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GREAT PRIMATES AWAIT YOUR PROTECTION

GAP is an International movement that aims to defend the rights of the
non-human great primates - chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and bonobos,
our closest relatives in animal kingdom.

Fergus

Fergus was, born on the 28th of February 1986 at Penscynor. His mother was Chico who died in 1991 when she drowned in the moat at the age of only 20 years. His father is Jeremy, who died in February 2009 peacefully in his sleep. Fergus was rejected by his mother and hand reared from two weeks old. Fergus moved here on February 21st 1999 along with the other chimps. Suzi his sister is also here and she is two years older than him, together with his brother Twmi who is a year older. We were told that Twmi and Fergus were constantly challenging Jeremy and were therefore separated from him whilst still at Penscynor. At first we kept them apart but at Christmas 2003 we integrated the two groups and Winnie and Jeremy happily spent the rest of their lives as part of a family again.

Fergus can be a bit of a bully and tends to pick on the females in the group. When he gets too rough brother Twmi, will often step in and sort him out. However Fergus is growing up and losing these tendencies to bully. In the morning Fergus can be a bit of a mischief-maker as he is separated from Twmi until they get outside. He sometimes throws water or anything else he can find at us or at Bili who is now opposite him. He was scared of Jeremy, however and if there were any possibility at all of Jeremy being annoyed with him Fergie used to cry like a baby. He also cries if he pushes his luck too far with Twmi and realizes that he’s in trouble.

Fergus can be an absolute charmer - the ladies' man of the group, his conquests are many, but equally he can indulge in outbursts of cheeky behavior. He loves to play tag around the cage and attracts attention by a wave of his hand at the mesh.

The only problem here is that he cheats and races across the enclosure when you have to run round it, so he always wins! He is also a real planner and will remember if he has seen anything that he can use as a tool with which to reach something outside the enclosure. He did this one-day with a branch he used to reach a long plastic pipe so that he could have a jousting session with Graham.

He loves to drum with his foot on the large reel or pipes in the enclosure and then leaps at the mesh or throws forest bark at you. He is certainly the acrobat of the group and his ability to walk and swing on the ropes is amazing.

Accident prone, he loves sympathy and will readily shows you any cuts or grazes he has acquired through his antics. Fergus is the only one who has had injuries worthy of a vet’s attention but both have healed remarkably quickly - an infected wound on his hand which he had when we first met him and an abscess on his

neck which needed stitches. Fergus inevitably pulled the stitches out but this did not seem to bother him or stop his neck from healing almost without a trace.

Fergus enjoys most fruit and vegetables and of them all he probably balances his diet the most sensibly unless some treat really takes his fancy when he will find every last bit and eat it all! This is usually chocolate fudge cake or malt loaf.

Fergus likes to sit by the day room door and listen to music and he rocks to and fro when you make dancing motions - all of the youngsters like music and watching television. Fergus when kept indoors one day was stretched out on his bed one foot up on the mesh watching 'Bay watch’ - just the programme for him!

Fergus is really a loveable rogue and can keep you entertained for hours. He has many adoptions under his belt, as he is so popular with visitors. In April 2009 we decided to join Fergus’s group with Freddie, Ronnie and Nakima. Twmi was the first to make friends and thankfully because we took a lot of time and patience to achieve this, the group are really happy together. Fergus remarkably has not caused any trouble and is getting on really well with everyone. He and Twmi are first out in the morning.
 

Bili has now joined the group and he and Fergus are quite happily co-existing.