Mandrill Release Program
A baby mandrill named Disney, who was the first mandrill born in the wild after her mother was rehabilitated and released into Conkouati Douli National Park in the Republic of Congo.
Mandrills are beautiful and intelligent primates, but sadly they are often captured by poachers for the illegal pet trade or for bushmeat markets. To address this threat, the Jane Goodall Institute has teamed up with the Disney Conservation Fund and other partners to create a groundbreaking mandrill rehabilitation program, based at the institute’s Tchimpounga sanctuary in the Republic of Congo.
The institute takes in rescued mandrills, some of them only infants, and rehabilitates them in a safe environment where they can have social contact with others of their kind. Eventually the mandrills grow strong enough to be released back into the forest in the reserve. Ensuring the safety of each released mandrill is a big task, which is why the institute is so grateful for the Disney Conservation Fund’s support for this amazing species and are hopeful we can continue together with post-release monitoring, which includes high-tech GPS collars that we can use to track each mandrill.
With the help of the Disney Conservation Fund, the institute hopes to create a much better future for these gentle and endangered primates.
