Like all residents of the Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center, this young chimpanzee's mother was stolen from him by bush meat hunters.  The same hunters who killed his mother took him into captivity, most likely in hopes of selling him as a pet. US Ambassador Neils Marquardt discovered him in a remote village and helped arrange through the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife of the Cameroon government to have the baby transported to the Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center.  (Read about the Amassador's 2005 visit to Sanaga-Yong Center)

The baby was approximately 16 months old and was named Gremlin. During his initial quarantine period (necessary to make sure he was healthy), Gremlin clung to his human caregivers...desperate for safety.  Former volunteer, Brett Rafter, shared this story: ...while sitting on my lap hugging my neck Gremlin saw our camp cat walking by.  He carefully stepped down, puffed up like a tarantula, and displayed, stomping up and down with arms bowed like a bull dog, little fists pounding the ground. And then as soon as he realized he wasn’t holding on for support and that even the cat was bigger than him, he raced back towards me, flinging himself to wrap both arms around my neck and bury his head in my chest - he did not look up for some time!

Gremlin currently lives with baby chimpanzees Sambe and Baati. He has become very good friends with his adopted siblings, both of whom share a similar history. They are taken on daily forays into the forest by their caregiver Henriette. During his first jaunt into the forest, Gremlin passed on joining Sambe and Baati who were banging on a log and fighting over a piece of fruit. Instead he wandered off to a tree, grabbed a small stick and proceeded to fish for termites ~ perhaps something he learned from his mother.

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