Saturday, March 3, 2007

Tess: Some of the other chimps





So Joan has some stiff competition down here in Lwiro. I have fallen in love several times since I’ve been here! First with Irangi, and now with Lubutu. He is in the group of 5 chimps who will be joining the Goma group to make 18. They are around 5 years old, and the three guys, Lubutu, Goma and Kalume have all reached the age where they constantly want attention paid to their pinky winkies, and spend the whole time pushing my hand or my head down to their groins! And if Goma isn’t satisfied you know about it! I’ve had a few poundings on the head when I fail to comply!
As you can see in the pic, Kalume lost a fight with a stupid-should-be-locked-up-and-slowly-tortured-to-death-human and is permanently scarred. He can’t open his mouth properly so Carmen will have to give him a Chelsea smile so he can eat as normal. Despite his deformity, or because of it, he is the alpha male the group. You wouldn’t think to look at him when he gets angry with the others, but he’s so gentle when he’s grooming and playing with me, making his little purring noises. It can be a bit painful as they rip off my scabs but I’ll let ‘em off cos I love ‘em!

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