Project Chimps Blog

Eric Simonton developed the BOT several years ago. It’s actually an incredibly humorous and somewhat cosmic story.

Behavior Coordinator Kate has spent many hours observing when Arielle plucks her hair. Once she understood when the behavior happened the most, she was able to come up with some solutions. Thanks to Kate, Arielle has stopped plucking and her hair has grown back!

Stealing food is a strategic business in the chimp world. While it may sound like a simple interaction, there are actually many reasons why chimps steal food – and no, it is not just because they are hungry. Here is a chimp’s guide to stealing food while keeping a clean slate.

Just like humans, chimpanzees have their own unique dietary needs and preferences. For example, you will probably try in vain to get a chimp to eat foods such as kiwi, squash, kale, and green beans. But you will be very popular if you present favorites such as onions, eggplant, sweet potatoes, apples, and bananas.

Chimpanzees’ eating habits are determined based off of their social rank. When observing chimpanzee foraging customs, it helps us learn more about their mannerisms.

Kate’s job as Behavior Coordinator at Project Chimps is to observe and assess chimp behavior as well as run the Positive Reinforcement behavioral training program. Kate closely with the chimpanzees and caretakers to monitor the well-being of the chimps and determine whether or not there are any signs of abnormal behavior

One way sanctuaries and zoos gauge a chimp’s emotional and physical well-being is to look for signs of abnormal behavior. Abnormal or atypical behaviors are scientific terms that describe behaviors that are often indicative of stress.

June is National Safety Month. At Project Chimps, we use safety drills to prepare for scenarios that we hope will never actually happen. And, while these hypothetical scenarios are serious, we do our best to make the drills fun!

Chimps are extremely similar to humans. They may look different, but we share many similar mannerisms, including sunbathing. Learn more about our similarities with chimpanzees.

A well-known behavior of chimpanzees is their act of spitting and, you guessed it – throwing poop. But why do they spit and spatter?

Nell Triggs combined fond childhood memories with her professional career in her mural “Jane and Flint” inside a Project Chimps villa.

With antibiotic resistance on the rise, it is more important than ever to use drug therapy wisely. Chimpanzees have amazing powers to heal, out in the wild wounds would have to take care of themselves. But Collin is not in the wild, he is under our care at Project Chimps.

There’s no denying that chimps love to eat! Here at Project Chimps, their diet consists of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. In addition to daily breakfast and dinner services where each chimp gets a full meal, caretakers also scatter different food items like cabbage, nuts, seeds, carrots and tomatoes over their enclosures for lunch and dinner enrichment. This allows the chimps to engage in one of their natural behaviors — foraging.

Perhaps dealing with chimp feces isn’t the most glamourous part of a chimpanzee caretaker’s day, but it’s certainly one of the most important. Like in other species (including us!), fecal consistency is a great indicator of overall health, so, caretakers must constantly assess the quality of, well, chimp poop!

After 40 years in the medical field, Mike Vaughn decided to take some time off from the emergency room. In the meantime, he’s putting his skills to use with a new type of medical clinic. Following an Appalachian Trail hike with his son in April 2020, Mike spent the past year pouring himself into volunteer work…