Happy World Chimpanzee Day, everybody!
World Chimpanzee Day is celebrated every July 14th to honor the day Dr. Jane Goodall first stepped foot in the Gombe forest to begin her studies of one of our closest living relatives. That landing in Tanzania marked the beginning of what has been an incredible adventure in our knowledge and understanding of chimpanzees.
One aspect of her studies I will kind of focus on today is the her method of naming the chimpanzees within the Gombe chimpanzee communities. Before her studies, it was common practice to not name the individuals she was studying. The old thought process behind that was to separate feeling and emotion from the study as to not get attached to them. Please remember it was a different time and the mentality wasn’t what it is today. We had to work up to where we are today in our way of thinking, and Dr. Goodall had a role in that shift.
I could not imagine working here and not seeing them as individuals. It’s unfathomable to me to think they each wouldn’t have their own likes and dislikes, or run through a gauntlet of emotions in the split of a second. They aren’t just mindless creatures you can just throw food and water at and call it a day. They are highly intelligent and need the proper care the reflects so. Hence why chimpanzees, or any primate for that matter, are not and should not be pets among a plethora of other ethical reasons.
So this World Chimpanzee Day, please become that advocate for them! Preach about the perils the face in the wild like poaching and deforestation! Donate to your favorite sanctuary! Politely inform people when the dreaded “I want a pet chimpanzee” comes up in conversation! Advocate! Advocate! Advocate!
Here are some photos from today!
Happy WCD, all!
I always do…certain petting zoos probably have me blocked for advocating. 🙂
Definitely celebrating World Chimpanzee Day. So much progress has been made but so much still needs to be done. Today everyone can celebrate the good work of countless people who brought us this far, starting with Jane Goodall. Where would chimpanzees, their forest habitats, and the communities who live near chimpanzees, be today without her? Thank you Jane. We miss you.
Thank you Chad for all these photos, each showing happy moments. Keeping my fingers crossed that Negra found some peanut butter in that magazine.
Happy World Chimpanzee Day to you all at CSNW and to the one and only, our beloved Dr Jane Goodall..She paved the Chimpanzee way for so many years and her legacy and memory will live on forever.:sparkling_heart::sparkling_heart::sparkling_heart:
Happy World Chimpanzee Day for all of us! :monkey_face:?:see_no_evil::green_heart::hear_no_evil::purple_heart::speak_no_evil::heart_eyes: