Discover, Learn, Take Action!Quiz, puzzles, and a lot more fun inside!!

SNARING

GREAT APE

SUPERHEROES

MAG

AZINE FOR** ONly **

2

Created and published by Stichting Nature for Kids www.natureforkids.nl Copyright ® 2013. In connection with U.N.I.T.E. for the Environment, The Kasiisi Project and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

* Editor in chief & production: Dagmar van Weeghel * Design & Lay out: Albrecht Design

* Illustrators: Marlies van der Wel, Mieke Driessen *Photography: Andrew Bernard, Ronan Donovan, Richard Bergl, Martha Robbins, Dagmar van Weeghel, Mark Edwards, David R. Mills & Panthera, Cleve Hicks

Wherever you live, it’s important that you grow up to become the next generation of environmental stewards. The best way to protect our

environment in the future is for you to grow up with a love for Mother Earth!

This Great Ape -Education through Entertainment -program with fun films, supportingmaterials and activities will do just that. We’ll show you how to save the Great Apes, the gorillas, the chimpanzees, the bonobo’s, all our forest cousins..and we will help you do it! The activities you will find in this magazine will suggest fun ways for you to help the world we share, become a “greener” and healthier place for both yourself and the Great Apes. You will find different chapters in these cool Magazines.

You can Discover, Know, Learn, and Take Action yourselves. Enjoy!

3

Are you ready to become a Great Ape

Superhero just like me: Ajani from Fish &

Greens Village? That is great news!

Just fill in your name on the left and learn the Great Ape

Promise by heart. Remember: your passion and your voice

are the most effective tools you have to help the Great

Apes! So make sure that you share The Promise with others

as well! You can make a song or a poem out of the words,

you can hang it up in the classroom to encourage others or

perform The Promise during celebrations in your village.

Whatever you do- make me proud! If we all work

together we can make big things happen.

THE - Great Ape Superhero -PROMISE!

44

Special is a young female chimpanzee living in Kibale National Park, Uganda. She is only 11 years old and is still living

with the group of chimpanzees where she was born, but she has already had 2 very bad things happen to her. When she was only 6 her mother Nile died. Like you, chimpanzees need

their mother’s care for a long time. If their mother dies when they are young they often die too. Sometimes other chimpanzees, maybe older brothers and sisters, will help take care of them, but Special was left to look after herself. Without her mother’s help she had to look for her own food, make her own nest and find her way safely through the forest. It was while she was walking through the forest one day that the second very bad thing happened to her – she got her hand caught in a snare!

Special lives in a National Park, a place that is supposed to

be safe for animals to live, where people will not hurt or

kill them, a place where anyone can come to watch them

and learn about them, but where they are protected. Sadly

some people like to eat forest animals and even though this

is forbidden and they will be punished if they are caught,

they quietly slip into the forest to hunt them anyway. These

people are called poachers.

The poachers in Kibale National Park want to catch wild

pigs, buffalo and forest antelope. They use snares made

of strong wire and traps made of iron with big sharp

teeth, which they lay on paths where they know that these

animals travel. But other animals also walk along these

paths and get caught in the traps too - dogs, chimpanzees

and sometimes even people.

As chimpanzees grow older they learn to look out for the

snares and traps but Special is still a child and she has no

mother to lead her safely around the poacher’s snares,

so one day she put her hand into one. She didn’t see it

because it was hidden under the leaves but as soon as she

felt it around her hand she was frightened and pulled hard.

Chimpanzees are very strong, much stronger than pigs and

antelopes, even stronger than people, so instead of being

trapped she pulled the snare right out of the ground. She

didn’t understand what had happened but she knew that

the wire around her arm hurt and she tried to pull it off. But

the more she pulled the deeper it cut into her wrist and the

more it hurt. She pulled so hard that the wire cut through

her arm right down to the bone. Special was now in great

danger. How could she climb trees to feed herself with only

one hand? Would she starve? Would she get an infection

that killed her? Would her hand die and fall off?

All these things happen to chimpanzees that get caught in

snares. Max, a chimpanzee in Special’s family has lost both

his feet because of snares, so things did not look good for her.

This is special!

A SPECIAL TALE by Sonya Kahlenberg

and Elizabeth Ross

55

that most hunting for bushmeat is illegal!? Bushmeat hunting is not sustainable when:

* Illegal methods of hunting (wire snares, guns) are used;

* protected or endangered species (protected.e.g, gorillas and chimpanzees) are hunted;

* Too many people are hunting in the forest;

* Hunting is done for commercial trade (selling it in cities and outside the Country)

DID YOU KNOW?

