10-year old Jenny is the daughter of Bulindi's oldest chimp, Joyce, from whom she inherited her long, gangly frame. Since reaching adolescence, Jenny's caused quite a stir among the Bulindi males. She frequently exhibits a large pink swelling of her perineal skin, and consequently she's very attractive to the males. Since most of the adult females are nursing young infants, Jenny reluctantly finds herself the exclusive recipient of the males' interest, and she's often the unwitting cause of boisterous social excitement in the group. Things will calm down for poor Jenny once she becomes pregnant in the next year or so.
Jenny enjoys baby-sitting for older sister Leila, and oftens carries Leila's infant Wendy.
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Tabitha is Teddy's juvenile daughter. All her age-mates are males (Jack, Araali and Gerald) and perhaps as a result she's quite tomboyish and has a feisty streak. Unlike her mum Teddy, Tabitha isn't shy of us and may approach to shake branches or throw small sticks at us. Now aged 8, she's beginning to develop small pink swellings of her perineal skin, indicating she's entering adolescence. We expect the males in the group will start taking more notice of Tabitha next year!
Ally is Teddy's youngest infant. We didn't see much of him until quite recently, given Teddy's shy and protective nature. Sometimes when Ally's wobbly infant wanderings took him too close to us, a black hairy hand would shoot out from the undergrowth to pull him back safely out of sight. Aged three, he's now reached the age where Teddy doesn't feel the need to keep such a close eye on him. A curious chap, Ally clearly loves his new-found independence!
Teddy's a large, nervy adult female in her late thirties. She's the least social of all the Bulindi chimps and may choose to range alone with her offspring for days or even weeks at a time. She's also the shyest chimp in our presence, preferring to stay out of sight unless she's in the company of the big males. When we first got to know her in 2012 she wasn't especially skittish, but her confidence seemed to wane following the disappearance of daughter Tammie in 2013. Teddy is always accompanied by her 7-year old daughter Tabitha and 3-year old son Ally.
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