Mbam arrived in the LWC in July 2008. The man who brought him said that he had bought the chimpanzee from someone in Mbam forest. The LWC never buys animals because it encourages hunters to get more animals from the forest. The man understood this, but he had felt like he had no choice. Just as the man was telling his story, his phone rang. It was the man from the forest, saying that there was another chimpanzee for sale. A very sad illustration of the fact that buying animals really creates a market. The authorities have tried to confiscate the second chimpanzee, but it was never found.
Mbam is estimated to be born around January 2007. It took him a long time to start trusting people and he did not like to be touched. The first days he only ate bananas, palmnuts and pineapple, but after a month he eated everything.
Unfortunately Mbam died of pneumonia the 18th of January 2010.