Let me start with the old proverb which says "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". In this jungle called life, one should learn to take a compulsory time off from work in order to avoid a boring and unenjoyable life.
My visitation to the zoological garden located in the premier University of the largest city in West Africa ought to have taken place long before now, but due to some circumstances, especially my busy nature of life (work, community and family routine).
So, together with my family and my small phone camera we made it at last, henceforth I will be sharing and discussing some of the events at the zoological garden with you.
Important information: Please some pictures may not be clear as expected, it is due to the University zoological garden environment and not my camera.
The University Zoological garden entrance
The image shown above is the entrance to the zoological garden where registration and payment takes place.
Before I share and discuss animals with you as expected, I must say this here that the situation of the zoological garden was not as beautiful and fascinating as expected, there are no numerous animals and some of the birds and animals are either old or not fed well.
The following are the general precautions to be obeyed when visiting a zoological garden
Just like any other zoological garden, we were taught to avoid some activities when relating with the animals, as listed below
We were instructed not to feed the animals
We were instructed not to cross or lean on the barriers/rail
We were instructed not to tease or agitate the animals
We were instructed not to throw things/objects at the animals.
The Ape House
Among the most fascinating house within the zoological garden is the Ape house, may be due to its human resemblance, or due to its ability to learn human languages such as America sign language couples with the fact that humans and chimpanzees share 95% to 98% of the same DNA.
The Ape house in the said zoological garden consists of only the Baboons and the Chimpanzee, immediately I set my eyes on the Chimpanzee, I remember Homo sapiens sapiens: One of the history of human evolution. According to Human evolution history, we are all belongs to Homo sapiens, yes including you reading this text. It was asserted that Homo sapiens evolved in Africa for almost 300,000 years ago. According to the history, Homo sapiens used to gathered and hunt for food like the early humans that were living at that time, they used to displayed behaviors and characters that aid them to respond easily with the survival of fittest in an unstable environments.
Can it be the reason why Chimpanzee is mostly found in Africa?
The Chimpanzee
Facts learned about Chimpanzee
The Alpha male chimpanzee is the highest male in the community.
Chimpanzees have the following attributes: they can make tools and use them to acquire foods. They have sophisticated hunting strategies requiring cooperation, influence and rank and they are status conscious, manipulative and capable of deception.
The conservative status of chimpanzee is endangered.
Chimpanzees are omnivores, meaning they eat fruits, seeds, insects and meat.
The greatest threat of the chimpanzee are habitat destruction, hunting and commercial exportation.
The female chimp has an estrus cycle of about 34 to 35 days.
Humans and chimpanzees share 95 to 98% of the same DNA.
Chimpanzees just like Gorillas, Bonobos and Orangutans can be taught human languages such as the American sign language.
Chimpanzee have been known to have the ability to use symbols and understand aspects of human language. They have a concept of relational syntax, number and numerical sequence and are capable of spontaneous planning for a future state or event.
Chimpanzee have a wide variety of tastes and are able to live in a wide variety of habitats. They supplement their diets with meat, such as young antelopes or goats. Their most frequent victims, however are other primates such as young baboons, colobus monkey and blue monkeys.
Chimpanzees defend themselves against enemies like leopards and humans by using large sticks and branches as clubs or throw them.
The Baboons
Facts learned about the Baboons
The natural habitat of a baboon generally includes arid areas, forests, steppes and savannas.
According to National Geographic, Baboons are the world's largest monkeys.
They live for about 30 years. Their diet consists of leaves, barks and sap from plants, though they also eat small amount of fish and shellfish, hares, birds, vervet monkeys and small antelopes.
The female baboon is half the size of male.
The collective name for a group of baboons is troop,cartload, flange or congress.
Their bottom have very thick padding which allows them to sit comfortably on them.
Baboons vocalize using 30 different ways which include streams, grunts and barks. They also smack their lips, shrug their shoulders and yawn.
Baboons socialize together in groups of about 50 individuals, the female constitutes double the number of males.
Studies have indicated that a male baboon's receptiveness toward females depends on the size of their swollen, colored genitalia during estrous.
A lone baboon male can chase a way almost any animal and harass any intruders until they retreat.
The only predatorial threat faced by this animal, other than humans comprises of large cats like leopards.
There are a total of five species of baboons, namely papio,
hamadryas baboon,olive baboon, chacma baboon,Guinea baboon, and yellow baboon.
Conclusions
In this article, I have highlighted some of the lessons learned today about The ape and most especially the Chimpanzee and baboons. They both are widely spread in south west African.
Thanks for reading through and I hope you are enjoying my trip to the world of Zoology in the south west Africa country. I will put a pause for now and continue from where I stop next time.