But Special now finally had a piece of very good luck. The

scientists who study her family saw her hand and they

telephoned the team of vets who look after wild animals in

Ugandan National Parks. The vets fired a dart into Special

that put her to sleep and they were then able to remove

the wire, clean her wound and sew up her arm. Darting is

dangerous for chimpanzees and the vets have to be care-

ful and clever. Sometimes chimpanzees climb trees before

they are asleep and die falling to the ground and sometimes

they are with friends who stop the vets reaching them.

So most of the time the chimpanzees cannot be darted and

either lose their hands and feet or die of infection. Even

after darting and treatment the damage from the snare can

be so bad that the hand can never be used properly.

Happily for Special her treatment was successful, and one

month later she was climbing trees and playing with her

friends, her hand almost as good as new. But because most

other chimpanzees or gorillas are not so lucky, there is ano-

ther important group of people who work hard to prevent

the great apes being harmed by poachers. They are called

the Snare Removal Team and their job is to look for snares

in the forest and remove them before any animals get

caught in them.

They are very good at finding the snares even when they

are well hidden and sometimes they even find the poachers.

When this happens they call the National Park rangers and

the poachers are arrested.

Setting snares inside a National Park is illegal, dangerous

to people and their dogs and hurts the animals that live

inside the park. When poachers set snares they are not only

hurting the antelope they are trying to catch, but also ani-

mals they don’t want to eat, like chimpanzees and gorillas.

They also harm all the animals who eat the antelope and

who now do not have enough food. Plants and trees also

depend on chimpanzees, gorillas, antelope and pigs to help

spread their seeds around and when the animals disappear

so do the trees, the medicinal plants that help keep you

healthy and eventually the whole forest.

Special is a very special chimpanzee. Like you she has

lots of good times and sometimes she has bad times, but

getting caught in a snare should never be one of them.

FACTOver 1 million metric tons of bushmeat are taken each year from African forests alone.Source: Wildlife Conservation Society

6

SNARING - one of the biggest threats to the Great Apes

Snare traps are made of wire, rope, or

nylon set within the forest by hunters

to catch bushmeat. Setting snares in-

side a National Park or protected area

is illegal. Chimpanzees’ and gorillas’

hands and feet can become trapped

in snares when they travel on the

ground between feeding trees. Even

though they are very intelligent, they

cannot remove the snares, which over

time cut into their flesh, causing pain,

infection, and permanent damage.

Snared individuals are often crippled

or lose hands or feet and they often

die from their injuries.

What is ‘Bushmeat’? Forest is also referred to as ‘the bush’, and so wildlife and the meat derived from it is referred to as ‘bushmeat’. In many communities, hunting is tra-

ditional, having been practiced for

generations. People hunt all sorts of

forest animals; forest antelope; cro-

codile; porcupine; bush pig; cane rat;

pangolin; guinea fowl; etc. But nowa-

days TOO MANY PEOPLE are hunting

in the forest. In addition to hunting

the meat for consumption, they also

sell the meat to earn an income. So

much wildlife is being hunted at such

a rapid rate that some forests become

empty. The trees are there, but the

animals aren’t. Many animals in the

forest, like gorillas, chimpanzees and

elephants are in danger of extinction

as a result.

Often wild animals are taken from

the forest because of a demand for

meat from many people living in cities

(commercial trade). A lot of bushmeat

is disappearing into their homes and

stomachs while they have many other

ways of putting meat in their diet. In

the cities people can buy meat taken

from domestic animals such as cows,

goats, pigs and chickens.

This commercial trade is not sustai-

nable at all. The forest cannot provide

enough meat for so many people.

Overhunting made worse by logging

and mining in forests. These activities

create roads which allow hunters to

go deeper into the forests than ever

before.

What is ‘the Bushmeat - Crisis’? Commercial hunting for the meat

of wild animals has become a huge

threat to the future of wildlife in Africa;

some wild animals have gone extinct

because of overhunting already!

And soon many more will follow.

This is a Crisis. Wild animals are dis-

appearing from many African forests.

Because of that; plants and trees are

also disappearing: it’s all connected.

Removing wildlife from the forest

reduces biodiversity and causes harm-

ful changes in ecosystems. It’s a mat-

ter of time before many wild animals

will go extinct, and with with them the

forest will disappear as well. When

the forest disappears patterns of rain-

fall will change, erosion will increase

and forest products like traditional

medicine will no longer be available.

So the bushmeat crisis is a big pro-

blem for humans as well: the loss

of wildlife and forest threatens the

livelihoods and food security of the

people who live next to the forest.

7

Can you make your body into...... a Silverback Gorilla?

Pretend you are a strong Silverback Gorilla, stand on both your feet and on your knuckles.

