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Jane Goodall Institute
Dr. Jane Goodall - The Jane Goodall Institute from Wildlife Conservation Network on Vimeo.
Tchimpounga Natural Reserve, Republic of Congo
It has been 50 years since Jane Goodall stepped on to the beach at Gombe, Tanzania (then called Tanganyika) to begin her study of wild chimpanzees, and with that first step, the chimpanzee become more than a character in a book or in a Tarzan movie or simply a wild beast to tame. The chimpanzee became a species of wildlife with a personality and emotions. They showed both empathy and aggression towards each other, social structure and cognitive thought. They were found to be both foragers and hunters, and they showed the development of primitive “tool” use. Up until that point, anthropologists saw tool-making as a defining trait of mankind. When Jane wrote Louis Leakey, her mentor and the man who set her on her course for her life’s work, of her discovery, he replied: “Now we must redefine ‘tool,’ redefine ‘man’ or accept chimpanzees as humans.”
Gombe: 50 Years of Research and Inspiration
The Houston Zoo acknowledges the important wildlife conservation efforts of the Jane Goodall Institute, especially with threatened chimpanzees and gorillas in Africa’s Congo Forest Wilderness. Since 2004, annual support has been given to the Tchimpounga Sanctuary in the Republic of Congo, the largest on the African continent. Congolese authorities deliver young chimpanzees to the sanctuary after confiscating them from hunters who try to sell them. Currently the sanctuary houses 115 orphaned chimpanzees.
Tchimpounga Natural Reserve (TNR) is characterized by a mosaic of dry open savannahs, densely forested gorges, flood plains, mangrove swamps, and coastal Mayombe forest, Africa’s most endangered ecosystem type, of which only approximately 10% remains. Congo is home to twice as much Mayombe forest as in all neighboring countries combined. These forests shelter many endangered species such as chimpanzees, forest elephants, and western lowland gorillas, as well as guenons, mandrill, civets, jackals, pangolins, three species of antelopes, pythons, and eleven species of bats.
Due to the close proximity of this highly diverse and important area to the Republic of Congo’s second largest urban area (Pointe Noire), TNR faces many of the pressures that human populations place on natural resources. To prevent poaching, JGI employs local Eco-guards to protect the reserve, and is performing intensive biological surveys to determine the best sites for possible reintroduction of captive chimpanzees into the wild.
How can you help chimpanzees?
*Be responsible in your purchasing habits and recycle cell phones and electrical components when possible
*Visit the Houston Zoo’s new
*Support wildlife conservation efforts focusing on great ape species.
