Nyia

Nyia is a very particular chimp who isn’t shy about sharing her opinions! She’s especially fond of the color blue and can almost always be spotted carrying a blue blanket everywhere she goes. It took her awhile to build enough trust in her caregivers to be comfortable taking food from them. At first, she refused to take anything handed directly to her. Eventually, she began taking food so long as it was wrapped in a brown paper bag! Slowly she started taking food cut up into small pieces and then taking whole food items. 

Something you might notice about Nyia right away are her striking eyes, one of which is milky blue-white. Her eyes are different colors due to an injury she received as a baby, leaving her blind in one eye. However, she doesn’t let this stop her from exploring the habitat or spending time with her sister Manetta and her friend Muttie! 

While Nyia’s blue blanket is usually her favorite thing, there are occasional exceptions. For Halloween, one of her caregivers made toy “ghosts” by tying a purple jolly ball (a large bouncy rubber ball) inside a white tablecloth and drawing faces on them. When Nyia got her hands on this item, it became her new favorite thing! She took it everywhere she went, rolled on it, and nested with it. By the time she was ready to relinquish it, it’s safe to say the white blanket was no longer white! She has since re-adopted her blue blanket.