NEWSBYDEBRA DURHAM

This is a guest post by Debra Durham, Ph.D., a primatologist and ethologist with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

It's 7 a.m. and I am already sweating because I'm hiking through the forest in the tropics of Uganda.  It's not just the hike or the humidity, but I also have a 50 pound load on my back.  But this is no ordinary load; not a tent and backpack.  Rather, I am carrying Nani, a chimpanzee who lives at Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary.

Together, with some of the caregivers and other chimpanzee residents, we are going on a forest walk this morning.  Along with other activities, this is part of the care and rehabilitation that may someday prepare Nani and the other residents for reintroduction to the wild.  In fact, I'm here in Africa for three months to study chimpanzees, to find out more about how they fare both in the wild and in rescue centers like this one.

Nani is fortunate to be at Ngamba Island.  Like so many other residents here, Nani was stolen from the wild as a youngster.  Her mother and other members of her family were almost certainly killed, either as part of the illegal trade in bush meat, or for the black market in live chimpanzees.  Nani survived, and now that she has been nursed back to health in the safety of the sanctuary, there is hope that she may one day live with other chimpanzees in the wild ... where she belongs.

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Editor's Note: Although this post by Dr. Debra Durham focuses on research performed on chimpanzees, neither this blog nor PCRM is suggesting here that research merely be moved from chimps to other animals. Rather, nonanimal research that is more reliable and scientifically sound, in addition to more humane, should replace the cruel experimentation on chimps--and other animals. -S. Ernst

Lately, everyone has been wondering what happened to Bubbles, the chimpanzee who often appeared in photos and interviews with Michael Jackson. People were concerned that he might have ended up as a subject in biomedical experiments or in a roadside zoo.

But media outlets have reported that Bubbles is safe and sound at a sanctuary for great apes in Florida, where, according to a blogger on "The Daily Beast" who recently visited Bubbles, he "makes his home most of the time in a giant enclosure surrounded by native ferns, banana trees, water oaks, hibiscus, and Florida maples." Bubbles shares his home with a large group of chimpanzees, all released from the entertainment world where they were used in movies, television shows, commercials, and circuses.

As a primatologist, I often consider the strangeness of our relationships to nonhuman primates. We mock them when they're dressed in funny clothes or, in Bubbles' case, doing the "moonwalk." But we're in awe of their social lives, their awareness, and their emotional capabilities.

According to Bubbles' sanctuary, Bubbles is an extremely sensitive individual. The sanctuary's profile of Bubbles says, "If he has any kind of cut or scratch on his body, no matter how small, he will show it many times during the day to his caregivers and ask for sympathy."

We're constantly amazed by our similarities to chimpanzees and other primates--but we continue to keep these remarkable animals in extremely unnatural environments where they suffer immensely.

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