Chimpanzee; Cameroon; Female; 2 years
Source: Achille was left by an expatriate family who had kept her as a pet in Bankim. She was in very bad condition on arrival, with suspected meningitis, but when I photographed her, she was well on the road to recovery and learning how to integrate with her new chimp friends at the sanctuary. She had lots of energy and hurled herself onto my shoulders getting me to carry her around.
Chimpanzee; Cameroon; Male; 11 months
Source: Arron was confiscated by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry while being held by hunters. He was particularly cute, wearing a nappy when I took this picture, he clung to his surrogate human mother. Getting him to look in camera was very difficult as when I approached him he would bury his head in her chest with shyness.
Chimpanzee; Cameroon; Male; 3 years
Source: Gino had feisty energy. He was one of the first chimps I photographed and I used a peanut taped to the end of my lens to encourage the chimp to look in to the camera. It was too much temptation for Gino who shot out his arm in a flash and took the peanut.
Chimpanzee; Republic of Congo; Male; 60 years (oldest Chimpanzee in Africa)
Source: Gregoire was discovered by Jane Goodall in Brazzaville Zoo in 1991, severely malnourished and almost hairless. Jane employed a keeper to look after him and nurse him back to health. He was then moved to the Pointe Noire sanctuary where he shared his enclosure with La Vieille a particularly gentle chimpanzee. Normally it was too dangerous to go in with the adults, but he was like a gentle old granddad, and I was able to spend time with him while he shuffled around, intrigued by my presence. He died 5 years after I took this picture and is believed to have been longest living chimpanzee in the world.
Chimpanzee; Cameroon; Female; 5 years
Source: Chim had been left at the sanctuary by a Cameroonian environmental journalist who had kept her like a child, dressed her, bathed her, etc. She had been made to dance in order to receive food, and still dances when not fed on demand. She had a particularly intense stare. The other chimps in his group seemed to look up to her, like one of the popular kids in class.
Chimpanzee; Cameroon; Male; 5 years
Source: Jackson's parents were killed for the bush meat trade and he had been dumped at the Limbe Wildlife Center. He had one of the palest faces of the chimpanzees I photographed, which typically have many honey shades, browns and black skin. The first flashes made him blink but then he realized they were harmless and observed me with intrigue.
Chimpanzee; Republic of Congo; Female; 3 years
Source: Fani’tuek was rescued and brought to Brazzaville Zoo with an other chimpanzee. The Jane Goodall Institute then took her to the Tchimpounga Sanctuary to learn to integrate with other chimps. Her name means ‘Where are we?’ in Villi - the local language. Fani’tuek was extremely noisy, while waiting impatiently to get her food.
Chimpanzee; Cameroon; Male; 5 years
Source: James was confiscated from hunters in eastern province by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. After a few months in the sanctuary, he was nursed back to health. When I met him he was a loud communicator, very curious and wonderfully playful.
Chimpanzee; Cameroon; Female; 2 years
Source: Katie was confiscated by a gamekeeper from a hunter who had kept her in small box in hut in village of Akom. The experience had profoundly impacted her mentally and she had difficulty interacting with the other chimpanzees in her group - she sat on her own, like a child in the playground with no friends. While taking a portrait of another chimp she came and bit me on the back of the leg.
Chimpanzee; Republic of Congo; Female; 4 years
Source: O’Minou was brought to the sanctuary by the Ministry of Waters and Forests after a period at Brazzaville Zoo living in very bad conditions. Her Name means ‘There is nobody but me’ in Villi. She had a slight squint and scant fur but a beautiful face with her freckled complexion.
Chimpanzee; Cameroon; Male; 5 years
Source: Koffi was kept by a Cameroonian family in Yaounde who tried to sell him when he became too big and boisterous. Now part of a big group of rescued chimpanzees who spend a lot of time playing together, he thought it was particularly fun to climb trees and then dive-bomb me.
Chimpanzee; Cameroon; Male; 6 years
Source: Rambo was confiscated by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry from a woman who had kept him like a human child, dressing him in clothes, brushing his teeth, etc. He was 4 years old on arrival at the sanctuary. Very active and strong, the keepers named him Rambo and he quickly became the dominant male of group. He wasn’t sure about me and gave me a good thump on my back just to let me know he was a lot stronger than me despite being only 6 years old.
Chimpanzee; Republic of Congo; Female; 29 years
Source: After being orphaned, La Vieille spent her first 17 years in small concrete rusty cage in a zoo. After she was rescued by the Jane Goodall Institute in Pointe Noire, she was moved to an enclosure with a sleeping hut and grass play area which she shared with the oldest living chimp, Gregoire. She had never seen grass and it took her 6 years to gain the courage to go out onto it. When I photographed her, she and Gregoire reminded me of a gentle old couple, sitting to together, watching the world go by.
Chimpanzee; Republic of Congo; Female; 3 years
Source: Talian’s name means ‘Hope’ in Villi. She was brought to the sanctuary by Ministry of Waters and Forests after some time at Brazzaville Zoo. She now lives as part of a group at the Tchimpounga Sanctuary and was startlingly strong and agile.
