Meet our chimps: Yeye

At first, we totally got this chimp wrong. Sure, the match was without any doubt: we identified a young chimp (young adult / late adolescent) with an unusual light face that we’ve seen several times in different chimp parties. Because of the sturdy built, a robust upper body, and angular face, we thought it is a young male – and were mistaken. Fortunately, before naming this guy, we’ve seen the body from the side view and could see a female swelling.

Our long-term volunteer Boleyn proposed this match and named her Yeye. “This means he/she in Swahili. They do not make a difference and I think that fits her very well since I thought at first it was a young male.”

Yeye is still young and might not have reached full adult size by now, but she started cycling and we’ve seen her several times fully swollen (a sure sign for adulthood in females). She is very often seen with her BFF Jazz, another young female with a beautiful dark face.

Classifications at Restless Star are already finished, but we still have open matching discussions and want to identify and name more chimps.

If you want to get involved and see African wildlife from camera traps yourself, please come over to Chimp&See!