Meeting chimpanzees for the first time in their lives
On Tuesday we took a group of children to Chimpanzee Eden, to meet chimpanzees, one of our closest relatives, expressing many of the same characteristics and emotions as ourselves. Many of the chimpanzees have had stories of rescue through their mums being killed, leaving them as orphans, or being abused in many different ways.
The children laughed as they were taken around to meet the chimpanzees who were in their well managed and safe enclosure, as they made loud noises that the children liked!
Their teachers helped to explain to them the comunication between each chimpanzee and the stories of rescue, with an aim that the children would be able to relate to many of these traumatic experiences. This aim is not to verbalise it into a distressing manor, but in a way where they can purley relate their experiences to other animals, an understanding, we hope that also animals go through traumas like us.
They especially liked the smaller chimpanzees as they jumped around asking for food and trying to get the attention of the children.
We found this a fascinating experience and we focused on the children and their reactions.
We hope to bring the children back here this summer, allowing them to have more experiences.
After the tour of the chimpanzees we took them into the education centre where they watched with, what appeared to be great interest of films of the chimpanzees at the sanctuary when they were rescued and the very small conditions they were living in.
One child remarked to her friend ‘That looks small place to live, like where I stay’