Institute News
World's oldest chimpanzee twins gain Facebook following
26-01-2010 - Discovery
Chimpanzee twins rarely survive because caring for them is so difficult. Mothers must carry them, with the extra weight limiting mobility and foraging. Mothers also often serve as their infants' sole protectors, so it takes quite a force of nature for a mother to haul around two babies while fighting off other aggressive chimps and threatening carnivores, even humans. Gremlin— Golden and Glitter's mother— was one such Super Mom. James Bond-style, she even foiled a double attack by two big aggressive females, Fifi and Fanni.
Click here to read more and to see their Facebook page
Helping local communities take the Lead on REDD
12-01-2010 - JGI USA
An important new project launched by JGI-Tanzania will demonstrate how traditional rural communities can lead -- and benefit from -- forest management initiatives that incorporate tracking of carbon data and the sale of earned carbon credits.
The project, which involves a variety of leading public and private partners, recently received a three-year, $2.7 million (USD) grant from the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Tanzania. The project will give local communities and governments in a largely pristine area – the Masito-Ugalla Ecosystem – the tools and training to manage and monitor forests and to sell carbon credits in the global market through the financing mechanism known as Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD). Tropical deforestation accounts for about 17 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and REDD was a hot topic at the recent UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which Dr. Goodall attended with JGI’s director of conservation science, Lilian Pintea.Click here to read more.
USAID grant will expand Tanzania conservation programs
06-01-2010
A new, 4-year grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will allow JGI and its partners to expand community-centered conservation programs in western Tanzania, a region rich in biodiversity, including critical populations of chimpanzees. Our partners include the Tanzanian district councils of Kigoma and Mpanda, The Nature Conservancy and the Frankfurt Zoological Society.
The USAID grant, totaling more than $5.5 million, supports our work with communities to address the root causes of deforestation and forest degradation in the Greater Gombe and Masito-Ugalla regions. In the next four years we’ll focus on improving forest management, including helping communities reduce forest fire incidences through training, outreach and capacity-building. We also will educate localities about climate change and help them develop mitigation strategies; promote sustainable agriculture practices such as soil erosion control; and support creation of sustainable livelihoods, such as tree nursery management or forest-based activities like honey harvesting. In addition, we will expand our HIV/AIDS awareness and education projects.Click here to read more.
Jane's thoughts on the Connecticut tragedy: "Loving chimps to death"
11-12-2009 - JGI USA
By Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE
Last week in Stamford, Conn., a chimpanzee named Travis was shot and killed after he mauled a friend of his owner. The chimpanzee lived with a widow, eating lobster and ice cream at the table, wearing human clothes and entertaining himself with a computer and television.
But as the tragedy made clear, a chimpanzee can never be totally domesticated.
The human brain is more highly developed than that of any other living creature. So why can't we learn that wild animals simply do not make good "pets"?
I believe it has a great deal to do with the fact that chimpanzees are so frequently used in entertainment and advertising. Only a month ago, Americans watching the Super Bowl may have laughed at an ad in which chimpanzees dressed as mechanics worked on a car. They seemed cute, funny and even lovable. Is it any wonder viewers might think that chimpanzees would make great pets?
Click here to read more.
