Husbandry is everything involved in the daily care of animals. Care staff tend to the chimpanzees’ basic needs, like water, food, and shelter. The teams also take care of the chimpanzees’ social needs and their physical environment. Chimpanzees are very smart animals, which makes husbandry an exciting and challenging field!

Chimpanzees need care 365 days of the year, members of the care team are here every day, no matter the weather or the holiday. Two of the most important things that the care staff do are serving the chimps their meals as well as clean their living areas. Care staff give the chimps their meals 3-4 times per day - that’s a lot of meals to serve! The staff could not do this without the support of the volunteers who assist in the kitchen to ensure all meals are prepped in advance.

Along with making sure the chimpanzees have clean habitats and are well fed, care staff provide fresh nesting materials to the chimpanzees each day. The chimps receive blankets, hay or wood wool in their bedrooms to help them make nests, if they want to - some of our chimps prefer to relax on the bare floor!

New team members learn to identify each of the chimpanzees in their care by sight. Some care staff can even recognize the chimpanzees from behind, walking away, or at a distance! Care staff make notes on each chimpanzee during checks. How do they look? Do they have any injuries? Are they acting like themselves? If anything is not as it should be the staff alert the appropriate members of management whether it be the Vet team, the Supervisor, or the Behavior team.

Safety is extremely important when working with chimpanzees so care staff go through comprehensive training. All care staff participate in routine drills and mock inspections to ensure everyone is taking proper precautions to keep themselves and the chimps safe and healthy.

Learn more here:

Watch the Day in the Life of Caregiver video

To directly support the husbandry program, consider sending a gift of supplies from our Wishlist!