Cuban biologist raises 2 chimpanzees in her Havana apartment

(6 Apr 2017) Over the last year Ada and Aduma have broken Martha Llanes' television and computer key board, chewed her telephone to pieces and ruined much of her furniture.
She has forgiven them for every transgression. It's hard to stay angry at a baby chimpanzee when it clambers up your leg and into your arms and plants a kiss on your cheek in a plea for forgiveness.
While zoos in other countries may have specialised facilities for raising baby animals, in Cuba the job falls to Llanes, a 62-year-old zoologist who has cared for 10 baby chimps in her central Havana apartment since she started work at the city zoo in 1983.
It's hard work that requires watching the apes nearly 17 hours a day until they are returned to the zoo after their first birthday.
She leaves her home a few hours each week when another zoologist delivers milk, fruit and cleaning products and cares for the animals while Llanes takes a break.
Meanwhile Llanes' apartment looks like any that's home to two infants, albeit infants able to scramble up chairs, tables and virtually any other object with already-strong arms and legs and feet with opposable thumbs.
The floor is covered with toys, all sharp objects have been hidden away and the electric sockets covered to prevent a dangerous accidental shock
Ada, the female, is 13 months old, while Anuma, the male, is 15.
Both wear diapers.
The chimpanzee, an endangered species, separated from humans on evolutionary tree about seven million years ago and shares some 90 percent of our DNA.
Chimps are known for their intelligence and use of basic tools and they live half a century in the wild, and even longer in captivity.
Llanes, who has an adult daughter, says it can be difficult to get female chimps to care for their offspring in captivity, and she's been happy to step in.
Llanes lives in a fifth-floor apartment in a building with dozens of residents, virtually all of whom say the baby chimps are good neighbours.
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