All posts tagged: captivity

Fatou, the World’s Oldest Gorilla Living in Captivity, Celebrates Her 69th Birthday at Berlin Zoo

Fatou, the World’s Oldest Gorilla Living in Captivity, Celebrates Her 69th Birthday at Berlin Zoo

Published by Sam Flores

But no birthday cake, because sugar isn’t healthy for the aging primate. Fatou, a western lowland gorilla, arrived in what was then West Berlin in 1959. She was believed to be about 2 years old at the time, though her exact birth date isn’t known — April 13 is her designated birthday. Gorillas can live for around 35-40 years in the wild and longer in captivity. Fatou became the zoo’s oldest resident in 2024, following the death of Ingo the flamingo. The bird was believed to be at least 75 and had lived at the zoo since 1955. Fatou was likely born in the wild in western Africa, but the story goes that a French sailor took her out of Africa and bartered her to cover his bar tab in Marseille, France, according to the Guinness World Records. A French animal trader then reportedly sold her to the zoo. These days, Fatou lives in an enclosure of her own and prefers to keep her distance from the zoo’s other gorillas in her old age. She’s …

Shedd Aquarium raise a warty frogfish in captivity : NPR

Shedd Aquarium raise a warty frogfish in captivity : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

This juvenile warty frogfish was raised in captivity at the Shedd Aquarium. Brenna Hernandez/Shedd Aquarium hide caption toggle caption Brenna Hernandez/Shedd Aquarium Inside the colorful Wild Reef exhibit on the lower level of Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium sits a small tank containing two warty frogfish, a species found in the waters of the Indo-Pacific region. Each one is about the size of a tennis ball, yellow in color with splashes of red, and covered in wart-like bumps, thus the name. Jenny Richards, a senior aquarist who cares for a variety of fish at Shedd, calls them “comically round.” “I definitely think they look cute,” she says. Cute — but also cutthroat. This fish is an ambush predator. Part of its dorsal fin operates as a lure that looks like a little shrimp, which it uses to attract its prey. Last year, the female in the tank began to look a little bloated. And then, in September, she released a spooled-up raft of tens of thousands of translucent eggs, which the male then fertilized. “Our wild reef …

No Time To Heal: the psychological rehabilitation of a Ukrainian soldier after Russian captivity

No Time To Heal: the psychological rehabilitation of a Ukrainian soldier after Russian captivity

Published by Sam Flores

Ukrainian soldiers are sent to The Forest Glade – Ukraine’s first centre for the treatment of psychological trauma – before returning to the frontline. After spending over three years in Russian captivity following the battle for Mariupol, 25-year-old Kyrylo Chuvak spends three weeks at the centre, a brief opportunity for rehabilitation. Hidden in the pines near Kyiv, this modest building offers soldiers psychological therapy as well as tango, archery, guided breathing, medieval games and quiet conversations over tea. After four years of war, and with waning international attention, the battle is not only taking place on the frontline but in the mind Continue reading… Source link

Israeli hostages held in Gaza speak out about sexual violence while in captivity

Israeli hostages held in Gaza speak out about sexual violence while in captivity

Published by Sam Flores

Romi Gonen, before boarding a helicopter after her release, in Gaza, on January 19, 2025. OHAD ZWIGENBERG/AP “No one will silence me anymore.” Romi Gonen, 25, one of the 251 hostages captured during the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, described in a televised interview in early January the sexual assaults she endured repeatedly during her captivity. Her captors’ violent acts began in the days following the terrorist attack. A man who identified himself as a nurse followed her into the shower. “I was wounded, powerless and couldn’t do anything. He took everything from me,” she explained. “And I had to continue living with him in that house afterward.” Faced with the repeated and severe assaults, she said she feared becoming “a sex slave.” Over the past two years, several Israeli hostages have reported having suffered sexual violence during their captivity, in addition to deprivation, beatings, humiliation and threats. “Sexual violence continued in captivity, with multiple returnees reporting forced nudity, physical and verbal sexual harassment, sexual assaults, and threats of forced marriage,” members of the …