It’s great fun in the Forest. Many animals are very funny and joke around all day. Look at these ones; they are real COMEDIANS!

It’s great fun in the

Forest. Many animals are

very funny and

joke around all day. Look

at these ones; they are real

clowns!

LAUGH OUT LOUD!!

DO THE WIGGLE!

When male gorillas are about 12 years of age they develop silver

coloring on their back. This is where the name Silverback comes from.

Gorillas travel through the forest every day looking for food.

They never sleep in the same place two nights in a row!

> Can you move around like a Silverback and lead your group to find leaves

and fruits? ” There can be 5 to 30 or more gorillas in one troop, led by the

strong, experienced silverback male gorilla)

> Can you knuckle walk like a Silverback gorilla and beat your cheast to

show how strong you are?

Fill in a text yourself in this picture and hang

it up in your classroom. Ask your classmates to

do the same. Who wrote the funniest lines?

Not good at catching things!

from my yard, I tried to see gorillas

there is somethingaround her wrist

Tinka chased me

the snare injured me

Tinka wanted to catch me

happy ending

Market day,my friend Nantale bumped into me.

I did go nto the forest

I had to tell Tinka about it

then I got caughtin something

Just in time to hide

I need to make it tothe chiefs house

I am now a junior ranger!

What is she hiding

I knew this was not allowed

He told me snareswere placed in the forest

in a snare!

I went to Mudpound

MP Chief tried to hidebushmeat in car

Tinka told me a baby gorilla is born

climbed a tree andthen I saw them

and he thought I placed them

someone was there

Tinka talking toMudpound chief

Nantale took his carkey!

1. 2. 3. 4.

17. 18. 19. 20.

33. 34. 35. 36.

9. 10. 11. 12.

25. 26. 27. 28.

41. 42. 43. 44.

49. 50.

Great Ape Superhero!

very cute, big eyes, black fur.

real gorillas!

Snares hurt and killthe great apes

don’t hurt me please!

Nantale had to tellTinka about her snares

Tinka caught me, I’m innocent!

I am not allowed to go into forest

Amazing

I am innocent

did Nantale place the snares

our chief orders us to hunt..

MP chief is caughtwith all bushmeat

But I wanted to seethe baby gorilla

That’s blood!

he wanted to catchand arrest me

yes, she wanted tocatch a porcupine

..he hides bushmeatin his house

MP Chief had to removeall snares in forest

I rushed back home

a gorilla is injured!

I fled into the forest

Nantale, cut me loose

5. 6. 7. 8.

21. 22. 23. 24.

37. 38. 39. 40.

13. 14. 15. 16.

29. 30. 31. 32.

45. 46. 47. 48.MP people were taught

how to rear goats for meat

I had to show Tinka

Great Ape Superhero!

10

Interview Emily Otali

Emily, when did you think of becoming a scientist, what/who inspired you and how did you go about it?I knew I wanted to be a veterinary doctor when I was eight years old because I liked to watch our kittens play for hours and hours on end and worked well with the farm animals. I used to predict for my dad when the cows, sheep or pigs in our farm would give birth. And I was very good at it.

However, today when I look back, I think the seeds of being a scientist were sown by my brother Dennis who introduced me to ecology.

I chose science subjects for my A Levels and declined an Education course at the university, choosing to study Environmental Sciences. At the time I joined University it was very competitive, and was not admitted for veterinary medicine. But I have no regrets. Once I got to behavioral ecology, I knew a career as a vet was not what I wanted!

The rest was hard work and good luck

Tell us about a day in the life of a scientist and field manager of the Kibale Chimpanzee Project?My days are varied. For example on the day I go to the field, I wake up at 5:30 am to get ready. I leave for the field at 6:30 am: it may take up to one hour to walk to where the chimps have slept; though sometimes it only takes 15 minutes. Once we get to the nest site (where the chimps slept); we sit and wait for them to wake up, then I start watching them and writing down their behavior. I do this all day until 6:30 pm when they go to sleep; then I begin my trek home, take a bath, eat dinner and sleep. It is an exciting and easy day for me!

As field manager, I am the link between the assistants and the directors. When I stay at the camp, I meet the research assistants and take care of their needs. I communicate with the project directors to keep them informed about what is going on in the field. I represent the Kibale Chimpanzee Project on all meetings or functions in Uganda. At the end of the month I pay salaries of all the Kibale Chimpanzee Project staff as well as prepare monthly summary reports. I do a lot of paperwork related to data collection and entry. I also help new students of the project to settle in and ensure their stay with us is comfortable. Such days are usually unpredictable: some are good, others, not fun at all!

