Zakayo, chimpanzee, Birthday, Zakayo is Uganda’s oldest famous chimpanzee and yesterday 27th October, he turned 53 years old. He celebrated his birthday from Uganda Wildlife Centre previously known as the Zoo where he has lived since he was rescued from Semilki. Zakayo was in 1964 on 10th June found abandoned in Semiliki National Park which is located in Bundibugyo District and then was taken in and raised by some white man until he later in 1976 on 19th June when he decided to surrendered him to the Zoo currently called UWEC because he had become was too hard to manage and also aggressive.
For so long, Zakayo stayed in a cage because of his aggressiveness and so visitors used to tease him in all ways for example, they would offer him some cigarettes, alcohol and this would really make him excited. Along the course of his life, he became a father to Shaka and he lost his position as an alpha in a group with other chimpanzees in 2012 and the position was taken over by another chimpanzee called Matooke. Zakayo however is still powerful in the group and commands a great deal of respect from this group, he help to instill order and peace among members especially if they are faced by group fights for example. He also makes sure that all members exit or enter the enclosure before he does so himself and this only shows how much he cares about other members.
In the morning at around 11 am, Zakayo was freed from his arena and then guided to his birthday venue and there was his cake specially made and prepared for him. He celebrated together with his very anxious visitors that included the journalists; there were pupils, tourists and many more other people who were there only watching from a short distance.
The excited Zakayo approached the stand where his cake was as the overjoyed spectators went ahead and sang for him his birthday song. Zakayo was really excited about the fact that everyone was excited for him. And when he realized that all the other chimpanzees had not been let out of their cages, he quickly went back to pick them so they can join him in the celebration. The UWEC care takers signaled the rest of the chimpanzees to go ahead and join Zakayo.
Filled with excitement, this 53-year-old quickly abandoned the small bamboo stick which they had made for him to uses as a knife to cut the cake, he preferred to use his own his hand and just pinch it. All the chimpanzees also started pinching and eating pieces until when Matooke who is the current alpha of the group came along and grabbed almost half the cake away from them. Definitely Zakayo went after him and all the others scattered since they had already got their share. They climbed trees to have some rest.
At the peak of this birthday celebrations, UWEC’s executive director Mr. James Musinguzi took the opportunity ask all Ugandans to always be involved in all activities that are intended to ensure wildlife conservation. He said the celebration was organized to let all people know across the world know that all chimpanzees and all the other wild animals are very important to us and certainly contribute to positive thinking. He emphasized that such celebrations are done mainly to promote wildlife conservation across the country.
When giving the highlights of the event, Mr Musinguzi mentioned that there are so many animals that are rescued every quarter each year and that is because humans have encroached on their habitants for various reasons and these include the chimpanzee territories too.
He also asked called on more people to fundraise more towards wildlife conservation. There are several wildlife species that require immediate protection and over thirty nine different wildlife species of wildlife have are not more therefore make up the list of the extinct animals.
While making a comment about Zakayo’s health, Mr. Isaac Mujaasi who is the marketing manager at UWEC said while talking to the Daily Monitor reporter that it’s a blessing that at 53 year Zakayo is still healthy and that strong because they thought he would die young due to would have died from ailments like lung cancer because of the kind of life he was living when young. This means that for every we get to celebrate his life, it is a real big deal to the conservationists. Zakayo is also the ambassador of all chimpanzees as well as the wildlife across the globe.
For more information about Chimpanzees in Uganda, visit adventureugandasafari
