This African country is home to a chimpanzee rescue center

Cecile and Stan at the Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center.

Journalist Diane Toomey sent along this Geo Quiz after having returned from visiting the Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center. We are looking for you to name the country where the center is located.

All of the chimpanzees at this sanctuary (there are 72 of them) were either rescued as adults after years of captivity or orphaned by the illegal bush meat trade. 

Toomey says the chimps "spend most of their time in safe, forested enclosures, as close to the wild as they can [be,] while being in captivity."

“The staff does a good job caring for animals — that are highly complex with sophisticated social needs — caring for them both physically and mentally,“ Toomey says. “It is sad to note that the bush meat trade [the trade in chimpanzee meat] is illegal, but continues in some parts of the country. That's why the sanctuary is necessary."

Dr. Sheri Speede, an American veterinarian who founded and directs the sanctuary, says the forested enclosures are lush and contain some wild fruits and other foods that the chimps eat, but the animals still need to be fed.

What's for supper, you might ask?

Well, on this night, Speede says "[They] have bananas and papayas and some rice balls with beans mixed in. We add a little milk, and a little oil, so they get their protein from the beans and carbohydrates from the rice. They're basically frugivores and so they get fruit with almost every meal. So tonight, they're getting bananas and papaya."

Every evening, the chimps are called in from their forested enclosures by the staff. But, Toomey says, "sometimes it takes a fair amount of coaxing and sweet talk, including calling the animals by name, to get a chimp to enter its night enclosure."

Toomey recorded the sound of the chimps coming in at dusk one night. She says the first sound you hear is the sound of a wheelbarrow filled with fruit being rolled out. Then someone starts pounding on a makeshift drum to help call in the chimps.

Now for the answer for this Geo Quiz. Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center is located in Cameroon.

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