Wildlife is her passion - Where one would expect fear

and intimidation, Emily found a thrill that cemented her love

for the wildlife that she studies. Emily Otali has lived and

worked in Uganda’s national parks since she left school and

is the first African woman to attain a PhD on chimpanzees!

GIRL POWER in the Rainforest!

11

Emily

GORIllAS GEt cAuGht INSNARES AS wEll!

was born in 1971 in Dar-es-Salaam, a coastal city in Tanzania, to Ugandan parents from Eastern Uganda. She went to primary school in Kampala, Uganda’s capital and attended secondary school near her ancestral home. She went on to study Environ-mental Sciences for her undergraduate degree; Environment and Natural Resources for her Masters and later pursued a PhD, all at Uganda’s Makerere University in Kampala. She was privileged to be mentored by the very best in the field of primatology and animal behaviour.

Emily attended courses on animal behavior all over the world and she has starred in television documentary on mongooses! Emily has been working as a field manager at the Kibale Chim-panzee Project in Uganda for the last 12 years studying infant social deve-lopment in the chimpanzees and doing many other things as well. Away from all things wild, she is a proud mother to three-year old Elizabeth whose first word was “baboon”!

What lies ahead for African women in science?There are more and more African woman joining the field of science; and lots more contributing to conservation efforts. It is an open field with no segregation at all. The little girls out there only need to be interested in the profession and pursue it with zeal.

Do you feel you are treated differently from male colleagues?Not at all! I feel equal to them. I have never felt like I was being treated differently by my male colleagues. Sometimes I do not even notice that I might be the only female in a meeting. But then I have always been a tomboy and always felt like ‘one of the boys’.

What is your fondest memory of observing the chimps in Uganda?So many! But I will tell you one: - My first sight of a wild chim-panzee. The chimps in the project have names. My first encoun-ter was with Ipassa - then the juvenile daughter of Lope. The field assistants had told me not to make eye contact with the chimps, but it was irresistible, I kept stealing glances at her several times and then, once, she caught me and our eyes locked! I connected with something in her… it was like looking into the eyes of ano-ther human; like I could see into her soul, her dreams, her hopes, her fears! That moment - the trees around, the time, what I was wearing - is imprinted in my memory forever!

You are part of the Anti Snaring Movement in that region; what do you do exactly and why is this such an important part of your work?Since 1997, The Kibale Chimpanzee Project has worked with the Ugandan Wildlife Authority (UWA) to reduce the risk of snares to the park’s chimpanzees by conducting daily snare removal patrols throughout the forest. This effort has four main goals: (1) to con-duct regular patrols to remove snares within the park and appre-hend poachers, (2) to collect data on the occurrence and location of snares and other illegal activities within the park (e.g. charcoal production, encroachment, and tree cutting), (3) to assist in the training of UWA rangers, and (4) to educate local communities to help curtail poaching. Snare removal and conservation education are very important components of our work because as scientists, we are the middlemen between the local and global communities and the animals in the wild. It is our responsibility to the animals to preach for their cause; and our duty to inform the human society about the effects of their behavior to the animals in the wild.

Here are some expressions of a Chimpanzee family. Which one is similar to how you express

yourself?SAD

HappyScared

Playfuldominant

Like people, Gorillas and Chimpanzees use many facial expressions to communicate with each other

and express feelings. These expressions are not always similar to people’s expressions!

For instance: a smiling face of a Chimpanzee might mean that a Chimpanzee is scared. But a smiling

face in humans means that they are happy!

LET’S FACE IT!

GORILLA HANDHow often do you come across snared chimps and what happens to these chimps?It used to be so frequent, but since the inception of the snare removal project it is now less common. And mind you, that is only in the habituated community that we are doing our work on! Now, we have an injury may be once a year; some-times, none at all. Once we see a chimp with a snare, we will inform Uganda Wildlife Authority and The Jane Goodall In-stitute (JGI) in Uganda. JGI have always sent a Vet Doctor to come and review the case; decide if the chimp can be darted and the snare removed. So-far, three chimps in our commu-nity have been saved by a JGI Vet. Sometimes, the chimps struggle and remove the snare themselves. Other times, we have not been able to see the chimp in time to save his/her limbs and we only see them after they have lost the limb. We have lost three of our healthy chimps to what we suspec-ted as snare injuries because sometimes the snares are too big and heavy for the chimp to carry or drag around. There are no observations of the non habituated groups of chim-panzees; it is very hard for us to see or help them!

Has your work affected your view of humans?A lot!!! In many different ways! I am frustrated by the lack of understanding from the people who continuously set the

snares that injure the chimps. But I am the first to under-stand why they do what they do. And then, there are a lot of chimpanzee-behaviours that make me understand humans or try to! Like females leaving their community to join other communities (marriage?); domestic violence where males beat females (I wonder what makes them do that)!