Chimpanzee; Cameroon; Female; 5 years
Source: When Liana was very small she was kept in little box and aggressively beaten. Confiscated by Ministry of Environment and Forestry in Yaounde. The box was her world on arrival at the sanctuary and she would attack anybody who tried to take her out. Finally coaxed out after 4 days, she was in very poor health. When I met her she was in great condition and particularly fascinated by trying to undo my belt and camera strap.
Chimpanzee; Cameroon; Female; 5 years
Source: Talila was confiscated by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, in unknown circumstances. Now a social member of her new group she spends a lot of time reinforcing friendships by grooming and looking for fleas.
Chimpanzee; Cameroon; Female; 4 years
Source: Tam Tam was confiscated by Ministry of Environment and Forestry in eastern province of Cameroon. When she arrived at the sanctuary she had a piece missing from outer ear but was soon nursed back to health. She was very facially expressive and able to communicate her displeasure with a simple stare.
Chimpanzee; Cameroon; Female; 4 years
Source: Wazak was confiscated by a sanctuary driver after a sighting in Yaounde market. The name Wazak is a combination of Wa (local dialect word for chimp) and the driver’s name, Zac. Very facially expressive and mischievous she attempted to tie my shoelaces together.
Chimpanzee; Cameroon; Female; 7 years
Source: Wendy was given to the sanctuary by a Chinese family who had held her for six years. She had often be made to walk upright. On arrival at the sanctuary she spent 2 weeks in a cage at the side of enclosure, to get to know the other chimpanzees. When she entered group, all chimpanzees liked her, and, unusually, there was no fighting. She quickly became the matriarch of the group, and had and the other chimps go to her when sad or wanting to resolve a conflict. She was intelligent and calm.“What is it about apes? We’re obsessed with them because they reflect who we are.”
On the stroke of New Year’s Day 2020, in a small German town not far from Düsseldorf, a group of friends lit paper lanterns and watched them float off into the night’s sky. Hours later, miles away, one of the lanterns gently landed on the roof of an ape enclosure in Krefeld Zoo, called the Krefeld Gorilla Garden. The enclosure was home to chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans. The lanterns set light to the tropical foliage that lined the enclosure, which was warmed by the zoo’s staff to resemble the environment of an African rainforest. Within a few minutes, the blaze began to circle the apes trapped inside. The fire gutted the entire building, leaving nothing but a charred shell; no human, let alone an ape, would be able to escape it, the zookeepers thought. Tragically, their guess was proved right. The gorillas and orangutans died of smoke inhalation and burns. But, somehow, two of the three chimpanzees inside the enclosure found a way to survive with only minor injuries. How they managed to do so remains something of an unknown.
In 2019, at the Loango National Park in Gabon, Africa, an adult chimpanzee named Suzee was observed by scientists as she inspected a day-old wound on the foot of her young son, Sia.
In recorded footage, Suzee can be seen studying Sia’s gashed foot. Then, quite suddenly, she starts to peer at the foliage that surrounded her in the dense rainforest. She plucks an insect from a nearby branch and carefully places it in her mouth. Then, as she holds Sia’s foot in her arms, she carefully applies the crushed insect to the wound.
In this clip, filmed by @alessandra_masc, you see the adult #chimpanzee #female Suzee, catching and applying an #insect to the open #wound on the foot of her adolescent #son, Sia. pic.twitter.com/JTLryXw0ac
— Ozougachimps (@ozougachimps) February 7, 2022
Alessandra Mascaro, an evolutionary biologist, watched from her hideout as Suzee repeated the process again and again. Mascaro realised she was witnessing the first evidence of animals using insects as a form of self-medication, healing and care. Days after, Sia was walking normally. As Mascaro furthered her research, she realised that applying crushed insects to wounds was a widespread practice amongst Suzee’s troop in Loango.
In captivity, chimpanzees can be taught human languages. A female chimp named Washoe, born in West Africa but raised in America, knew more than 240 signs from American Sign Language, and taught some of them to her son, Louis, without prompting.
Humans and chimpanzees share 95 to 98 percent of the same DNA. Biologically, chimpanzees are more closely related to humans than they are to gorillas. They’re the only animals known to make advanced use of tools, and scientists now have evidence they use plants and insects as a form of medicine as well. As each year passes, humans learn more about our closest living relatives. But one thing is for sure – there’s so much we still don’t know, and are yet to find out.
Arron was confiscated by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry while being held by hunters. He was particularly cute, wearing a nappy when I took this picture, he clung to his surrogate human mother. Getting him to look in camera was very difficult as when I approached him he would bury his head in her chest with shyness.
Arron is the rarest chimpanzee in the #JAPES collection, the only baby (under one year old) when photographed, and also one of James’s favourite portraits.
10% of all net funds raised from the NFT sale will be donated to the sanctuaries who rescued the apes and invited James in with his camera.
James Mollison’s beautiful portraits of these 19 chimpanzees are being minted as NFTs for the first time by ART3.io as #JAPES, with 10% of net proceeds from the sale going to the ape sanctuaries in Africa who rescued these animals and invited James in with his camera.
