.S. Air Force for…

posted in 20 Jul 2023

Experiencing Gut Aiderbichl Sanctuary for Traumatized Chimpanzees – Gänserndorf, Austria

Gut Aiderbichl Sanctuary for Traumatized Chimpanzees today is home to 29 chimpanzees. At its foundation, in 2009, there were 38 individuals (chimps) and another 5 monkeys (reshus) who had survived after 30 years of laboratory research.