Thank you Emily, one last question: What would Chimpanzees say to humansif they could speak?“Please don’t destroy our home! Give us the chance to have our children, raise them and watch them have their own children, grand children and great grand children.

12

13

PALm LinESAnother difference between man’s hands and the hands of Great Apes are the lines that run across the palms. While humans’ main palm lines are more curvy, the

three to five palm lines on Great Apes main palm run in a straight, horizontal line all the way across the palm.

These lines are often also connected to each other.

USAGEA big difference between human hands and other

primates lies in their usage. Human hands are designed for the purpose of grasping and manipulating, while the

other primates( including chimps, gorillas and bono-

bo’s) use their hands to walk on, as well. This is called;

‘knuckle walking’: they walk on the flat soles of their feet

and the knuckles of their hands with fingers curved

under.

THUmb LEnGTHThough all primates (this includes humans) have

opposable thumbs, the human thumb is the longest and therefore human hands are capable of grasping with detailed precision. Even so, chimpanzees and gorillas

can do a lot with their thumbs. They can grab branches, peel fruits, and carry their babies. Chimpanzees can

even make tools out of sticks!

Place your hand over this life s

ized drawing of an

adult gorilla hand. How do they compare?

Gorillas have human-like hands: Th

e gorillas hand

looks almost identical to a human hand, with five

fingers, including a thumb. They also hav

e finger-

nails as opposed to claws. Additionally, a

gorilla

has unique fingerprints just li

ke humans and

other primates!

GORILLA HAND

TIP:If you like to

get your hands dirty; make a similar print of your hand out of

mud and press it gently onto paper or on a surface. Ready! Now compare your handprint with the

gorillas thoroughly!

14

GAMES &Activities

Well done!

HOW TO DRAW CONNECT THE DOTS

1. 2.

4.3.

Connect the dots and discover who is

looking at you! Start at number 1

all connect all the way to the number 53!

MUD ART

TIME TO CHIMP… AROUND!

Let’s learn how to draw a Gorilla doing some Knuckle walking!

Step 1 Draw the gorillas head first- his body and back-side

Step 2 Draw his strong front arms and his noseStep 3 Draw the back legs and his feet Step 4 Finish of by drawing the hands, ears, his eyes,

no se and mouth.

1. Appoint a Game master.

2. To play, The Game master will choose one player who is the Guesser, the Guesser must leave the room.

3. Then the Game master will choose the player who is the Chimpanzee.

4. The other players have to do whatever the Chimpanzee does. If they (the chimp) scratch their head, the rest of the players have to scratch their heads. If they (the chimp) stand on one foot, they all stand on one foot.

5. The Guesser is allowed back in the room and he must figure out who is the Chimpanzee!

6. The Chimpanzee should try not to get caught changing the action. If the Chimpanzee gets caught, then she/he becomes the next Guesser.

Let’s get dirty! You can create beautiful Great Ape Artwork from Clay/ mud.

Any clay suitable for making pots should be suitable for making a Great Ape sculpture. Possible sources may be riverbeds, deserted termite or anthill mounds (often this is fine material dug from deep underground.) If necessary crush the clay into dust before adding water.

1. Collect moist clay, suitable for making pots. 2. Form the clay into ‘stick’ shapes.3. Form a flat base – by rolling out some ‘sticks’. 4. Shape a Great Ape face sculpture with the sticks on the flat base5. Increase depth by adding further ‘sticks’. 6. Smooth off sculpture with a stick and water.7. Leave sculpture to dry for at least 3 days.8. Harden sculpture by firing in a kiln, if possible.

15

AJANI’S WORD SEARCH

gorillachimpanzeebonobogreatapeforestconservationtreenatureranger

superheronationalparkhabitatanimalwildlifeprotectafricaendangered

Here are several words that describe Ajani’s Great Ape Adventures!See if you can find them in the search below. You might find them horizontal, vertical, backwards or even diagonal! Circle the words as you find them and check each one of that you’ve found.

Connect the dots and discover who is

looking at you! Start at number 1

all connect all the way to the number 53!

WHAT IS IT?

MASKMAKE THIS FUN

1. Carefully cut out around the mask. 2. Cut out eye holes. You may need to make adjustments depending on your size and eye spacing.3. Make two small holes (where each dot is indicated) where you can attach rope or some elastic or bamboo string.

Tie off at inside of mask.4. Cover your face: Hello Chimpanzee!

Always wanted to know what it’s like to be a Chimpanzee?