Chimpanzees, like humans, require attention, care, and play while they are young. When this young chimp was abandoned by his mother in 2019, he sought solace in a cuddly toy monkey, which is now warming hearts all over the internet.
Unfortunately, mothers occasionally leave their offspring, and Djibril had to learn to exist on his own when this occurred to him at a zoo in Malaga, Spain.
His mother, Kika, had never learned any parenting skills and had abandoned her offspring at birth after being rescued from cruel circus owners. Keepers needed to locate another chimp to raise him as her own among his peers and provide him with things that humans could never provide.
The tiny one was rehomed with an adoptive mother, Eva, at the animal park BIOPARK Valencia, which assures animal well-being and comfort by offering conditions near to their natural habitat.
In Malaga’s zoo, the newborn chimp was rejected by his mother.
Keepers had to act as the child’s parents while they looked for an adoptive mother who would raise him as her own.
He sought solace in a soft stuffed monkey till then.
Djibril has a new family in a Valencia animal park, where he is 16 months old.
Djibril was brought to the new BIOPARK Valencia environment in July of 2019 and had to go through a difficult adjustment period.
He had hoped to locate an adoptive mother in Malin, but she was uninterested in the infant.
Fortunately, Eva, another great ape in the group, took Djibril under her wing and protected and cared for him despite never having been a mother.
Despite all odds, Djibril’s survival instinct and Eva’s mother instinct brought them together, and Djibril now has a new family a year after his arrival at the park.
Baby Djibril is a crucial member of his subspecies.
Little Djibril is a key part of the western chimpanzee, which is severely endangered and the sole subspecies among chimps.
The species is threatened with extinction in its native habitat, according to WWF—chimps have already vanished entirely from four nations and are under severe threat everywhere else.
The BIOPARC Fuengirola and Valencia effort in locating Djibril an adoptive home will help to preserve this subspecies.
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